Campus Event: Dr. Lisa Dodson on "The Moral Underground: How Ordinary People Subvert an Unfair Economy."

This event is part of Berea College's Convocation series. This convocation took place on November 29, 2012, and it was the last convocation for the fall 2012 term. I am running a bit behind on posting my notes of convocations that I attend. Part of the reason I am posting these notes now is that I just started reading her book, The Moral Underground, and I want to have these notes handy in case I decide to review the book later. I will be upfront and say that given the current U.S. climate of blaming and demonizing the poor that is so pervasive, much of what Dr. Dodson says would probably not be very popular with certain people. I know that she probably would not have been very popular in a place like Tyler, Texas where I used to work. Here in Berea, where folks have a stronger sense of social justice and caring for the community, the message fits in well.

The only quibble I had with this event is that it was too short. As she was getting interesting, she ran out of time. By the way, that is a bit of a disadvantage with the convocation series, especially the ones that happen in the daytime. They try to keep them to about 50 minutes no matter what (about the length of a class period). They take place on Thursdays, and after the convocations, campus usually holds labor meetings (every student meets with their work unit), and students are fairly anxious to make that meeting on time, so convos are naturally restricted. I did mention to one of the convo committee members that they really should consider a different weekday to avoid that conflict. I don't think much will come of that, but I did mention it. Anyhow, let's leave that aside and get to my notes.

Notes are what she said that I heard and jotted down. I may add comments or clarifications in parenthesis:

• The country (the U.S.) has become unbalanced in a short amount of time. In the last 25 years, the disparity mirrors Third World countries. 
• In her research, she has uncovered an underground response. Dr. Dodson argues that this response matches with our history; it is a response to unfairness (and the U.S. has a history of responding to unfairness). She argues that this is the best of the nation, even if it is hidden. However, she has been challenged on this notion. 
• Why does inequality matter? 
• The national well-being declines with the erosion of children's well-being. 
• Child health and education are undermined. 
• More births to unmarried and teen mothers and social ills. These are ills that do not have an impact on the wealthy. 
• Low wages and family unfriendly jobs. Low wages and little to no benefits, flexibility for parents, etc. Also, no paid leave days for care of new children-- none, zero. (And before anyone wants to bring up the Family and Medical Leave Act, which employers love to hide behind to say "hey, we do something," keep in mind that FMLA does NOT provide for paid leave. It is unpaid, and it has all sorts of other restrictions on it). 
• Politicians and policy makers fail or neglect to see the faces of people. 
• Poverty conditions are often under the radar. The poor keep low profiles. Why? Because social and governmental agency response is not to help, but to punish. For instance, taking the kids away instead of helping with child care. 
• Morally ambiguous moments become more common in conditions of inequality. With unfair rules, some managers and others in positions of authority or in positions to help "bend" rules for their workers. 
• Question: do we have a responsibility to care for others beyond ourselves? (We pretty much know the answer most conservatives and right wingers in the U.S. would give). Those in the moral underground conclude that if they stand idly by, then they are colluding with unfairness. Small, quiet, hidden acts of civil disobedience or human decency. 

You can learn a bit more about Dr. Dodson from her official website. 

Holiday Post 2012: Some reflection as the year is almost here, or just getting some stuff out in case the Mayans were right

I just realized I am running a bit behind in my holiday blogging this year. Usually, I would have posted my traditional holiday posts by now. What can I say? It has been a busy year, and there were some changes.

The big change for my family and I was the new job and move to said job. I started my new job as Coordinator of Information Literacy for the Hutchins Library of Berea College in Berea, Kentucky. This is a bit different for me. My previous workplaces were public, state institutions. I was a state employee. Berea College is a private liberal arts college. It is also a religious school; they are non-sectarian. Some of you who know I am a bit of a heathen are probably wondering what would make me come to a religious school, liberal or not. Well, to be honest, their mission is one I can get behind. In addition, the job is the kind of work I have wanted to do for a long time: to lead an instruction and information literacy program, so when I saw the opening, I applied. While I am geographically flexible, usually what takes me to a place is the job, then the place. For others in the job market, place is probably higher on the list. For me, it is more of where can I go and make some difference, where can I go and use my skills to best serve the students and community I will be working in. Those are the kind of questions I ask when I go out into the librarian job market. Sure, I look at other factors (I am not that naive or idealistic), but mainly I look at the job. As for Berea College being a religious school, it turns out they take inclusiveness and diversity here very seriously, and those are things I take seriously as well. So far then it has been a good match. I am happy here. The family is happy here. I can say that my employers and colleagues are happy I am here.

Berea College is a small school. We have about 1500 hundred students here, so it is much smaller than other places I have worked in. But for me, and I say that I am most fortunate, it is starting to feel like home, both in terms of the campus and in terms of the community. It is not a big city, but if I want "big city" stuff, a drive up I-75 to Lexington fixes that (it is only about 40 minutes away give or take), and other areas are not too far. The people here are very nice, in an honest and sincere way I had not experienced in a while. I am trying not to sound like I am bragging, but I think I may have found my best destiny here. I have made it through my first semester, and I can say that, while ready for the holiday break, I do look forward to the spring semester. We have a few good ideas and projects to work on. On another note, I am feeling like blogging again, including blogging a bit about librarianship again. That may well be a good sign that things are looking up. So, stay tuned here and at The Gypsy Librarian for more. 

