New Faces at BPL

NEW FACES

QUETZALLI CORTEZ

My name is Quetzalli Cortez and I am a Branch Specialist at Meadows. My name is Nahuatl (the language spoken by the Aztecs) and means precious/beautiful. It also signifies the longest feather on the Quetzal bird.

I graduated from Dominican University with my MLIS degree last May; this is my first library job since my graduation! I grew up in Denver but spent the last six years in Chicago.

My undergraduate degree is in English.

My favorite book is One Hundred Years of Solitude; it is the only book that literally made me jump out of my chair from excitement. I love animals! I grew up with four cats, all of whom are still alive and live with my parents. The oldest will be 17 in August. Currently, my parents and I are co-parenting my one-year-old boxer Sparky. I suspect that Sparky has a favorite parent, and it isn't me or my mom. I'm excited to work here and to meet all of you!

ALYSSA FINER

Super excited to be back at the library. I worked as a sub Specialist for two years and now I love being part of the Meadows Branch staff. Plus, biking to work from North Boulder to the Meadows Branch is helping me stay in shape. For the past four years, I have been the Wednesday morning Boulder Readsvolunteer CIEL facilitator, and it was much smoother than I expected to transition to Zoom classes during the pandemic.

In my past life, I practiced law in New York City and then California. I also wrote constantly for years, although it seems I have taken a very long hiatus from writing short stories.

Like so many of us, I love to read and cannot wait to discover what I will learn from the next book. With audiobooks now added to the mix, I feel like we live in such an amazing time where the learning never stops. In 2012, I started keeping a list of the books I read and it makes me happy to look back and see where I was in the pastand how that list of books has grown so long and eclectic. We have lived in Boulder for the past twenty years and it has been a wonderfulplace to raise our son and take advantage of all the outdoor activities in everyseason. We love dogs but with our son’s allergies, for the past ten years we have taken care of bearded dragons. And now that our son is away at college, we are still caring for his crested gecko and thinking again about adding a dog to ourfamily.