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…