The Questioning Librarian

My last few reads have all had to do with climate change in some way or other. Needless to say, it has been a depressing bit of reading. From Donald Prothero's chapter tackling climate change denial in Reality Check to the article about sea level rise in September's National Geographic to the book I just finished, Bill McKibben's Oil and Honey ,   being presented with the enormity and the gravity of the problem is daunting to say the least. Worse still is the knowledge that much of our government, including representatives who are supposed to be acting on behalf of "the people", has been bought completely by the fossil fuel industry, money from oil and coal companies flowing into the coffers of politicians who then dutifully halt even the most limp-wristed half-measures to tackle the climate problem.  For all the denial that exists out there, I've generally thought that the basic science of climate change was fairly simple to grasp and, in an ideal world,...

A few weeks ago in a nearby Barnes & Noble, I intended to be conservative in my spending. After all, I have plenty of books I already own and haven't read, and working in a library means I have access to hundreds more I might want to read. Seeing Donald Prothero's new book Reality Check: How Science Deniers Threaten Our Future immediately overcame my resistance. Prothero, a geologist by training, has written a range of books, including a number that are highly regarded, including his 2007 book Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters, a thorough debunking of creationist arguments about geology and fossils. Reality Check  touches again on creationism, but the larger thrust of the work is an attack on a variety of un-scientific rubbish that has a stranglehold on the minds of many and threatens our very future. From climate change denial and creationism to anti-vaccine activists and those who deny the reality of the finite nature of fossils fuels, Prothero tackl...

It's no great secret that I used to vote straight-Republican in nearly every election. I was proud to vote for the party of individual responsibility and small government, as I saw it then, as opposed to what I viewed as the party of dependency and the nanny state. But the GOP I used to vote for isn't the same one, and I've changed myself. We parted ways several elections ago, and at this point I cannot bring myself to vote for a single Republican in any election, from the local representatives all the way up through to the Presidency. The Republican Party is, to put it at its mildest, a party driven by greed and by hostility to all those who are unlike themselves. They are the party of Avarice and the party of Cruelty, and they show this in their every word and their every action. The singular accomplishment of the modern GOP is the fusion of pro-corporate economics with radical religious fundamentalism. Both are toxic to the freedoms and liberties of the citizens of ...

Yesterday I came across a commercial for Unilever's Project Sunlight entitled "Why bring a child into this world?" Usually I skip right over these ads to get to the content I've actually come to watch, but I was curious enough to watch it through to the end. It is an interesting and important question that, in an ideal world, every couple or individual should give serious, reasoned thought to before having a child. I suspect that for many there is little thought given to it; either it is accidental or the attitude is taken that having children is just what people do. Given the world we live in and the future we face, the question needs more thought given to it than that.  The ad, however, is overwhelmingly positive, citing more food being grown, clean water, diseases cured and long lifespans for much of humanity. Take a look for yourself: There is something that deeply bothers me about this, beyond even the glossy propaganda that tells couples "The futur...

This morning I finished reading Susan Cooper's excellent Over Sea, Under Stone , the first in her The Dark is Rising sequence. It was in many ways delightfully British, from characters who frequently declared something to be "smashing" to the incorporation of some of the Arthurian legends into the work. This sparked me thinking a bit more about Britain's national mythos, something that J.R.R. Tolkien also spent quite a bit of time thinking about. While many of us would assume that the stories of King Arthur are Britain's national mythology, or might even think for a bit on the tale of Beowulf and Grendel, Tolkien did not consider these uniquely British-- certainly they do not have the same close association with England that the Greek gods have with ancient Greece or that Odin and Thor, or the legends of Sigurd, have with Germany. The tale of Beowulf and his triumph over Grendel comes from continental Europe, of course, and is thus not uniquely British. Tolki...

There is beauty in desolation. There is, for me, a beauty in leafless trees, in cold, wind-swept landscapes, in the gathering of crows calling out into the evening air. Some people dislike the barrenness that comes at the ending of fall, but I take joy in the transition, in seeing the leaves blown across fields, the bare limbs reaching up into the sky like beseeching hands. It is a feeling that is hard to explain. While others see ugliness, the death of summer and decay, I see transition, the fuel for future life being laid down right before our eyes, if only we care to look. We don't like the idea of time slipping away from us; we detest the sight of death and vigorously avoid dealing with the fact that we will all have to face it at one point. Yet continued life depends on the very death and decay we so avoid. This is an inevitable fact of our biosphere, of our cosmos in fact. The nutrients that are taken up in the trees come back to earth when the leaves fall; the tall gras...

