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
• bidirectional influences between instrument development and musical change
• 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:

• "We sing to awaken people's enthusiasm for themselves." (Michael Kline)
• "If not now, when?" (Roger Cartwright)
• "Show up. Then show up again." (Bob DeLuca)
• "Thought leads to error." (Pete Sutherland)
• "It's more like it is now than it was before" (George Wilson)
• "Dance like it matters." (Dave Stryker)
• "Never change anything ever. (Except that which needs changing.)" (John Dexter)
• "Don't fuck up." (also John Dexter)
• "There are times and places for performing, but sharing can happen so much more often, and it's good for us all. Maybe it's even good for the world." (David Kaynor)

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