We invite you to learn a little about the people in our community in our new, occasional series “Meet a Neighbor.” In each of these posts, we profile someone who lives or works in Amherst by sharing their responses to our 20-ish questions, both serious and fun. This week: meet Lynne Weintraub.

Lynne Weintraub is the coordinator of the Jones Library ESL Center in Amherst where she has managed ESL volunteers for over 30 years. She is the author of the popular Citizenship: Passing the Test textbook series at ProLiteracy New Readers Press. Lynne is a well-known presenter on citizenship and adult education/ESL topics and is a co-leader of the national Naturalization Network, a professional learning and mentoring network supporting citizenship instructors.

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Full Name?

Lynne Weintraub

Nickname?

“Wein-trouble” (care of my friend Simon Alciere)

Years living or working in Amherst?

45 (transferred to UMass in 1979)

Job/What keeps you busy most days?

ESL Coordinator at Jones Library

Hobbies?

I tend a ridiculous number of houseplants. I like trying to pickle vegetables, and every spring I volunteer on Star Island caning chairs

Book you’d recommend to a friend?

She Came to Slay: the Life and Times of Harriet Tubman, by Erica Armstrong Dunbar

Last show or movie you streamed?

The Barbie Movie

Five things you wouldn’t want to live without?

My health, my dog, my peace of mind, my friends, my savings

Top of your bucket list?

More travel

Life-changing experience?

Supervising teachers in a refugee camp in Southeast Asia (1990)

First job?

Library page (I was 14)

A hidden talent or little-known fact about you?

I’m a good landscape photographer; I graduated from high school when I was 16

Dumbest thing you ever did?

Forgotten I’d already been vaccinated for shingles and tried to do it again.

One trend you’d like to see return?

Responsible journalism, civility in public settings, and honorable statesmanship (yeah, I know that’s two more than you asked for)

If you could have dinner with any 3 people, alive or dead, who would you invite?

Both grandfathers and my UU youth group friend Daniel Pentlarge 

Best (or worst) advice you ever got?

When I expressed the feeling that I didn’t belong in the small close-minded town I suffered through my teen years in, my mother told me “every place is like this.” I didn’t believe her. 

Most used emoji?

🤷‍♀️

Favorite place to get a bite?

Miss Saigon, Crazy Noodles

3 favorite foods?

Almost anything Thai or Vietnamese

What gives you the creeps?

Toxic masculinity

Who do you most admire?

Mr Rogers. He said that when things get scary, look for the helpers. I admire the helpers. 

Are you sunrise, daylight, twilight, or night?

Daylight…and autumn (not that you asked)

What would you like to be known/remembered for?

Kindness

Which song can you listen to all day long?

Oh Heavenly Day by Patty Griffin