There is something special about a fandom. It doesn't matter whether the fandom adores Game of Thrones , cherishes the work of John and Hank Green, or gets giddy at the thought of a new Downton Abbey episode, there's something about these particular shared interests that is unique. Sure, people are unified by other interests, whether political, religious, or even shared sporting interests, but these kinds of things don't have the same level of joy that a fandom has. I was thinking about this fact after I finished reading Rainbow Rowell's newest book Fangirl  this morning, a fantastic work whose protagonist is a freshman in college who enjoys writing fan fiction about Simon Snow, a Harry Potter-like figure. There are plenty of fandoms out there for different t.v. shows, movies, or books, whether it is composed of those who love Lord of the Rings (perhaps the original fandom!), Sherlock, or the inhabitants of Nerdfighteria who closely follow all the YouTube videos of...

This morning I finished watching Django Unchained , the latest Tarantino film to grace movie theaters across the country. There were plenty of critics, but also plenty who loved the film, including myself. The movie follows Django, a freed slave, as he becomes a bounty hunter and seeks to find and free his wife, shooting a good number of Southern slaveholders in the process. The film is partly a revenge fantasy, as Django kills the overseers who whipped his wife, her current owner, and most of the slave master's hired guns and overseers. It seems that quite a number of stories that we enjoy center around the quest for revenge, whether it is The Count of Monte Cristo, the "Kill Bill" series of films or Charles Bronson's character in Death Wish.  It must say something deeply about our culture, perhaps even us as a species, that we take such delight in witnessing characters take revenge on those who have wronged them, almost universally choosing means that are outsi...

It is easy to get frustrated, and never more so when witnessing the absolute gullibility of humanity. We all know, of course, about the strange beliefs that some people hold, that aliens abduct and probe humans, that aliens built the pyramids, that planes disappear in the Bermuda Triangle and that Bigfoot is walking around somewhere in the undiscovered wilds. We may shake our heads at the fact that some people swallow an endless number of conspiracy theories, seeing the hidden hand of the Freemasons, the Illuminati, the Jews, or some other secretive power behind the workings of the world. We rightly mock and ridicule anyone who seriously believes that FEMA is setting up detention camps, just waiting for a crisis to allow them to impose a fascistic "New World Order" on the United States, or that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a false flag operation. These are easy targets, however, and only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to wrong and foolish things that we believe. ...

In pulling together the non-fiction order for my library, I was browsing a number of new titles when I came across one very intriguing book. After it arrived at our library, I took a closer look at what I judged would either be a fascinating work or an overblown bit of malarky. Fortunately for me, as well as a number of patrons who have checked it out after me, it was the former rather than the latter. The Collaboration: Hollywood's Pact with Hitler is a striking work of excellent scholarship charting the actions that a number of the major Hollywood movie studios took to ensure that their films would still be shown in Germany after the rise of the Nazis.  While "collaboration" might be too strong a word, the studios were certainly willing to accommodate the objections, and potential objections, that German censors made about certain films. Using material that survives in German archives, Ben Urwand traces the evolution of the relationship between the film executi...

A few days ago, a friend of mine posted a blog listing the twelve books he recommends for understanding the world. These are, in his words, essential reads. This post made me start thinking of what my own list would be. A list like this is going to be different for each reader, for we are all individuals and different books will impact us in different ways, based on our own tastes and where we are in life when we encounter a work. So what books would I recommend for understanding the world? I read so much, that narrowing it down was a tough call; this list will, I'm sure, certainly change as time goes by. At this point, however, these twelve books are ones that have helped me understand the world a little better in one way or another, books that moved me or enraged me, ones that have helped to transform how I see and think about the world. 1. The Children of Hurin by J.R. R. Tolkien Some of my friends might be surprised that I didn't choose The Hobbit  for this lis...

I left work early on Friday, a backlog of extra hours allowing me to cut my day short. I took a drive from my own small town in Central Pennsylvania to another small town about half an hour south immediately afterwards; whether going north or south, I always love the drive from where I am, and it was especially wonderful this time. As you leave the exit behind, the forests stand covering the hills in the distance. The leaves are finally starting to turn, and I found myself slowing a bit to get a better look at a few spectacularly brilliant pieces of foliage. Most of the trees are still green, the daytime temperatures enough to fool them into thinking that it is still summer. A small number are already bursting into brilliant reds, yellows and oranges, and even a few deep purples.  The beginning of autumn is one of my favorite times of the year. I do enjoy the other seasons, but autumn has its own special joys. The burning heat of summer is mostly gone, but it is still warm eno...

In the never-ending Whack-a-Mole of creationist attacks on education, it had apparently quieted down for a little. I hadn't been hearing much about creationist holy warriors, beyond the usual background noise of discontent from the likes of Answers in Genesis. Yet to think that they could be safely ignored would be a mistake, as they've now reared their ugly head in Texas, looking to grab a huge victory for their movement, and thus ensure yet another disaster for an educational system that has already been heavily battered and wounded.  The Texas State Board of Education is currently in the process of adopting new textbooks in line with the education standards that they pushed in 2009, standards designed specifically to allow creationism into the science classroom. Sensing this opportunity, creationist members of the Board are pushing for pro-creationist textbooks , or at the very least ones that are extraordinarily weak in presenting evolution, the central unifying theor...

