I sat down with Friends of Idaho Public Television Board of Directors Second Vice President Jenny Emery Davidson recently to talk about her connections with Idaho Public Television, her ties to South Central Idaho, and the books that she can’t put down. As second vice president, she’s on the Executive Committee and she explains what that entails. “The Executive Committee meets periodically between the regular board meetings to discuss any issues that have arisen.” Jenny has been on the Friends Board for three years now. “For anyone wanting to deepen their relationship with the expansive state of Idaho, Idaho Public Television is essential viewing. And not only the programs, but also the website. I increasingly turn to the website for the vast array of resources that it offers. I think it’s really part of our civic education as Idahoans: to understand the state in its fullness; and Idaho Public Television helps us to do that.”
Jenny hails from Hailey now, but she grew up in Twin Falls. “That’s where I spent all of my childhood and that’s where I graduated from high school,” she says. Jenny went to a small college in Minnesota called Carleton College. During summer breaks, she worked on a wildland firefighter crew in the Shoshone District of the BLM. After an additional stint as a firefighter and a Journalism internship under her belt, Jenny turned to additional studies. She attended graduate school at the University of Utah, where she earned her doctorate in American Studies, focusing on the literature and history of the American West. Once done, Jenny wanted to come back to Idaho, because, she said, “This is my home.” She was an English instructor at the College of Southern Idaho for a dozen years, as well as the administrator for the CSI Hailey Off-Campus Center. Eventually, she landed her current position as the executive director of The Community Library in Ketchum, which includes the Wood River Museum of History and Culture and the historic Ernest and Mary Hemingway House.
A devotee of the West in general and Idaho in particular, Jenny believes Idaho Public Television covers the entire state well. “I admire how earnestly Idaho Public Television gives attention to the many different and changing stories of the state; whether it be stories of the outdoors, individuals, the arts, history, sports, or politics,” she says. “I think that the deep information that we get from Idaho Public Television programs is necessary as well as enriching for anyone who lives in and cares about this state.”
In her free time, Jenny loves to read. “Thus, working at a library is both a blessing and a curse, because I’m constantly surrounded by all the books there are to read,” she laughs. Jenny likes to get outside, too. “I love to do anything outdoors. I’m an avid hiker, camper, and cross-country skier. I love spending time on Idaho rivers and lakes., the mountains, the high desert, and canyons.” She remembers going to her great-grandfather’s cabin near Island Park growing up. “There are very specific sections of the Henry’s Fork that I have an abiding love for. That area, with the lodgepole pines, the beautiful clear water of Big Springs.” Growing up in Twin Falls, the Snake River Canyon is a favorite as well; Jenny notes the “astonishing” geography of the river. Nowadays she spends a lot of time exploring the Pioneer and Boulder Mountains with her husband and their athletic dog.
In the snacking realm, Jenny lists some favorites as chocolate chip cookies, Fritos, “...and let’s throw in almonds for good measure,” she says. And when it comes to PBS Kids, Jenny vividly remembers watching Sesame Street. “My mom always says one of her distinctive memories from my childhood is me running down the hallways saying, ‘Street’s on! Street’s on!’ I was so excited for Sesame Street,” she shares. And her number one character is Snuffleupagus. “I believed in him!”
Working in a library, Jenny has easy access to some great written works about the Gem State. “One favorite is Train Dreams by Denis Johnson...a novella set in North Idaho around a massive forest fire. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson is seminal for me; it was the first novel that I read that I felt got at the spirit of the place that I called home. There is an aching, lonely beauty to it that resonates with me still. The novel Idaho by Emily Ruskovich, which, to me, has a lot of the same feeling as Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping is a deeply profound story about family and memory that is deeply embedded in the rural Idaho landscape. I also recommend Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang, a novel about a young girl who is kidnapped in China and ultimately ends up in Idaho during the mining boom. It is harrowing, and beautiful and important. Set for Life by Judith Freeman is a rich novel about unlikely relationships in Idaho, and Anthony Doerr’s essay “Idaho” in the anthology State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America is a wonderful and surprising exploration of the state’s geography and history.