LINDA HALL and I had arranged to share a hotel room that night. Tall and redheaded, Linda told me once that if she could "do it all again" she would like to have been a country and western singer. Now whenever I see Linda, I always imagine her on stage with a backup band and a microphone in her hand.

After I had unpacked my things we sat cross-legged on the two double beds and talked about how Linda's interest in literacy had evolved. "I used to be a reporter for a small newspaper in B.C.," Linda began. "Because I was thinking of going back to school myself I decided to do a series of features on adult education. I got a lead to talk to somebody who was working with adults who were in basic literacy. At the time I didn't know what that was. So for my last interview I went up to the Nelson Campus of Selkirk College and had a long chat with a fellow who told me all about adult literacy and took me to a classroom where adults were learning how to read and write. I was absolutely floored. I just didn't know that there were adults who couldn't read and write. That was in 1984."

"In 1986 we moved to Fairview. I was asked by the College if I would teach an evening course in communication. One night on my way out of the building, I saw a brochure about the literacy program. I decided then to volunteer as a tutor."

Linda was hired as the coordinator of the Second Chance Adult Tutoring Service at Fairview College 7 months after she began tutoring. Three years later Linda's family moved to Barrhead where she now volunteers both as a tutor and an advisory committee member for the literacy program coordinated by Cheryl Sanderman- Gergatz.

As well as working on the Famous Albertan Project, Linda was contracted by the AAAL earlier in the year to act as coordinator for provincial International· Literacy Year events. Since January I had been receiving Linda's upbeat and informative ILY Newsletters, always enjoying the news of literacy celebrations going on around the province. I asked Linda if she felt the ILY celebrations have had a positive effect on general public awareness. "Well, it was definitely a lot of work for everyone," Linda said with a bit of a sigh, "but I think it's too soon to really see any results. The repercussions will be more evident in the next couple of years. I do know though, that when I talk to the media now they know what the word 'literacy' means. That wasn't necessarily true a year ago."

Linda was feeling tired from her day but it had gone well and she was pleased with the progress of the Famous Albertans Project. She commented on being surprised by the confidence the students demonstrated as they approached the new ideas she presented to them today. "I have to admit," she said, "that my confidence really builds as I help others learn. It's really been good for me to be a tutor. I never thought I could teach - I was always a writer or a reporter - and now I'm doing seminars at conferences and teaching workshops like the one I did today. I really enjoy meeting new people and trying out new ideas. It really feels good when it all comes together and it works."

Linda and I are both travelling a lot with our jobs so we also talked about how involved our families have been in our work. Linda told me about her 10-year-old son's response to the Read-In in September. "He came home from school one day and told me that the Read-In brochures had been handed out at school that afternoon. Apparently he told the teacher that she didn't need to bother giving one to him because 'my mother has hundreds of them at home!'"