Liberating Lit with Serena Jamison
Serena Jamison is a library trustee in suburban Chicago. On this episode of Liberating Lit, she talks about why we need local-level advocacy, the power of getting to know your neighbors, and the role and responsibility of being a trustee during a time of coordinated attacks on libraries–and why it’s important she does this work as a trans woman.
Show Notes:
The Librarians film
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
Transcript:
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (00:01)
It’s not easy to run for office, whether that’s as a politician in your city, state, or federal government or as a trustee for your local school or library board. But getting people who care about these roles and who understand that they represent a whole community, rather than those who are the loudest or most well-connected, into these positions is crucial. This has been especially true since 2020, when local-level boards nationwide were being overrun by far-right actors less interested in serving the communities for whom they worked than they were interested in turning these institutions into tools of a political regime.
The change of makeup in so many local school and library boards paralleled–and indeed, intersected–with the targeted attacks on queer people nationwide. We’ve seen countless attempts to remove the rights of trans and nonbinary folks at the state and federal level, just as we’ve seen the stories written by and about trans and nonbinary folks become some of the most censored and banned in schools and libraries.
Putting yourself out there to step into a school or library board position when you’re trans right now takes tremendous courage, even if it shouldn’t. Being yourself in a time when there are real and material consequences for that is hard enough. To then run and work in a public position of leadership is to do something even harder . . . and to do something incredibly important, meaningful, and necessary.
I’m thrilled to talk with Serena Jamison, a library trustee at the Algonquin Area Public Library who has been serving in the role since early 2025. According to Out for America, she is one of seven trans local elected officials in Illinois today and one of 55 nationwide.
Serena is also involved in the county’s democratic party, serving as a precinct committee person, among other roles and projects.
I had the chance to connect with Serena following a screening of the film The Librarians, hosted by several county public libraries. We spoke then about how much the general public really doesn’t know about what’s happening to these institutions and how important it is for them to know this–something that such screenings and post-screening panels for that film did both in our county and across the country. I’m excited to bring her to the show to talk about her advocacy work, her passion for libraries and access to materials, as well as the realities of being a “first” at a time when queer identity comes with added sociopolitical challenges.
Welcome to the show.
Serena Jamison (02:29)
Thank you.
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (02:30)
Can you tell me who you are and what you do?
Serena Jamison (02:34)
Well, your introduction was amazing. My name is Serena Jameson. Right now, I am a trustee at the Algonquin Area Public Library District, among other things, I do carry a full time job. I also teach at the local community college, which would be Harper College in Palatine, Illinois. So I am a busy beaver when it comes to professional work and volunteer work.
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (03:04)
What was the spark? What got you into advocacy?
Serena Jamison (03:10)
One of the major reasons that pushed me out into advocacy was my transition, honestly. I came out of the closet in late 2019 and I knew that I had a lot of internal work to do. While I was doing that work, though, I noticed that the world was definitely becoming less open for folks like me.
Especially during 2024 and with many of the conversations that were happening, it seemed very necessary for me to get involved locally. One of the biggest goals that I have in local advocacy is making sure that our systems serve the people who pay into the systems, who contribute to the systems, as well as all the other people around them.
So I started talking with folks in 2024. I effectively learned how to knock on doors with other candidates who are running for positions. When I found out that my local library had a position open, I decided that I was going to start passing petitions and start getting to know my neighbors. That actually is a really underrated and helpful piece of the process when it comes to getting into advocacy. I knocked on many doors. I had many doors closed in my face, but then I also talked to many neighbors and they were very happy to talk with me and happy to help me. It's really helpful for folks to remember this current day in 2026 and later, when people listen to this all in future months and years.
It can be so helpful to know that there are people that want to help. Not everything has to be a transaction, and not everything is purely monetary based–if only you give me this money, then I'll do this. Transactions don't just have to be with some kind of benefit on one side or another. People do want to help. And so that's what I try to carry in my own advocacy: I try to also help people where I can.
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (05:34)
I think you bring up such a good point because it is about the real spirit of wanting to do something, wanting to help, and the importance of learning who your community is. Who is your neighbor? We cannot do good work if we don't know the people who are living on either side of us and if we don't know the people who are living down the street from us. We have become closed off to community when community is really the bedrock of everything.
Serena Jamison (06:10)
Community is the bedrock. The big challenge is the fact that you have many members of the community who might not understand that they're hurting others and you have to separate the ones who don't necessarily understand that they're hurting others from the ones who are actively hurting others. And about the only way you can really do that is through conversation and through teaching.