The move here was not easy; in fact, it had some very stressful moments. It was not easy to move out of Tyler, Texas. In fact, Texas has given us all sorts of headaches when it came to transferring some paperwork for things like our vehicle registration in KY, and hell, The Better Half had to make a few phone calls back and forth to explain to those hicks that we no longer lived in Smith County, TX, and therefore could not make it to jury duty (true story. And I call them hicks because The Better Half had to deal with quite an asshole, to be blunt, over the phone who just was too attached to his or her script to actually figure things out and use common sense. I think we finally have it sorted out, and they won't be sending the Texas Rangers to bring her back). However, those moments were made easier by people here at Berea who helped me through various steps along the way from the housing (it turns out the campus offers some transitional housing for incoming faculty, and I got lucky to get one) to students from the library who came and helped us move stuff into the house. I cannot thank them and other people who helped along the way enough, so I am writing about it here as another way to thank them for their kindness and generosity.

So, what the heck have I been doing?

• For one, we are reviewing how we assess our information literacy program. As of this writing, we are working on a new pre- and post- instruction session assessment to use with our General Studies students. We are experimenting with LibAnalytics for the implementation.
• We are looking at our teaching practices. I am trying to move us to a more reflective practice for our teaching. We are working on and using more active learning techniques. We are lucky to have two Immersion-trained librarians here (one of my team members and me). 
• We are starting a library blog. It is "live" now, but we are not really launching in full til the spring semester. Feel free to take a small peek here if interested. We hope it will make a good tool to go along with our Facebook page and other social media. One thing that is good here is we tend to feel free to experiment, but we also know not to jump into every bandwagon. We do think it over whether a tool will serve us or not. 
• We teach. We teach a lot. Our big client here is the General Studies program, but we also provide some instruction for other classes. Down the road (as in soon), we plan on doing some curriculum mapping to see where else we can "deploy" our services to better serve our faculty and students. 
• We are exploring outreach ideas. We have a small calendar for displays now, and I have some ideas for possible library programs to implement. 
• Also, looking into solidifying our liaison work with faculty. 
• I lead a small team of instructional services librarians. It is an interesting experience as one of them is an older (both in age and experience) librarian and the other is a newer, eager, but very knowledgeable in instruction librarian. I think they give me the best of both worlds. I am learning to become a mentor to the younger librarian while I strive to learn all I can from my older fellow. And yes, I am their manager, but I strive for a form of service leadership where I lead more by example. 
• And I try to participate in campus life as much as possible, both for outreach (to represent the library) and just for personal satisfaction. 

That is just a little bit. I am hoping to also find time to write a bit more professionally, something that is encouraged here. I am faculty, but as library faculty, I am not tenure-line, or do I have to publish or perish. I do have full privileges like the rest of the faculty, including vote in the faculty senate, being able to be drafted for committee work, so on. It's not bad. It's different since I was always a staff member. Now, I am officially an Assistant Professor of Library Science (it does sound cool, huh?). However, if I want to publish and write, it is encouraged. Maybe this will be the year I publish something other than a mere blog that four people read. Don't hold your breath though. I am not one for resolutions, but this is something I want to try. Also, get my bearings on other professional development, something also encouraged here. We'll see.

All in all, the latter half of 2012 was pretty good overall. Well, as long as I did not watch too many news (more on that on other posts of the holiday series), and for that, I am grateful.

Coming up next, the fun posts, so stay tuned. And before I go for now, I want to wish my family, colleagues, friends near and far a safe and happy holiday season in whatever form they celebrate it (or choose not to celebrate). If you drink, please do so in moderation, and whatever you do, do not get into a motor vehicle intoxicated. There are enough tragedies already, please don't add one more.

Happy Holidays!

Reading about the reading life, April 27. 2012

A few more items on reading and the reading life I have read recently, or that I have pondered about recently.

