Amanda Jaros Champion released her new book “100 Things to Do in Ithaca Before You Die” Sept. 1. This marks Champion’s second published book after “Labor of Love: A Literary Mama Staff Anthology” released Jan. 26. Champion has lived in Ithaca for about 24 years and has been serving on the Tompkins County Legislature since 2018.
Staff writer Liam McDermott spoke with Champion about her new book and the inspiration behind it, including her history with the City of Ithaca.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Liam McDermott: What was it that originally brought you to Ithaca?
Amanda Jaros Champion: I was young and traveling — I had moved around the country doing different jobs and stuff. I learned about Farm Sanctuary over in Watkins Glen, and … I ended up deciding to go to Farm Sanctuary. I worked there for a little while, cleaning barns and helping to deal with animals and all that, which was great fun. On our off days, we would come [to] Ithaca and go to GreenStar or go see a movie. I just really liked the area andDdd I started meeting people. It’s a super fun college town, [with] lots of young people around, and I was ready to stop moving around and stay in Ithaca for a while. 24 years later, here I am.
LM: What sparked your passion for writing?
AJC: I think I’ve always been a writer. I’ve always written in a journal — since I was in middle school and over the years, as a young adult and in college — and I’ve written short stories and essays, but I never really took it that seriously. … When I had kids [and] I was home more, [I had] to come up with outlets for my thoughts and what was going on. Having kids is what kind of sparked it into becoming a more serious thing for me. I ended up finding this online literary journal called “Literary Mama,” and I became an editor with them. I stayed with them for almost 10 years, doing various editing work, working with writers, doing their blog and all kinds of stuff. I felt like I really wanted to pursue this, something that … I love and I’m good at, so I went back to school and got my MFA in creative nonfiction. I’ve tried various kinds of writing. I was writing kids’ books for a little while, [which] is a hard genre to get into, but writing essays and nonfiction stuff comes more naturally to me, so I kind of have ended up with nonfiction [as] my main thing that I write.
LM: What encouraged you to write a book about Ithaca?
AJC: I’ve done a lot of wonderful things and been a part of a lot of groups and businesses and organizations and I wanted to write something that would celebrate this town that I love. … There are so many trails around here and the waterfalls and everything, so I was doing some research to try and find a publisher who might publish a hiking book. I came across Reedy Press, and they had some similar books [about hiking so] I reached out to them and they said, “Well we don’t really want a hiking book, but we’re looking for somebody to write ‘100 things to do in Ithaca before you die.’” I was like, “Great! That sounds like fun.” This [book is part of] a series that they have [in] many other cities around the country.
LM: There are 100 things in this book but what is your favorite thing about Ithaca?
AJC: I would say that the trails and the outdoors kind of stuff would be my favorite. … The two things I love about Ithaca are the natural beauty: the lake, the waterfalls and the trails. We’re just so lucky to have so many wonderful outdoor things that you can do here, but I also think it’s a really special community of people who care and want to be involved and are activists. There’s a lot of really good people here doing really good work.
LM: What types of activities are listed in the book?
AJC: It’s different sections. There’s a food and drink section, which I feel like there could be 100 restaurants in Ithaca to visit, but I had to kind of narrow it down. I think I have 25 restaurants and coffee shops and breweries and that sort of stuff. Then there’s the music and entertainment section, which has some festivals, some of our theater companies, the Hangar Theatre, Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers, that sort of thing. Then the sports and recreation section, there’s culture and history, and that has our museums, the various art, things like the Greater Ithaca Art Trail … that kind of stuff is in that section. The final section is shopping and fashion, Ithaca doesn’t have a lot of shopping and fashion, but I put in things like visiting the historic DeWitt Mall, which has numerous shops and restaurants there that you can go to, or Buffalo Street Books, which is our wonderful indie bookstore, and GreenStar is in the shopping section, so I tried to make the shopping section varied and interesting for what we have here.
