To continue with our humans of Barrington and their quarantine stories, we have Ms. Duffy, a BHS teacher. Read on to see the many ways books helped her – in relationships, in life, and, of course, in quarantine. “Over quarantine I wanted to make sure I didn’t lose sight of my mental health, so I turned to books which is something that I always loved to do, but I don’t always have the time. To help maintain those habits joining book clubs holds you accountable, and I’m right now in four book clubs, and it’s all on Zoom so it’s not a lot, but I’m in one with students, one with my friends, one with faculty, and one with former colleagues, and we just bring tea and talk about it. We focused on diverse books with diverse authors, and that was really cool to be able to introduce those books to my friends and also teachers in the district. Not everybody is a physical book reader so we also had options for audiobooks so we could get more people involved. I think that reading is really important for empathy and perspective, and readers tend to have those skills more often than other people who aren’t readers. Another way besides going to a book club to hold yourself accountable is using the app Goodreads. My friends and I are really competitive, so especially if you’re a competitive person, tracking how fast you’re reading could be a fun way to keep your interest. I also read audiobooks, and especially since we’re stuck inside I go on long walks by myself or with my dog and I’ll listen to an audiobook, and that helps keep me reading. I read 33 books from March to the end of the school year, and I haven’t done that since I was a little kid. I think that reading opens up your eyes to other parts of the world and allows you to walk in others’ shoes. As a little kid I read ‘Magic Treehouse’ books, and as someone who loves history I liked that a lot. Also as a young girl there weren’t a lot of tv shows or dolls that pertained to strong female protagonists, so for me turning to books there was a whole world of people who felt the same way I did about how everyone can do anything they put their mind to.”Kathleen Duffy (Ms. Duffy), teacher. Interviewed by Mia Fischel.