• Via Berfrois, a post on travel writing, tourism, and how traveling usually means often seeing one part of the place.  What the tourists often get is a performance, a show, an illusion of the tourist attraction. Things like the poor of a nation overseas are rarely if ever seen. They are also missing from travel narratives. This is a nice little reflective piece. 
• Via The New York Times, it turns out that India is "one of the best English-language book markets in the world." Publishers large and small are heading there, in part hoping for new markets and income given the chaos e-books is causing them in their home nations. This also means more literary agencies are sprouting and thriving. Another reason: demographic changes, rising literacy and the increase of Indians speaking English, the lingua franca of economic growth." 
• It seems that taking a trip from mainland China into Hong Kong to buy books censored by the Chinese government is a big business in Hong Kong. An article entitled "Beating China's Book Bans in Hong Kong" was published by the Asia Sentinel. I find interesting the ways people find workarounds and how they adapt in order to get the reading that they want. You can censor all you want. People will get it somehow. 
• A nice gallery of book sculptures. Basically, the artist takes old books, that likely would have been pulped or ended up in a landfill, and makes beautiful sculptures with it. Find the gallery here at The Telegraph (UK). A statement from the artist can be found here.  A hat tip to 3 Quarks Daily over here.
• Via the blog Papeles Perdidos, a discussion of the apparent curse of Dashiell Hammett's novel Red Harvest (Spanish language article). The curse is that the novel, unlike others by the same author, has not been made into a movie. It discusses reasons and goes over some of the noir genre. Article comes in context of a new Spanish language translation of the complete works featuring the Continental Op by Hammett. 
• Via The Christian Science Monitor, a defense on why we do need indie bookstores.  A bit from the article: "What makes excellent booksellers excellent is that they read a ton, they are surrounded by and have at their disposal people who do the same, and that they are skilled at the practice of giving recommendations.  Make no mistake, giving recommendations is a skill. Just ask any master sommelier (or customer who has had the misfortune of interacting with a lousy bookseller).  You have to listen to what a customer says about their tastes, interests, and desires and discern from that what it is they’re looking for, what will most satisfy them right now.  It is a delicate process of matchmaking." Gee, that sounds just like Reader's Advisory, a skill your local librarian has, and you can certainly use when you visit your local public library. I am not saying to abandon your indie bookstores; far from it, I love indie bookstores, and we need more good ones in Tyler, Texas. But hey, you certainly should take a trip to your local library too, especially if your budget is a little tight.

Booknote: Health Care Reform

I knew when I started reading this that I wanted to share this book. Now that I finished it, I do want to share the book with others. I think it is an excellent book on the topic for general readers. Apparently the book is so good that some people feel threatened by it. I borrowed the copy I read from the local public library. Our public library is not always known to be a bastion of open exchange of ideas. So, when I checked the book out, and I finally opened the first page to read it, this is what I found:

Yes, that is a photo of the first page as I found it when I got it from the public library. Apparently they don't check books very well when they are returned. Anyhow, a helpful local reader decided to make it his or her duty to let me know the following: "This book is heavily slanted toward a left-wing philosophy." I guess that the desire to educate others about better health care services and reform is a left-leaning cause. Has to be since right wingers pretty much do not believe in the common good. And I am willing to bet the "helpful" reader is probably a Medicare beneficiary (this is based on local demographic, which is heavy in terms of seniors. Aside from some children, I may well be one of the youngest readers the library gets). At any rate, I did feel the need to share that little tidbit as it is a reflection of the kind of nonsense I get to put up with on a close to daily basis. In the end, as tempted as I was to write back, "did you know that Richard Nixon proposed universal health care (he called it "comprehensive") at one point?" It is tempting, but I am simply removing the sticky note before I turn it in. The next reader does deserve a clean book.

Here is my review as I posted it to my GoodReads profile:


Health Care Reform by Jonathan Gruber

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book is a must-buy for public libraries; a few academic libraries may probably want to acquire it as well, especially to have handy for freshmen writing research papers relating to health care reform issues.

The book is a basic explanation of the Affordable Care Act as well as an argument for the need of reform in American health care. However, do think that just because I say "basic" it is a simplistic book. Actually, the book provides very good, clear, concise explanations. It starts by laying out the current situation, the need for reform, and how the ACA moves towards that reform. The author is an economics scholar and one of the people who helped craft Massachusetts new health reform plan. The book also does a pretty good job to dispel the various myths and fear statements that opponents of reform have used to prevent reform from happening.

The books graphics are good. They are in black and white. Nothing fancy here, but the visual elements complements the content very nicely. If you want to learn more about the topic, this is certainly a very good place to start. If you have neighbors or friends who think it is all a conspiracy, that it is just "socialism in medicine," a government takeover, or other nonsense, hand them this book. It should help clear their objections. To be honest, maybe this is the kind of material we need for other forms of major legislation where the public needs to be educated. The book certainly is designed to educate the general reader on the topic, and it succeeds at that.



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Local math, or shopping around Tyler

So, last week, the Better Half and I are out in the town. Our daughter is at her Pokemon League for a couple of hours, so we have some time to burn. We decide to visit one of the fine book retail establishments, specifically one that sells used books and media. Last weekend, they had a big used book sale, which is like catnip to a feline. We decide to stock up. I find a few nice graphic novel selections, and the Better Half finds some things for herself. After a while, we decide to go pay. This is where things get interesting.

The Better Half is getting rung up first by the nice young female cashier. She appears to be either a senior in high school or a freshman in college. Make note of this detail for it may be important in the narrative. I should mention that the sale is as follows: Get five (5) used books for twenty (20) dollars.

Young lady begins ringing up the purchase. The Better Half notices that the price per book is a bit high, not to mention the total will be a bit more (ok, a lot more) than twenty bucks. We proceed to point that out. The cashier then starts changing the prices manually. OK, we understand that programming a cash register may not be easy; the machine was not set to scan and figure out the sale. Cool, I can go with that.