Many people nowadays get information from so many sources and they were never trained to handle such flows of information. Now, does it make it any easier? We talk about intersectionality all the time. I am a trans person. I'm a woman. I definitely have varying aspects of myself that people can fixate on and say, hey, this is not acceptable. With that said, it can be hard to talk with people who already are in a mindset that are closed off and don't want to receive communication from someone. You do the best you can to find those spaces where you can find access to communicate, where you can touch someone else's mind and or heart to make a connection. Community is our connection and you do the best you can to cultivate such connections.
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (07:37)
When was the moment you realized you wanted to serve as a public library trustee? When did you go from loving the library and what it offers to deciding that you wanted to take your engagement to the next level?
Serena Jamison (07:51)
In 2024, I knew that I wanted to work in public service and the library was literally the first place that I saw. I spent a lot of time myself in the library when I was younger. I remember how much of a refuge the library was to my younger self, especially having to stay in the closet for quite a long time in my life.
The other thing that I've noticed in this day and age is how much books and other materials are being scrutinized and banned. One of the reasons that we met was The Librarians film, and that film discusses the effects of all of these bans and all of the contention that is going around about material and libraries. The biggest reason that I wanted to be a public library trustee is to ensure access to books … and because I also had only so much money and I knew that I did not have enough for a school board run or any other larger position, but it's still necessary to have people in all positions. It really is: library positions, park and and rec positions, boards for overseeing police or fire or other public utilities. It's really important that citizens are able to get involved in all of these various aspects of how their community runs.
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (09:26)
And that helps thread that needle, as you brought up, of what a community is and understanding what a community is and and what you do as a member of a community.
Serena Jamison (09:38)
Exactly.
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (09:40)
What is something that might surprise people about the work that goes into being a public library trustee? Maybe what is something that brings you the most joy in this role as well?
Serena Jamison (09:49)
It's been fascinating the different things that a library trustee would touch. Recently we're working on the landscaping of the library because we want the area to be a really happy place for the community to congregate, not only inside the library but outside. So we've had many discussions on what certain foliage looks like and what kinds of plants need to be placed in certain areas. There is actually a large natural area next to the library that we are currently looking at, and one of the considerations is what does it look like to have native plants in the landscape that will coordinate with the native plants that are already there?
And that's just one discussion. Not too long ago we had our branch library renovation, and so we're discussing building codes, we're discussing grants. There are quite a few different ways to fund various aspects of a community, too. Our library director was working to get some major grants set up so that our library would be equipped to use less power. It was actually rather fascinating that we have a setup that allows us to use less power but still provide the same service. So it's amazing how varied it is. It's not just what books go onto the shelves and it's not just what people are working in the library. It's so many different aspects of training. It's makerspaces, it's materials, it's personnel, it's insurance in the United States. There's so many aspects.
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (11:51)
It's so fascinating because your brain goes to what happens inside the library, right? The material things, the staff, but a library is so much more. And you know, I'm gonna keep coming back to that community. It's also how are you part of the community? Those discussions of your native plants at the library integrating with the native plants at the preserve right next to your library. Those are all community-based conversations.
Serena Jamison (12:21)
I will say though, it's also surprised me, but given me a little bit of hope how boring it can be at times to sit on a government that is functioning correctly. Because there are times that we sit there and have to parse out specific words. The library has lawyers that they have to consult with and so on and so forth. There are times that conversations just get bogged down into such deep minutiae that it ends up being very tedious. On the other hand, I like the tedious because that's what the government should be. And the last 10 years now of the federal government not being tedious has been an eye opener for me. If we set rules and then we have legal obligations that are based on these rules, then yes, governance is tedious because of that. But that's a good thing.
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (13:29)
What brings you the most joy in the role? Is it the tedium? Is it the watching it function? Is it something else entirely?
Serena Jamison (13:36)
One of the best things that I love is that we get correspondence from the community and our library director will add in notes from people who've, for instance, used the makerspace or gone to specific programs. We'll receive certificates from the school district for running programs for literacy. The village just gave us a certificate and a little trophy because of the renovation that we did in the branch library. And it was really interesting to read the award ceremony discussion like speech from when they presented this award that the community is really happy to see the work that we do and that the work that we do has a positive impact.
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (14:36)
And that's such a huge thing, right? One of the things that I talk about when I talk about library advocacy is that so often people come when they have a complaint, but when they have a compliment or a thing that they love, sharing that is so meaningful and is such a reminder of the value of the work you do.
Serena Jamison (14:59)
It's a really good way for one to also practice gratitude in their own life, too. When you see compliments like that that come through, you can look at them and and think internally, so what things can I reflect on that are happy in my life instead of the relentless negativity that it's not very hard to find it at our fingertips.
