This Ask Metafilter thread about some recent changes to Google’s search results has me thinking about a post I wrote six years ago. I moved away from Google for email, search, and document creation, and I offered suggestions on how you might make a similar move. At the time I recommended using DuckDuckGo, something I…
Is it Work or is it a Job?
Have you ever given any thought to the difference between a job and work? If we have a regular daily grind that we are rewarded financially for, in conversation we blithely say “I’m going to work” without taking the time to think about what that really means. I believe that having dissatisfaction in one of…
The Case for Normal, Natural Emotions in the Workplace
A few things I’m thinking about today: How often I see words or phrases like “positive energy” in library job descriptions How frequently I have heard the refrain “respectful workplace” used to squash critique The effect of forced positivity from library leaders on lower-level library workers and their trust in leadership A couple of things…
Thoughts on the Universality of the Black Experience
It took me three years to read Beloved. I tried on my own as a college sophomore but couldn’t handle it. It wasn’t until I took an African American Women’s Literature course, taught by the then president of the Toni Morrison Society1 that I was able to make it through. I was surrounded by my…
Mama Used to Say – a British Soul Playlist
If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen me occasionally post links to my morning Get Ready With Me songs. The songs are usually tunes from my youth that lift my spirits as I start my workday, but I am also a woman of a certain age who sometimes feels a disconnect and…
The Most Beautiful Part of Your Body Is Where It’s Headed
The week is over, I have a four day weekend, and it’s unseasonably chilly in Vancouver. The roller coaster that was this week was full of peaks, valleys, and loop-de-loops, but at this particular moment, it feels good. Onward. Here are a few things I shared this week: Going Home With Ocean Vuong – an…