{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Episode 58: Claudia Samano-Losada loves libraries as much as she loves her communities","description":"Claudia Samano Losado has many talents.  Early-childhood educator. World traveler. Life coach. Recreation-center owner. Dance-movement instructor.  But maybe most importantly, Losado is a fervent Oak Harbor Library supporter.  \u201cI think I\u2019m very passionate about a lot of things, and one of my passions is to share with others and to take and give in the same way,\u201d said Losado, a member of the library\u2019s board. \u201cSince I have had so much from the library I\u2019ve wanted to give back to, and this is a very good way to give back, but not just that, to know more about the library.\u201d  What she gets from the Oak Harbor Library, she returns to the Oak Harbor community.   \u201cIt\u2019s a way of connecting the community and the people with the same interests, so I\u2019m connecting businesses, connecting families, connecting families with little kids, connecting families with teenagers,\u201d she said. \u201cSo we are all in the same boat and it\u2019s awesome for me to be able to share one thing from another.\u201d  Losado grew up in Mexico City, where her future husband was visiting when they met and started dating. She has lived in the United States since 2002 and her husband\u2019s military career sent them to California, Florida and Oak Harbor. She used the library in every community she lived in.  \u201cI\u2019ve been involved in every single place with libraries. What the libraries offer to the community in each state is amazing. Not everybody everywhere has the opportunity to have a library that offers free books to check out, free programs, help for the parents, so many things,\u201d she said.  \u201cWhen I moved to Washington state and I discovered this library system, I just fell in love. It\u2019s the best experience I have had with libraries. The community needs to know. Because the community sometimes are not fully aware of everything the library can offer. It has been kind of like my job lately.\u201d  Losado makes it a point to spread the word about all the services and programs the Oak Harbor Library and Sno-Isle Libraries offers to its customers.   \u201cI think it\u2019s important for us, for the leaders in the community, to spread the word of what things are happening, and good things are happening since I took advantage of that,\u201d she said. \u201cI want everybody to know what is happening at the library.\u201d  When Losado says \u201ccommunity,\u201d she sees a big picture. It\u2019s the people who use the Oak Harbor Library. It\u2019s the customers in her In Motion recreation center. It\u2019s the island\u2019s Navy population. It\u2019s the people who live in Oak Harbor and the surrounding North Whidbey Island area. They all connect.  \u201cI see it this way,\u201d Losado said. \u201cWe have our own interests and our own little communities in Oak Harbor. We have a military community. We have people who go to the library every single Tuesday, every single Wednesday, and it\u2019s the library community. My people, my families ... it\u2019s a small family that knows In Motion, that advocates movement, advocates physical activities. I see that some stuff connects us, however we need more connection. We need more connection between us, between all these little communities, between military, library, In Motion and all the places that are of course part of this community.\u201d  Losado\u2019s upbringing in Mexico, a year of study in Great Britain followed by time in Spain, plus her 18 years in the U.S. gives her an open mind about immigration issues and diversity.  As a child, she said she always looked for and saw the similarities in people, not differences.   Now she notices how many people focus on differences instead of similarities. She believes it complicates how we live as a society, \u201cand how we express our interest as a community.\u201d  \u201cI think since I moved to the United States, I recognize something that I didn\u2019t know before,\u201d Losado said. \u201cI recognize that some people look at you in different ways, and some people see differences you didn\u2019t even know you had.\u201d  While some have different opinions about diversity, Losado appreciates those who \u201ctake it as an amazing way to be in the same society, growing together.\u201d  America is a diverse, multicultural nation, she said, but it\u2019s becoming less cross-cultural. That only magnifies the perceived differences.  \u201cI think diversity is (something) to celebrate,\u201d she said. \u201cIf we all have a goal as a country, as a community, as a society, we need to embrace our similarities.\u201d  She tries to instill that message to her movement and art students with the motto, \u201cOur differences will divide us more, our similarities will make us one.\u201d  \u201cI also try to unite,\u201d Losado said. \u201cI try to give the message, it\u2019s OK to be different, it\u2019s OK to speak a second language, it\u2019s OK to be in a multicultural family. It is OK. That will actually make us a better community, a better society, and it will unite us.\u201d  ","author_name":"Check It Out!","author_url":"https:\/\/podcast.sno-isle.org\/","html":"