But to see folks literally say, you know what, I was really glad that I dropped into this program. I learned a lot. My kids found joy in doing this. I found joy in doing this. All of the various positive emotions that come from that. Then looking at that and thinking to myself, you know what? I should figure out ways to also find that joy in my own life. It's not easy sometimes.
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (15:56)
I think that's a huge reminder for so many of us. I appreciate that reminder because I I can tell people to the moon to say positive things about their library and the things that they love about their library, but then, you know, it's hard to turn the mirror back around and be like, all right, what's something positive going on in my own life that I can pause and just be grateful for?
So despite being a blue state and providing legal protections, Illinois, and our county, can still be hostile towards trans and non non-binary people. This has especially escalated in the last few years, with people becoming bolder and more brazen in their outright bigotry. What are some of the ways that you keep yourself going in your public-facing roles when things feel harder than necessary?
Where and how do you see your public facing roles as crucial to changing people's perspectives on what it is to be who you are, even if it is unpopular, uncomfortable, and even downright dangerous?
Serena Jamison (17:02)
I will say that the public really has not engaged a ton with our library board ever since I was sat in May of 2025. I have not received much at all of any real pushback as far as my identity of being a trans person, effectively working in public service.
That's not to say that I don't hear it from other folks. And I know that there are some really negative folks in real life. When I do talk with others and compare notes and and share thoughts, I do definitely notice that the people who are the most hostile towards trans people, non-binary people– the funny thing is that you can take out that adjective and you can say people are hostile to people.
It's really easy for me to talk to others and say, so is it really worth the mindset? I understand why and how it can be easy to be hostile to people who are actively hurting you. However, there's not a whole lot that trans people do to other people in this world. There's not a whole lot that non-binary people do to other people in this world that really would incite such a response just on a person-to-person basis. So ultimately, yeah, there's going to be people that are hostile because they've been taught to be hostile or they feel certain ways about other people. But ultimately, if we can talk to the others in our lives and talk to the ones who are more receptive to say, is it worth the hostility you have gained from it? It literally hurts you inside to be hostile. It really does. So as people walk through life and carry that weight of hostility, It can only hurt them as well as the people that they want to hurt, too. It's very much both a target and an origin issue.
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (19:37)
I appreciate that perspective so much because I think similar to what you said about turning that mirror on yourself when you get a compliment for the work you do to look inside. I think this is a reminder to not just the folks who are hostile all the time, but even those of us who get frustrated with that hostility. Like what service is that doing for me when I could use that effort and energy to go do something good.
Serena Jamison (20:14)
Exactly. The one thing that is in many ways that makes me sad is that people carry that hostility because again, it is just a weight on somebody's psyche to carry that negativity. I'm sad that in many situations I really can't alleviate that weight. That's all an internal choice. With that said though, I can certainly talk to all of the others who witness this and say, is it worth carrying this weight? Why not just be happy with other people? I get how it can be really hard to abstract yourself from that, to remove your own negativity from the situation because they're hurting you. Obviously that gives you that emotion that you have to deal with.
And there are times that I have to just step away from the situation and reconsider what happened. To say to myself, what they did wasn't right. I can't change it. How do I feel about it afterward? Do I want to keep carrying negativity? Or would I rather carry sympathy or empathy? Or would I rather just abstract myself so much from it as to say, I would rather just spend time with my loved ones?
The problem is the fact that in this day and age, people that carry hostility are also in positions of power and can actively do stuff with that hostility. That's where it becomes really difficult to abstract oneself from those emotions.
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (22:05)
Absolutely.
Who do you learn from?
Serena Jamison (22:14)
That is, I mean, gosh, I learn a lot from trial and error. It's not necessarily even a who.
One of the major lessons that I obtained through transition was the idea that choices need to be made. You can't just not choose to do certain things in life. But when the choice is made, you also have to be very mindful of what that choice is and how that made you feel and what the consequences of the choice were. So when it comes to who I learn from, there are more than a few people who have, and especially in my community. II certainly could name names, but there's quite a few folks that you definitely wouldn't know of. But being able to at least receive their experience, knowing that there are times that if someone goes forward and makes a choice, that's gonna hit differently in their life than it's going to hit in your life too.
So ultimately I learned for myself. I do the best I can to pull in outside knowledge and experience. And I know that's one of the other discussions that would naturally occur to us within the context of this podcast would be books. The one I remember learning quite a bit from would be Barbara Ehrenreich, when she wrote Nickel and Dimed, that definitely changed my perspective on life. And books that manage to send a message that is easy to contemplate but is multifaceted–those are the kind of people I learn from.