A few days ago I had a distinct feeling of deja vu . Returning from giving a talk to a local organization, I walked towards the library where I currently work to help cover a shift in the evening. Night was coming on, and the warm yellow lights glowed from within the library piercing the oncoming dark. As I entered through the main door into the relative quiet, I felt the same feeling that I had so many times when I was still at Clarion, heading to the University Library after sunset. It's a feeling that is difficult to describe, a gentle warmth of the heart the moment you see the lights in the distance, acting as a beacon in the dark. It is the silent thrill of anticipation of what might await inside, for a good library is a magical place, a beacon in the darkness of the mind just as it is in the physical darkness. It was a moment that caused me a brief feeling of longing, of wishing that I could go back to Clarion's library not just today but as it exists in my mind, as it w...

Most of the images my mind conjures up when I think about India are drawn from things like Forster's A Passage to India  or, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel . I imagine the crowded streets, the river Ganges, or one of the Gandhi family. Of course, what little I've managed to pick up from scattered bits of literature, history, or film barely begins to scratch the surface of India. There is an India we may not think of, the India outside of the cities, and it is this India and the struggles of a group of women that Amana Fonanella-Khan depicts in her new book Pink Sari Revolution: A Tale of Women and Power in India.  The central focus of the work is the case of one Sheelu Nishad, a young women raped by a local legislator and then accused of theft and imprisoned by the local police. It is here that we first meet the formidable Sampat Pal, the woman who formed the "Pink Gang," a brave group of women who dress in pink saris and agitate against corruption and wrongdoing...

A few weeks ago, I decided to write about the "workforce plan" at my alma mater, Clarion University. Towards the end, I noted that the root of the problem came from the anti-education administration of Pennsylvania's current governor, Tom Corbett, who was happy to keep funding the state's jails but didn't feel nearly as kindly towards education in the state. This is but one facet of an administration that has an absolutely shameful record on many points. If the actions of this man and his administration haven't made you angry yet, you aren't paying attention. While Corbett continues to blame the President for the cuts to Pennsylvania education, he himself must bear the responsibility for $1 billion in cuts to K-12 education. I've seen widely varying figures as to just how many educators lost their jobs as a result, with numbers as high as 20,000 (though I suspect that those numbers include not just teachers, but also the numerous support staff wh...

I tend not to read as much fiction as I used to. Anymore it seems that one or other nonfiction works seem to capture my attention at any given time. This is not to say that I never read fiction; I read a lot of fantasy novels, and I also read a lot of works that are grouped into the category of Young Adult fiction. As a librarian working with the public, it is useful to be familiar with a range of what exists in both Young Adult and Junior Fiction, but the joy of this literature goes well beyond its utility. Some of the most interesting and innovative stories are being published by young adult authors, ranging from Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan to John Green's The Fault in Our Stars .  Previously I had read only one book by David Levithan, his collaboration with John Green, Will Grayson, Will Grayson , featuring the intertwined stories of two young gay men. That book was interesting enough that I wanted to read more by Levithan (I went on and read everything by John Green ...

Over a week ago, my alma mater, Clarion University of Pennsylvania, released what it touted as a "bold" and "ambitious" workforce plan for the next several years. The backlash was both strong and immediate, forcing the University Administration, currently headed by President Karen Whitney, to release a " Frequently Asked Questions " for its plan. The outrage on social media, as well as a MoveOn.org petition with several thousand signatures, doubtless have already channeled the displeasure of the community, alumni, and students with the plan. The University is accepting public feedback, but this seems to be only a political window-dressing for a plan that Whitney herself was  quoted  as saying "...is 95-98% a done deal." For over a week I debated over what form a blog on the topic would take, and while I realize that what I have to say here is little different from what I and others have already stated elsewhere, I feel the need to address thi...

For years now, I've seen posts and received emails calling for God to be allowed back in schools. This is a sentiment often expressed publicly by religious leaders in times of crisis, that whatever crisis is occurring at the moment is because we've turned our collective back on God, including kicking him out of schools. Famously the daughter of Billy Graham made statements to that effect after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, which have since passed into a form of internet legend. Yet, for all the publicity these statements get, for all the reblogging, sharing and forwarding that these statements get, calls to "let God back into schools," as one woman put it in a letter to the editor , are not just wrong factually but downright disingenuous.  Let's take the claim at face value for analysis. While the exact wording varies from person to person, the claim seems like it might best be stated as follows: a) God has been prohibited from (public) school...