However, we worry when she starts changing the price to five dollars per book. Again, we gently point out that the sale as stated in "get five books for 20 dollars." It is at this point that the young lady gets a bit distressed. What does she do?

She calls out to the cashier two stalls down, "hey Bob (the name Bob is used to protect the not so innocent), how much are books if they are 5 for 20 bucks?"

We had to gently do the math for her and explain that if you buy 5 books at 20 dollars, it means each book would cost four dollars each. Apparently basic math is not a requirement to be a cashier anymore. In fact, we even told our daughter about it, asking her, "hun, if books are 5 for 20 bucks, how much is it per book?" Daughter right away said, "dad, that's easy. They are 4 bucks each."

I don't know about the rest of you, but if that girl is the future of America, I am worried.

Impressions after seeing The Laramie Project here in Tyler

This is not going to be a formal review. I can leave that to the professional reviewers out there. This is more for me to share with my three readers some of my impressions and response to the play that I saw last night. If you want the nutshell, the answer is yes: you should go see this play. If you are in the area, you can still catch it tonight or tomorrow night. Get ticket information at the Tyler Civic Theater (link to their website). Finally, inf interested, you can read my thoughts prior to the performance and a small review of the play here. So, here we go.

Yes, the play was excellent. Yes, the performance was stellar and very moving. I could say that and more, but in the end I want to say that this play is about people in any town and their responses to anyone who is an "Other" or different in some way. It is a play that this town really needs to see and then discuss. Because this play is about compassion, or the lack thereof. It is about what we teach our children, or what more often than not many fail to teach their children. Being a parent, with my teen child in attendance, that last point resonated with me. As we were heading home after the play and talking about it, that was one of the things we told our daughter, "this is why we take you to see things like this, so you learn." She gets it, and she noticed that she likely was the youngest person in that audience last night. Maybe the label that the play is suggested for "mature audiences" kept some people from bringing their teens in. Yes, we do have to say this is not a play to bring your children to; they will likely not get it. But it is a play that young people in their teens, especially in high school, should see and talk about lest they fail to learn key lessons on humanity and compassion and tolerance and, well, I could go on and on. I have to thank the cast and crew not only for their great work, but for giving me something to share with my daughter.

If you pay attention and watch closely, odds are good you will recognize members or types from your town in the play. I know as I sat there that I could identify at least one person I know personally. Don't worry, I am not revealing who it is is here (but I did make a note of who it was in my personal journal, where I wrote a draft of what I am posting here. Yes, there are some things I write in my journal I do not put on the blog. My three readers already know that). I am sure others who watch will see either someone they know or maybe themselves.

As one of the actors, during the introduction before the play started, reminded us, theater has the power to show us the truth. This play with these excellent actors, who are members of our community, bring truth to life so the rest of us can learn, think, reflect, and then share and discuss with each other.

The small space in the civic theater is intimate; it is set up in a square with the stage in the center and the audience surrounds the stage. It is perfect for this fast paced play. The actors who become the people of Laramie bring to life the responses, feelings, hopes, and even the darker elements of that community. We are transported to Laramie, and yet, in such small intimate space, as we are immersed in the experience, we come to see our town, our people, ourselves. The actors bring us to life and make us look at ourselves proving the universality of the experiences and lives of those folks in Laramie. Therein lies the power of the play and the extraordinary ability of the cast, who play multiple roles per person, to make us feel that we are there but also to make us honestly ask if that could be us.

I know I have been moved, and I have been made to reflect. These are good things for we learn and grow from our experiences and reflections. This is a play that everyone needs to see, and we are fortunate that we have such a good cast and crew bring it to life in our community.

Booknote: The Laramie Project, and some thoughts

Below you will find the review I wrote over on my GoodReads page for The Laramie Project, which I finished reading last night. I am glad I managed to read it on time, so to speak. It took a bit to get it in. I borrowed a copy via our campus interlibrary loan service. I will note that I had to try twice. The first copy arrived with pages missing, and I had to return it. The second copy, from a different library, came with some water damage, but at least it was complete. The play is coming to town, and it is opening this evening. I plan on being there with my family because this is an important event. It is a play that this town needs to see and then talk about. Tyler needs a serious look at itself, and this play might be an instrument to begin that process. I will tell you one way I know that this is so. Earlier today in a meeting with the rest of our library staff, as we were talking about the play, and I mentioned I was going, at least one of my colleagues was extremely uncomfortable. I am sure if said colleague could have told me how I was going to burn in hell, said colleague would have said so.

The play has attracted attention and protests to the point where even I wrote to the theater when some of the civic theater's board members were trying to censor the production due to some minority but very vocal pressure. I even posted the letter I sent as an open letter here on this blog. I rarely if ever do things like write letters to editors or organization boards. It is part of what I feel I need to do as a librarian who wants to keep working; I self-censor some things. But this production is a crucial and important educational tool for this town. We need to have it here. We need to say that we are better than that. We need to make a stand and show others that we will not be afraid of ignorance and bigotry (overt or genteel, and sometimes it is the genteel type that can hurt the most and have the most pernicious effects). We need to say that we will not be silent and simply look the other way when something happens. Silence is not an option. We need to break down walls, and one way to do it is to start talking. Hopefully, this play will help towards that goal.

