Go back to school to study data science and hire myself out (for cheap) to non-profit organizations Go to art school to study drawing, painting, and art history Open a gallery/studio in San Miguel de Allende Mexico Create a foundation that would offer grants to queer POC to study/train in whatever they want Retire Retire…
Be the Goose: On Barriers, Roadblocks and Finding Your Way in LIS
Thank you to the conference organizers who invited me here to speak to you today. I know that standing in front of an audience and self-deprecatingly confessing that “I’m not the right person to speak” can feel disingenuous, particularly from someone who is speaking to you from the privilege of being an invited guest. But…
🤷🏾♀️ Privacy vs Convenience: My Move Away from Google Revisited
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…