I'm a...

singer and song leader, with passions for

• facilitating inclusive community singing
• researching and writing song histories
• keeping traditions alive by encouraging community ownership and change
• village chanteyman, songster, tradition bearer, Town Common Songs (2020-)

community organiser, inspiring communities through

• holding space for and encouraging engagement with participatory folk music and art
• building, practicing, and promoting a model for safe in-person community singing throughout the pandemic
• political campaign volunteer coordination and field organising
• non-profit management and public speaking on non-profit funding models
• stewarding and advocating for community spaces
• hosting a house concert series and traditional folk arts workshops
• town Library Trustee (2022-) and village Common Hall board (2022-)
• many roles, Obama for America (2008)
• senior copyeditor and managing editor, Strange Horizons (2000-2004)

writer and editor, with experience in

• data security policy content editing
• political policy analysis and writing
• publication style guide development and application
• freelance technical editor (2021-)
• senior policy director, Joe Hoeffel campaign for PA governor (2010)

historical geographer, researching and writing on

• effects of advances in transportation modes and infrastructure on migration, time, and leisure
• cartographers in nineteenth-century Franklin county, Mass
• tracing memetic change in music across time and place

home health aide, with practice in

• adaptive communication technology and ventilator operation
• quality-of-life provision and end-of-life hospice care
• live-in caregiver (2011, 2020-21)

ethnomusicologist, with academic publications on

• community identity following music revival in the YouTube era
• free-reed organology and cultural history
• MA, University of Sheffield / autoethnographic fieldwork on the Isle of Man
• conference papers presented to British Forum for Ethnomusicology, Musical Instrument Research Network, and English Folk Dance & Song Society

concertina maker, experienced journeyman in

• concertina design, making, and repair
• vintage instrument restoration
• concertina elf, The Button Box (2010-16) / freelance repair work

librarian, focusing on

• academic and legal reference and investigations
• archival collection cataloging
• contextual historical and genealogical research
• MLIS, Drexel University / consulting librarian for hire

cognitive linguist, researching and teaching

• structures and rules underlying music, dance, and movement arts
• BA, Swarthmore College / lecturer in linguistics, Swarthmore College

I also make maple sugar, morris dance, and draw architectural models and maps. Current projects include designing and building an electric car, a railroad, a model solar system, and an orrery.

Wisdom from friends:

• "If not now, when?"
• "Show up. Then show up again."
• "Thought leads to error."
• "Dance like it matters."
• "Never change anything ever. (Except that which needs changing.)"
• "Don't fuck up."

Wisdom from songs:

• "Every act of creation is an act of faith"
• "Thinking will drive a man crazy"
• "There is a crack in everything: that's how the light gets in"
• "We are not our gravest deeds; you are not your grieving"
• "Dust thou art, to dust returnest was not spoken of the soul"
• "There's dawn beyond the night"
• "A song is somewhere to begin"
• "Don't wait until tomorrow to let yourself be free"
• "To go in the dark with a light is to know the light"
• "What we sing is what we are"
• "We shall be known by the company we keep"

Contact:

 will   gmail
  .   @   .
quale    com