So here is my small review of the book. I will post my impressions of the performance sometime after tonight. I have to admit I feel a bit of pressure. When I was in graduate school for my first graduate degree, I had one of the best drama studies professors any student could have. Dr. Papa taught us to not only enjoy theater but also to see it for all its potential to speak to us, to explore a variety of issues, to bring us humanity. He taught us how to look at the space and how it works with the play's text and the actors. To look for the subtle things as well as the very obvious. To reflect on what we saw and what we can and should be learning. And he took us to see a lot of plays, some controversial, and for me, he sparked a passion about theater that still lives on even if I went on to become a librarian. So, Dr. Papa, wherever you may be now, I can only hope I can take your lessons with me as I watch this performance. To continue learning, reflecting, and sharing it with others is what you taught me, and it is what I hope to do this evening.

And my final reason for going? To support the local LGBT community and its allies. That is also why I am attending, and why I am bringing my family, including my daughter. Because I do not want it to be said that my child did not learn good values, or worse, that she only learned the "values" that led to Shepard getting killed. In fact, I don't want her to learn the "values" that facilitated the death of Matt in Wyoming. I want her to learn that there are other, better ways to live with others, to get along, to be charitable and compassionate, and overall a decent human being. Knowing my daughter, she will probably have questions and observations afterward. She always does when it comes to things like books and events she sees on the news. I am looking forward to that conversation as well.

I will see those of you able to attend tonight. Keep in mind, if you can't make it tonight, there are two more performances. You can find ticket information at the Tyler Civic Theater website here.

* * * *

The Laramie Project by Moisés Kaufman


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I have to say that I have not read a play in a long time. I think it has been since I was in graduate school for my English studies graduate work. This play is coming to our town, and I wanted to read it before I went to see the performance. I am glad I did. The play covers the event of Matthew Shepard's murder in Laramie, Wyoming in 1999. But the play is not about the murder itself. It is more about the townspeople and how they responded to the play. It is about how bigotry and ignorance live in a town even when the town prides itself on a "live and let live" attitude. That attitude often boils down to "if you do not tell me you are gay, I will not have to beat the crap out of you." Not exactly very tolerant, charitable, or "live and let live." This play has great moments where you see the evils that people are capable of, but it also has great moments where you see the compassion that people can be capable of.

The play is set up as a series of interviews by the theater company at the town of Laramie. They basically went there and talked to the people. Some people were more willing to talk than others. It is a minimalist play in the sense that it is made for an intimate theater space, the kind of small theater where the audience can be close to the actors. There are little props, and the actors play multiple roles because in the end, it is about suggesting a scene, not recreating it. In the end, it is the words and the response that matter. The space not so much, and this is so because, when it comes down to it, this is not just a play about LGBT issues. It is a play about every town in the United States. It is a play about every community that says, "it could never happen here," only to find out that, not only it can and does happen, but the evils of ignorance and bigotry emerge with ease. It is a play that will make some think about the values they teach their children, and it is a play that will make people think and look at themselves, then look at their communities. It is about us.


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Signs that the economy is bad: End of May 2010 edition

We welcome our three readers to yet another edition of "Signs that the economy is bad" here at The Itinerant Librarian. This is my semi-regular (when I get to it or have the time) feature where I go out on the Internet and find those oh so subtle hints that the economy is bad. Any pundit can tell you that the Dow may be going down, or that the unemployment numbers are not good, or any of the other obvious signs. But it takes a little more work to find the smaller clues, and I am here doing it as a public service to my three readers. As usual, my comments and snark are included for free.

• Stay at home moms turn to phone sex. Though the story is covered by the local news here in Tyler, TX, the newscaster makes sure to emphasize that the local mom she interviewed would never do it. I have to admit you have to be amused by the righteous attitude. At the end of the day, I can certainly sympathize. One paycheck in the household just does not go far enough, and these moms usually work from home, after the kids are gone (so no one can say "think of the kids." If anything, they did think of the kids and planned accordingly). Anyhow, not a good sign when mothers feel they have to take a few extra hours doing this kind of work. To be honest, it would not surprise me if it came out there are a few women here in Tyler, or East Texas, doing this work already. This is a town where employers often tell women who have a husband that they should not have to worry about working since their husbands should be able to take care of them. By the way, my wife's employer did use that line about "your husband should care of you" in arguing for cutting her hours. We both had a brief moment of outrage followed by amusement at the quaint backwards attitude. Yes, I do take care of her, but we still need the second paycheck. And sorry to any hopeful guys, but the better half is not employed in phone adult entertainment.
  
