About & Contact

Tyler Wolanin is a legislative staffer and political organizer. He is originally from Barre, Massachusetts, and currently lives in Washington, with a stop-off in Roebling, New Jersey along the way. This website mostly serves the purpose of sharing his thoughts on whatever book he is reading, but here is some biographical information, just in case:

Tyler attended Quabbin Regional High School and graduated in 2010. He then studied Political Science (with a Public Policy Focus) at The George Washington University, and graduated in January of 2014. After spending a year working on political campaigns, Tyler was employed by Massachusetts Senator Anne Gobi, beginning in January of 2015.

Tyler worked as Senator Gobi’s District Director for four years. This work primarily consisted of addressing constituent and municipal casework, with cases brought during a regular circuit of office hours in each of the 28 towns of the Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire, and Middlesex State Senate District. Coverage at ceremonial events and public meetings was also an important part of his portfolio, as was maintenance of capital project databases and tracking of budget expenditures.

During his time as an aide to Sen. Gobi, Tyler also pursued a degree at the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public Policy, which was awarded in September of 2018. His coursework consisted of classes in policy analysis, legislative drafting, comparative public policy, federal budgeting, and managing public sector projects. His capstone project was an analysis of the effectiveness of the Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1988.

Tyler departed from Senator Gobi’s office in December of 2018 to continue his legislative sector career in the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services. He worked as an Assistant Research Analyst in the Commerce, Labor, and Industry Section from 2018 to July of 2021, drafting bills and performing legislative research at the request of Members, and serving as the Aide to the Senate Labor Committee from November 2020 to July 2021. He currently works as a Research Assistant at the Congressional Research Service, in the Congress and Judiciary Section of the Government and Finance Division. In his spare time he is writing a biography of Massachusetts state legislator Roland D. Sawyer (D-Ware), forthcoming from Lexington Books in 2024.

A Note on the Blog

I hadn’t originally intended for this to become a book blog, but that was the path of least resistance for practice writing and thinking. The posts were all written on the day that the book in question is finished, so often they are more of a note than a review (with some summarization provided for nonfiction). Please expect no profundity and plenty of semicolons.

Contact

I can be reached by email through the form below: