Current Affairs
Because once upon a time in Germany, one fat, gay, Jewish nerd led the charge against an enemy he couldn’t defeat. He did it with love and compassion even as his opponent defined itself by the very opposite. He probably knew he couldn’t win, but he did it anyway. Read these books. Remember him. Study what he did. When we make it past our Weimar era, let’s go to Hirschfeld’s paradise instead of Hitler’s hell.
American Libraries
Public librarians will find it useful to understand the underpinnings of the challenges that patrons face during and immediately after crises, as this awareness could help guide programming and services.
Book Riot
Library ebooks let people browse with near-perfect anonymity. They’re fairly safe — all you need is a phone — and generally compatible with assistive software. Above all, it’s another option. When you’re serving the public, you quickly learn that one solution doesn’t cover everyone’s needs.
Screenrant
Once upon a time, there was a show that featured fairy tale characters living in a small New England town. It started off quite strong, but quickly got so complicated that the writers started to struggle to keep track of every character’s idiosyncrasies and intertwining storylines. Thus, the show remained fun to watch, but descended into an unsalvageable mess full of plot holes.
The Trouble
The conversation about climate change needs to be informed and compassionate, fact-based and emotionally intelligent. The time has passed to decide that we will talk about this. It is time to begin learning how we will talk about climate change.
The Establishment
Public libraries are keenly aware of their role in bridging the digital divide, which is the little-discussed but gaping success gulf between people who can afford technology and people who can’t. But even as libraries work to fix a digital revolution that is crushing vulnerable people, cognizant of the fact that few other organizations are filling this niche, they struggle to keep the library “nice” for donors, who may jump ship if the library seems to be “deteriorating.”
Cultured Vultures
It is the zombies’ collective action that is frightening. They consume. They don’t need to, of course; their desire to eat is an automatic reaction. Still, its implications are innately horrible. Zombies can never be satisfied. They produce nothing themselves, unless you could count them as roving sources of fertilizer. What else on this planet behaves that way but a consumer?
ETekly
Misconceptions about the recycling process exacerbate the issues with an already problematic system. It’s not that recycling is bad — quite the opposite, it’s an important way to conserve natural resources. But without knowing its details and bugs, it’s impossible to improve the process — or even to decide whether relying on single-use, recyclable products is a good strategy in the first place.
ForeWord Reviews
Accurate information hasn’t always been a given in American culture, but for the most part, pundits and talking heads have paid lip service. Kellyanne Conway’s statement, half dog-whistle to the alt-right, half belligerent media bait, may be the boldest admission yet that the new administration considers itself capable of steering the American mind through information control, and a symptom of institutional insecurity that will, sooner or later, manifest in a barrage of self-validating published work.
The Big Brown Chair
Ash is no stranger to possession by demons, many of which correspond to his own issues and insecurities (metaphor! metaphor!). You can read into this as much as you’d like. There’s no question that Ash spawning Evil Ash as a result of having ingested tiny versions of himself is all about his runaway ego and the real enemy that comes from within and blah de blah blah blah. Honestly, there’s a paper in this if you want it, but I’ve found that’s the case with most good horror, so when I watch Army of Darkness I usually just enjoy the stupid gags and the references.
Unearth Women
The modern feminist witch movement in Salem began when practicing Wiccan, Laurie Cabot, opened a shop catering to Pagans in 1971. This unique business was originally known as The Witch Shoppe, an apt name at the time because it was the only store catering to witches in the city. Today, it continues to thrive as Crow Haven Corner, though competition from other witch shops has become fierce.
Keyboard & Camera Creative Consulting 