• Reporters can no longer afford to follow the U.S. President around. When reporters have to cover the President, the President travels in Air Force One. The reporters basically have to charter a plane and follow him. This is something I did not know, so I learned something new. Well, it seems things are getting a bit tight for reporters trying to cover the President. (via Bizmology).
• If you are on campus, don't be a parking scofflaw. Universities are now getting aggressive in going after people who do not pay their parking tickets, going to the extreme of hiring collection agencies to do so. I do have mixed feelings about this since the whole parking thing seems more like a money racket to me as it is. Campuses never provide anywhere near enough parking for their students; they then charge exorbitant fees to get a parking decal which is practically worthless (since they overbook so to speak), and then they also ticket when more often than not you may be forced to park illegally. Just does not seem right, but alas students do learn to live with the snafu situation. To my credit, I never got a single parking ticket as a student back in my day. At the end of the day, it is a sign that the economy is bad. States are cutting funding left and right for their higher education institutions. Then, to add injury, they tell colleges they can't raise tuition or cap the tuition raises at unreasonable lows, which of course leads to the schools having to find money from any source possible. It really is a vicious circle that in the end makes a college education more expensive and less accessible.
  

Open Letter to the Tyler (TX) Civic Theater

It is not very often that I use my blog to discuss local issues. But this particular issue concerns me because it is just another example of local censorship and bullying by a very vocal group of people who prefer bigotry, ignorance, and the business as usual of good old boys. What follows is the e-mail that I sent to the Tyler Civic Theater. You can find out more information about the Laramie Project on Facebook. If you are local, and you feel that the Civic Theater should not be held hostage by one or two board members reacting to some community segments that are less than enlightened, then go ahead and drop them a line.

The theater's e-mail is info (AT) tylercivictheatre (DOT) com (just replace with @ and a period in the right places).

* * * *

To whom it may concern:

I was glad to see that the Tyler Civic Theater is going to present a performance of The Laramie Project. I figured it was a great educational opportunity for the community as well as an opportunity to see a well produced play and a play that presents actual events. So I became concerned when I heard that some members of your board have taken it upon themselves to censor the production and try to remove the performance. I would hope that you are not following the example of other communities, such as Tarleton State University and their cancellation of Corpus Christi. I hope to add my voice to other voices in our community to express support for the performance. I would like to ask a few questions.

• Are you willing to fall prey to the bullying of some close minded people guided by hate and ignorance?
  
• Are you saying by your willingness to cancel this performance that there is no place in this community for presenting the truth? That there is no place to provide for dialogue about important issues that are significant to many people in this and other communities?
  
• Are you saying that you prefer to be known as part of those who prefer ignorance, bigotry, falsehoods, and prejudice?
  
• Are you saying that there is no room in your theater for plays and productions that may be controversial? Very often, conveying the truth does invite controversy. Controversy should be seen as an opportunity for dialogue and for education. It should not be seen as a path of fear.
• Are you saying that the only kinds of productions you would present are only ones that are comfortable, that are easy (to produce, that will not raise a fuss, so on)?
  
• Are you hoping that if no one notices, that no one will talk about this? And are you hoping that if no one talks about it, or writes about it, or brings attention to it, that the issue will simply disappear?
  
• Are you saying that, in the end, there is no room for truth in your theater?

I sincerely hope that your board stands their ground, and that the production of the Laramie Project will go on as planned. I am certainly looking forward to purchasing tickets so I can come see it. In fact, I hope that you get enough support so that you can see that productions like these will be welcomed in our community and will receive a good reception.

Sincerely,

Angel R. Rivera, MA, MLS
Tyler, TX

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and I was at the Candlelight Vigil last night

(Crossposted from The Gypsy Librarian).

I bet my four readers at The Gypsy Librarian were expecting the next installment in my small series on blogging mistakes and library blogs (first installment here). I am taking a break today to highlight a very important issue as well as let my four readers know about some of the good work going on in my campus. Ok, this is kind of to let people know where I was last night too. The series will resume next Friday.

* * * * * * * *

October has a few observances associated with it. One of those observances is Domestic Violence Awareness Month (link to President Obama's proclamation). Last night I attended a candlelight vigil held on our campus to recognize the issue of domestic violence and to educate people. The event took place at 7:00pm last night in the fourth floor meeting room of the library. They were going to do it outdoors, but the weather did not cooperate. Nevertheless the event was successful, and from a quick glance, I think we had about 50 people or so. We did get some representatives from our campus police, a very strong Greek presence (ladies and gents), and some students. I was the only representative of the library present. The room's lights were down, and the room was lit with candles. At the entrance, there was a display with educational materials.

The event started with an opening statement by Ms. Samantha Dwight, who among her many hats has done work for the Campus Assault Response Effort (CARE) and is an educator/facilitator/presenter extraordinaire on this and other gender issues. She does a bit of everything, so if she reads this I apologize in advance if I can't quite "put her in a slot." At any rate, she read a statement, including a recognition of the important role that law enforcement officers have in domestic violence prevention. Those men and women in uniform when they get a call never know what they may be walking into. So our thanks go to them.

Next, the ladies of Alpha Chi Omega took the stage and did a dramatic reading. Members of the sorority took turns reading statistics and facts related to domestic violence in the nation. This had a moving effect on the crowd, and we learned a thing or two in the process. The last member on stage sang a song.

The activity would come to an end as a prayer was said for the victims as well as those involved in caring for them as well as for us all. And silently the event closed.