It's hard to learn from other people's experiences when it's not your own experience. And so that is one of the biggest things that I would state: one of the biggest hopes is that you learn from yourself first and foremost, and then you move from there.
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (25:01)
I think that's a really great answer. I think it also reflects a lot of what I'm hearing in this conversation overall is just your self-knowledge and your awareness of your internal life and how that plays out in your external life as well. Like being true to who you are inside, understanding what's going on inside and making a choice, as you said, how am I going to then express that and what I do and how I move through the world?
Serena Jamison (25:37)
I cannot emphasize to you, and I would certainly use colorful language to that effect too, but I cannot emphasize to you how wrong I am constantly. It was really difficult for me to step into a place where not only am I wrong, but I'm uncomfortable being wrong and I'm uncomfortable existing in a space where I don't even know what the right answer is.
I feel like there's so many people in this world right now who are also in this uncomfortable space, where they don't necessarily want to admit they're wrong, nor do they like occupying the space that they're in. When one is uncomfortable, they do the very best they can to try to shift that discomfort outside of themselves because otherwise, what happens is you have to sit with that discomfort inside yourself. It's not easy to do that. I know that there's situations right now where I'm dealing with discomfort and I have to realize that there's situations that are intractable, that have many moving pieces. And yet, it's my problem. It's not anybody else's. I can't yell it away. I can't scream it away and I can't externalize it into somebody else's problem because it's just going to be there no matter how much I externalize it.
So ultimately, yes, discomfort is a great teacher. It's just a matter of whether or not it's able to be listened to and whether or not one has the ability to feel that they can be better.
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (27:24)
What keeps you going?
Serena Jamison (27:30)
Many folks in my community, my family specifically, is top when it comes to my community.
My God, I hate saying the word constituents, but they're the people I serve and I want to keep serving them. I feel happy serving. That's one of the other kicks about government recently is that the government official needs to know how to serve rather than to aggrandize or to put themselves first and the public second. And so what keeps me going is I want to see some of these projects through at the library. I want to experience more people that show up and give us engaging notes and tell us about the fantastic experiences that they've had in their own life, too.
Part of what keeps me going is that I hope that I do continue to have fantastic experiences myself. Ultimately, especially as a trans person, I also feel a very keen urgency to keep moving forward because I know full well that my continued existence is a thorn in the side of those who are not crazy about my continued existence. I also know that at this point, and not to pull this into too much of a political discussion, but my continued existence, if I wasn't here anyway, they wouldn't have anybody else to yell about. They'd have to move on to the next group.
So I may as well put it on my own shoulders and keep moving forward myself.
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (29:34)
It's totally fine to be political on this podcast. Everything is political and I think we are at a juncture where we have to be very frank about that. Existence is political and it's more political for some people than others.
Serena Jamison (29:54)
The interesting part to me is that my life has become incredibly political. Prior to my transition, I was able to kind of put my head in the sand and feel like I was detached from all of it because it was always happening to other people. And I hate saying that, but that was something that was not a very good tendency of my own, partly because I did not experience it firsthand. And the sad part is the fact that if you don't experience it firsthand, it can be hard to learn it.
With that said, though, I definitely know that my existence is political. And as things continue, more and more people's existence will be political until such time that they start standing up in community, in solidarity, in unity to say this is what we need. We need all people to have rights. We need all people to.
And when I say rights, I'm talking about the right to live. The right to live being clean food, clean water, shelter, clothing, what people need in order just to carry on a basic existence.
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (31:10)
What kind of self care do you practice?
Serena Jamison (31:14)
So I do have hobbies. I run, I go to the gym, I definitely go to the gym.
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (31:30)
I know this isn't a video podcast, but I can promise I just got a nice flex.
Serena Jamison (31:36)
I get outside with my dog. We have two cats and a dog and so I'll take some time and pet them. I teach myself new skills. I started learning how to sew not too long ago because itt was important to me in the course of my transition that I learn new things and that I put myself outside of my comfort zone to develop myself. And I realized that there's not a whole lot of things in my career–I've been doing 20 years as a legal person. In my career, I do not handle things with my hands. I do not build things. There's no real thing I can point to to say this is a lasting impact of something that I've done, which is really nice when it comes to the context of the library. I can point to the library and say, I was involved in these decisions and this is fantastic. So as a result, I learned how to sew. I got books from the library. I also got YouTube videos. And again, when you talk about who I learn from, I learn from people who've done it before.
