Welcome back all you Volunteers! I am going to make an effort to update this blog so you will feel more inclined to frequent it and maybe contribute. I know Jaime had hoped to create an online community among all the volunteers and I think she had the right idea. Looking back over my time as a volunteer, one of my greatest enjoyments was to interact with other volunteers. I loved science and I loved the museum setting but I truly loved sharing with other volunteers. When you volunteer at PRI, you often find you are by yourself and, I think, that will eventually diminish your enjoyment. I think you start to lose the attraction to volunteering if you can’t share with others. So I am back to this blog. I am going to be interviewing the volunteers, and maybe the staff, and publish it in the blog. This should accomplish two things. I will get to know each of you better and you will get to know each other and grow as a community. My first victim is Mike Marano. He has been one of my fellow volunteers who have never wavered to help me or the museum when we needed him. Usually we are working at our allotted volunteer jobs so I have never gotten to know him better so now we all will. Sit back and enjoy.

                                         Mike working on the Stegosaurus vertebrae in Prep Lab.

Mike Marano: Prep Lab volunteer. “I volunteer because it lets me do paleontology and educate people.”

Mike was born in Marathon, NY and grew up as the older brother to his 2 brothers and sister. He attended Marathon HS and seemed to always desire a career in Paleontology. But as many of us, he had to pay the bills and spent most of his life working in industry. He worked at Les Strom for 2 years as a laborer, but now he is at BorgWarner in Ithaca. He has worked there for 8 years as a tension assembler. He told me he likes to make everyone tense at work so I guess he is doing his job well. One of the things he has done is write a letter to BorgWarner, as an employee and MotE volunteer, asking for them to support PRI. I have also seen him come in blurried-eyed after a night shift just to sit in the museum to watch-over a new exhibit. Since he officially started in 2008, he has volunteered in almost every capacity for the museum.  He has worked in every Discovery Lab and the Prep Lab. In the Prep Lab, he is our “go-to guy.”  In fact right now he is the head preparator of the Carnegie Loan.  “What is that?” you ask. Well, stop by the Prep Lab Friday mornings and he would love to educate you on all things Dinosaurs and maybe teach you something about the Morrison Formation. As for educating, he has also volunteered to help with school groups and scout troops visiting the museum. He has even gone out of his way to educate a certain volunteer coordinator about synapsids. He also volunteers at remote sites. He was especially helpful at the State Fair. He said he loved talking to State Fair visitors about NY state geology and paleontological history. (and the corndogs and free admission weren’t bad either!)

     When Mike isn’t working or volunteering he stays busy. He of course loves to fossil collect (but who doesn’t) and he also enjoys golf and building models esp. ship, cars and tanks. The last choice stems from a family of Marines. He can talk military history with the best of them. I have learned more about military planes from Mike in an hour than I did all my life.  Music is another of Mike’s passions. He is open to many types but he had to mention a certain guitarist, Desire Bassett, he found on the internet. She is definitely most impressive. I think guitar music might be closest to his heart. When I asked Mike what was favorite food, he quickly answered, “Anything Italian.” Of course, what would you expect coming from someone named Marano?

     “Morocco” was his answer to my question of his dream vacation. Many of you may wonder about that answer but I know where he was going with that. We both just sat in silence shaking our heads for a few moments, thinking about the next great dinosaur discovery that might be coming out of those deserts.  I asked Mike what would he rather be doing than his present job and he quickly said that he would love to be a field paleontologist.  What a surprise! No wonder he is here volunteering. It is great to be able to volunteer somewhere that allows you to do and share your passion!

My last question to him, and believe me he was happy about it, was for him to complete a statement.

“Science, to me, is…. Discovery!”

Way to go Mike, thanks for being my first guinea pig!