Whenever possible, I think it is important for me to attend events like this. In my role as outreach librarian, this is another way for me to reach out to our campus community, another way for the library to say present and that we support the cause. Personally, I just think this is important and needs to be supported. We have a long way to go in educating people, and events like this are a way to do it.

I would like to wrap this up by offering some links and resources that I hope people will find useful. Please, if you happen to be a victim, or you know someone who is, know that there is help out there. Some of the links will include phone numbers and contacts. On our campus here, the folks at C.A.R.E. are one such resource. Need more information, and you are local, you can contact them, or you can contact me, and I will refer you to the right place or find you the information you may need.

The resources then:

• The Domestic Violence Awareness Project. These are the folks who promote and maintain activities for the observance, which started as an awareness "Day of Unity" back in October of 1981. The Project is coordinated by the National Center on Domestic Violence. You can learn about campaigns, find educational materials, and get links, and phone numbers if you need help. Of course, if you are in imminent danger, dial 911.
  
• The National Coalition on Against Domestic Violence. Among the things this organization does, "the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), in conjunction with Ms. Magazine, started the Remember My Name project in 1994 to create a national registry of names of those who have lost their lives to domestic violence. Since then, NCADV has continued to collect information on incidents of people who have been killed by an intimate partner and produces a poster each year for Domestic Violence Awareness Month listing the names of those submitted to the project. To date, over 7,753 people have been memorialized through the project." Names are added daily to the list, which you can view on the website.
  
• The U.S. Department of Justice has an Office on Violence Against Women. In addition to listing national hotlines, the site contains a lot of good information, including statistics.
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a handbook on domestic violence awareness. This seems geared to employers so they can be supportive in the workplace. Provides some good information.
• The National Domestic Violence Hotline. The number is 1−800−799−SAFE (7233) or TTY 1−800−787−3224. Their contact form can also be used to get assistance if you prefer, though they encourage calling more. You can also find some information on the site.
  
• The National Youth Violence Prevention Center also has resources related to the observance here. Yes, it is not just spouses or significant others; children and youths in families where an abusive situation exists suffer too.
• The Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN) is also a good resource.
• In Texas, the Attorney General has some resources here. A bit more geared to sexual assault, but still good information.
• There is also a Texas Council on Family Violence.
• Locally, you have the good folks of the East Texas Crisis Center. If you need help locally, this is a place to go.
  

This small list is certainly not comprehensive. I have tried to put out some resources that I have looked over and seem to provide good information. Readers are invited to comment, respond, and if they have other suggestions for links, add in the comments as well.

And yes, I tagged the post under "celebrations and holidays." It is not because I think domestic violence is to be celebrated; it is not. But this is also about a monthly observance, which is what I use the tag for. Just to be clear.

Solution to the financial crisis: dumpster diving

It is not very often I pay attention to the student campus newspaper. If there is anything that I have learned from working in higher education for a few years now in different campuses is to keep my expectations low when it comes to a student campus newspaper. So, like a good librarian I scan it since this is often a source of information for what is happening on the campus. Otherwise, I tend to skip. However, this week's issue of our paper, the Patriot Talon, had an opinion piece that caught my eye. It mostly caught my eye because it seemed something between a tasteless joke and some degree of ignorance. The piece in question is the opinion piece by Fields-Thomas on "Have No Fear; financial meltdown solution is clear." Sure, it is clear the author is making light of the situation, and hey, I am the first to appreciate a joke or two over the financial mess certain people have put the country in. However, it's her "advice" which does not necessarily come across as very funny, and at least in one example, it is clearly insensitive. Under her checklist for "procuring a financially stable future," she writes:

"QUIT EATING OUT :

At least stop eating inside the restaurants. Try your hand at dumpster diving in the back of the building. The homeless have been doing it for years, and trust me it will not kill you. Although, when you’re done you may believe you’re dying."

I don't know about the rest of my two readers, or anyone else for that matter, but I don't think making a joke at the expense of the homeless reflects well on the paper or the author of the opinion piece. In fact, the "joke" is reminiscent of the same insensitive attitude that Northwest Airlines displayed a couple of years ago when they were having layoffs. Northwest decided to send a little guide for money saving and economizing to their workers, a good number of which were getting laid off through no fault of their own. You can likely find the story in a few places if you Google it. Here is a link to it from the Washington Post written by Michelle Singletary. Now, Northwest may have been insensitive, but at least they were a bit more coy in their "advice:"

"Don't be shy about pulling something you like out of the trash."

That's how Northwest phrased it. It's still dumpster diving, but at least it pretends to just be "you are pulling something out of the trash" as opposed to "dumpster diving" which is something "the homeless have been doing for years." We have enough of a problem in this country with homeless and their plight without one of our students, who probably should know better, making light of it. Maybe instead of using the homeless for a cheap joke, some education might be in order. For starters, I would suggest a visit to the National Coalition for the Homeless website. If you go under the link for publications, you will find various sources of accurate information, and if you go under FactSheets, you find a variety of brief resources that will provide a serious overview of the issue. I know Tyler is not the most diverse of towns, but I know there are some homeless in Smith County; I am sure folks working for organizations like Tyler Path or the East Texas Rescue Mission will be able to have a say on the matter. And, given that these days, many homeless are actually "couch homeless," one of those homeless persons could be a student right here at UT Tyler, and one would never know it.