But then I also committed mistakes, many, many mistakes. Hours of work just would go up in flames because I committed a mistake. Sewing is definitely one of those. And that I found out that you can make small mistakes and it's not really going to affect you, per se. Most people don't look at your seams with a microscope. You're going to know that you made a mistake. But as long as it looks good from six feet away, you're fine. And so that's one of the other many things I've learned is that you can do the best you can to hold yourself to a high perfect standard … but is it really necessary to do that? What can you let go of while at the same time still holding yourself to a standard? So self-care in this case is literally doing internal consideration and thoughtfulness when it comes to life as well
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (34:02)
What advice or thought would you want to impart on somebody who's just getting into literary advocacy?
Serena Jamison (34:12)
The biggest piece of advice I would give anybody in getting into advocacy work is to have a huge amount of patience about it. You're going to meet many different kinds of people. And part of the patience that one needs to have is also a patience with oneself as well because you might enter the work without necessarily knowing what needs to be done. You might even feel like you have a very good idea–this needs to be done, and I want to do it in this fashion. But if it's not serving the person or people that you're endeavoring to serve, then it actually is causing harm not only to you but to them because you're getting frustrated in the course of trying to do the work. Then they're getting frustrated because they're not being served the way that they need to be served. So flexibility, patience, and listening is a big aspect of it too.
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (35:24)
But what advice or thought would you want to impart on somebody who's been doing this work for a while?
Serena Jamison (35:36)
My answer there would be to continue to find what keeps you running successfully. Like I said, with me and receiving the library notes and seeing not only the librarians but the people that they serve connecting and being happy–that helps keep me fresh.
I'm going to get into the very briefest discussion of motivation versus discipline.
You can step into a new space all motivated and say this is my goal and I want to get to this part. The discipline is after X number of weeks, months or years when you just think to yourself I don't even know if this is making any difference. What's the point of me going on? The discipline is hope. Discipline is that spark inside you that says “I don't know, I can't even put my finger on what's changing at the moment. All I know is that whatever I do today might have an impact in six months, a year, two years. And will the person, myself in the future or will the people I serve in the future be happy that I showed up today?” That's the discipline and that's what needs to be honored on a day-to-day basis.
It very well could be that you might say to yourself, “You know what? I'm not feeling up to it. I need to practice self-care. I need to retreat for a time. I need to regroup.” So be it. Whatever work one is doing for a long time, make sure to just to keep that long term outlook and to say, what is this person in one, two, five years going to think about as I continue to do this and as I have the discipline to keep moving forward.
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (37:47)
I wrote a note to myself here, discipline is hope. What a powerful, powerful statement.
Because this is a podcast about liberating literature, and I use “liberating” in all senses of the word, I end each conversation the same way by bringing it back to books. You've already talked about one book and you're welcome to expand on that, or you're welcome to talk about a different book that's been influential in your life. And this could be something that inspires you or a story that's just stuck with you for some reason.
Serena Jamison (38:22)
One of my earliest memories of the library is the fact that l the library is a place that one can satisfy their fixations. I love it for that reason.
I used to be very engaged with history, biographies, and other like works. I also used to be engaged in sports books. And so I have a wealth of knowledge about old time baseball, football, basketball, that kind of thing. Having those books there just to satisfy one's curiosity and being able to satisfy one's curiosity is such aa huge thing.
The other thing I want to mention with this is the fact that I know that I've undergone a transition in many different ways. And one of the transitions I've undergone is in the way I thought. I remember reading books such as Ayn Rand back in the day for objectivism. One of the things about reading books is that just because it shows up on a page doesn't mean that it's correct or real or anything else. Books and their theses need to be tested. And so one can absolutely read books that don't align necessarily with how they think in order to–I don't want to necessarily call it disprove, but certainly to evaluate, what the book says and whether or not you feel that it is worthwhile or useful in your own life, in your own mindset, in your own outlook, or anything else.
I know that there was a discussion not too long ago on shelving books from various political sources that was brought up by one of our trustees. And as much as I'm not crazy about seeing some of those political sources because I know what kind of speech is contained within, at the very least, it is worthwhile to read and to then put a critical mind towards that reading to ask yourself, is this worthwhile? Is this the kind of society that I want to cultivate? Books are just a reflection on society. So ultimately, having all the books in the library is still a useful thing. And one can learn as many different things, whether or not it's the specific facts of a biography, or if it's the area beyond. Well, why did this person act this way? Or why would one think this way? Or how can I relate that to my own experience and do a self-analysis on my own self?
Kelly Jensen/Liberating Lit (42:06)
I love that answer and really appreciate again how it just ties together so many of the things that you have brought up during this conversation. This has been a really wonderful time talking and thank you so much for bringing your wisdom and your expertise and your just curiosity and openness to the world. It's so appreciated.
Serena Jamison (42:32)
I have absolutely appreciated this discussion as well. Thank you.