The bottom line: advising people to quit eating out, or at least, eat out less often is probably a good idea. "Advising them" to go dumpster diving because the homeless have been doing it for years certainly is not funny, and it clearly is tasteless, showing a certain lack of compassion.

And I am not even going to touch what Fields-Thomas said about global warming. Not that funny either, but I am only doing one issue at a time. You folks can go look at it if you want.

Hmm, things they don't mind in Tyler?

This has to qualify as a "quote of the day" for me:

". . .and she said 'oh, good...we don't mind so much the rape and incest'!"

The context of the quote is that author Chris Crutcher was giving a talk about his works up in Tyler. His works address various issues such as homosexuality and rape and incest. He was asked if he would be speaking about homosexuality, to which he replied no, unless asked, and the person answered as indicated above.

You can draw your own conclusions from there. Yes, when I moved here, I knew that it was a lot more conservative than Houston. Then again, I knew as a whole that Texas skews conservative (to put it mildly). I try not to let it bother me much, since overall I don't place a high priority on political discussions. I have my views; I just don't see it as something for polite company. Anyways, the state does have a few other good qualities.

At any rate, I found the quote over at the blog Librarian's Rant, where they made a note on a recent keynote by Mr. Crutcher.

Tyler and leg hair

As my readers know, I moved to Tyler recently due to my new job. While I was aware of local events like the fair and the upcoming Rose Festival, I had no idea there were other local celebrities. According to this report from Tampa Bay 10 News, a man here in Tyler is going for the record of longest leg hair. You read that right readers. A leg hair five inches long to beat the previous record, verified by the local police and everything. He even washes it and conditions it (sounds like he takes better care of it than I do the hair on my head. I just wash it.). Just goes to show: you find something new every day.

A hat tip to Boing Boing.

Visiting the East Texas State Fair

We finally made the move to Tyler, Texas. I am the new Outreach Librarian at the University of Texas at Tyler, and I will write more about the position as I get settled in. The move itself was a bit harrowing, but we survived. We are likely going to be living out of the boxes for a few weeks now.

Anyhow, we took a break from unpacking to go see the East Texas State Fair, which actually started this weekend. We went on Sunday, and we got there early in the morning. I think they opened the gates at 10:00am, and we got there shortly after. Going to a fair like this early in the day has the advantage that the crowds are small, and there are not too many lines. Of course, the big events are not until the evening, but enough was going on to get a good taste. We spent most of the day there. We watched a pig showing competition. Basically, it's kids showing off the pigs they have raised. What I found interesting is the fact that it is not just about showing the pig to the judge. There is some pageantry involved: from the kid dressing up nicely to the way he/she leads their pig around with a little stick. Meanwhile, one of the judges offers a sort of color commentary on the performance. The critiques are a bit more lax when the kids are younger (i.e., they are doing this for fun) versus the older kids (where there is a bit more attention to details). Next, we visited the cattle pens. Afterwards, we got hungry, so we got some food. When you go to a fair, you have to get some food. We got a pretty nice chicken fingers basket (big enough for the better half and I to share), some drinks, and a fried twinkie. Yes, I finally got a fried twinkie, which I have been wanting to get since I read this book. All I have to say is that a fried twinkie makes mighty good eating.

Next, the little one wanted to get on some of the rides, so naturally, got some tickets and did some of the rides. And the little one did drag her daddy to a few of them, and I am happy to report that I did not lose the twinkie in the process. It was fun.

We then took a break, and we saw the commercial exhibits. The better half likes doing this because she sees it as a good opportunity to get local information. At times, she thinks like a librarian. Anyhow, you go around, pick up some information, get a knick knack here and there, and you learn a thing or two. After that, we did some of the local vendors, where I got a small unicorn miniature for the better half (to add to her unicorn collection), and a small dragon for myself (I collect dragons, though my small collection is nowhere near hers); the little one got herself a small arrowhead necklace. We next moved on the other craft exhibits. I was amazed to see some of the collections that earn awards. For instance, there were some pretty good sport card collections and at least one magnet collection. I will admit, collections like that are not my first thought when it comes to crafts; I would think more in terms of quilts, dresses, pottery, etc. (and they did have those as well), but some of those collections do make for a good display. You can learn a lot about people by what they choose to collect. But you can also tell about a community by what they present in their fairs, and that is a large reason why the gypsy in me likes visiting fairs, carnivals, feasts, etc.

My better half had a bit of insight. She said that "if we come back next year, odds are good we'll see people we know." She is already looking ahead. But to her, I can see this is something she enjoys because it is close to her experience growing up. You see, my better half grew up in a small Indiana town where things like the Popcorn Festival are big events (and yes, I have been to the Popcorn Fest in Valpo). I get the feeling we will be doing well up here.