Tuesday, March 20, 2012
NovelNY
Monday, March 19, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Is homelessness a library issue?
From the ALA weekly newsletter, an interesting article: Professor teaches librarians to never be meek. CeEarly on, professor Toni Samek asks her students this question: Is homelessness a library issue?
Students entering the Master of Library and Information Studies program at the University of Alberta, where Samek has taught for 18 years, come from fields as diverse as nursing and law. They arrive not knowing what to expect. But after the homelessness question, students forget their stereotypes about meek librarians. Samek is anything but meek. In fact, she sees herself as an activist in a radical profession. It’s no surprise, then, that her teaching is grounded in the idea put forward by scholar Henry Giroux that a good education is one that is constantly engaged with public life.
Giroux is a new name for me.
Giroux has been an important contributor to a variety of academic fields, including critical pedagogy, cultural studies, youth studies, and media studies, among others. His work draws from a number of theoretical traditions extending from Marx to Paulo Freire to Zygmunt Bauman. He is also an advocate of radical democracy, vigorously opposing the anti-democratic tendencies of neoliberalism, militarism, empire, religious fundamentalism, and the ongoing attacks against the social state, the social wage, youth, the poor, and public and higher education. Giroux's most recent work focuses on public pedagogy, a term he coined to describe the nature of the spectacle and the new media, and the political and educational force of global culture. He is also a regular columnist for Truthout and writes for a variety of academic journals and public venues.
Students entering the Master of Library and Information Studies program at the University of Alberta, where Samek has taught for 18 years, come from fields as diverse as nursing and law. They arrive not knowing what to expect. But after the homelessness question, students forget their stereotypes about meek librarians. Samek is anything but meek. In fact, she sees herself as an activist in a radical profession. It’s no surprise, then, that her teaching is grounded in the idea put forward by scholar Henry Giroux that a good education is one that is constantly engaged with public life.
Giroux is a new name for me.
Giroux has been an important contributor to a variety of academic fields, including critical pedagogy, cultural studies, youth studies, and media studies, among others. His work draws from a number of theoretical traditions extending from Marx to Paulo Freire to Zygmunt Bauman. He is also an advocate of radical democracy, vigorously opposing the anti-democratic tendencies of neoliberalism, militarism, empire, religious fundamentalism, and the ongoing attacks against the social state, the social wage, youth, the poor, and public and higher education. Giroux's most recent work focuses on public pedagogy, a term he coined to describe the nature of the spectacle and the new media, and the political and educational force of global culture. He is also a regular columnist for Truthout and writes for a variety of academic journals and public venues.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Friday, December 9, 2011
Amazing feat
The rise and fall of the great powers : economic change and military conflict from 1500 to 2000 / by Paul Kennedy. New York, NY : Random House, c1987.How did he know about 2000 in 1987?
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Novelist fights tide, open own bookstore
After a beloved local bookstore closed here last December and another store was lost to the Borders bankruptcy, this city once known as the Athens of the South, rich in cultural tradition and home to Vanderbilt University, became nearly barren of bookstores.
A collective panic set in among Nashville’s reading faithful. But they have found a savior in Ann Patchett, the best-selling novelist who grew up here. On Wednesday, Ms. Patchett, the acclaimed author of “Bel Canto” and “Truth and Beauty,” will open Parnassus Books, an independent bookstore that is the product of six months of breakneck planning and a healthy infusion of cash from its owner.
“I have no interest in retail; I have no interest in opening a bookstore,” Ms. Patchett said, serenely sipping tea during a recent interview at her spacious pink brick house here. “But I also have no interest in living in a city without a bookstore.”
Even among the young there is an interest in holding a physical book, browsing, hanging out. But it is a tough time to own a bookstore. I just got done helping a patron who wants to read Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs, but can not imagine lugging around a 630 page book, and does not believe she can finish it in fourteen days. We talked about the Kindle Fire, and, for her, as for so many others, ebooks are a solution to the problem of not having enough time at home.
Cultural leaders convened meetings in the public library to discuss who could step in and open a new bookstore. One idea, to start a co-op requiring small investments of $1,000, never got off the ground.
And they met at the library, the public library.
A collective panic set in among Nashville’s reading faithful. But they have found a savior in Ann Patchett, the best-selling novelist who grew up here. On Wednesday, Ms. Patchett, the acclaimed author of “Bel Canto” and “Truth and Beauty,” will open Parnassus Books, an independent bookstore that is the product of six months of breakneck planning and a healthy infusion of cash from its owner.
“I have no interest in retail; I have no interest in opening a bookstore,” Ms. Patchett said, serenely sipping tea during a recent interview at her spacious pink brick house here. “But I also have no interest in living in a city without a bookstore.”
Even among the young there is an interest in holding a physical book, browsing, hanging out. But it is a tough time to own a bookstore. I just got done helping a patron who wants to read Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs, but can not imagine lugging around a 630 page book, and does not believe she can finish it in fourteen days. We talked about the Kindle Fire, and, for her, as for so many others, ebooks are a solution to the problem of not having enough time at home.
Cultural leaders convened meetings in the public library to discuss who could step in and open a new bookstore. One idea, to start a co-op requiring small investments of $1,000, never got off the ground.
And they met at the library, the public library.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
CIA's vengeful librarians
This item appeared on my Twitter account; I was sitting on a bench in South Orange, NJ, enjoying a cup of coffee (before spilling half of it; at a buck forty four for a small cup, that was a real bummer – and I was still reeling at being called hon by the cashier). I was on my way to visit my Mum in her new apartment, had just gotten off the train, and was taking five minutes.
CIA monitors up to 5 million tweets daily, report says - Agency's Open Source Center said to use social media to assess reaction to world events
Twitter and Facebook are enabling the Central Intelligence Agency to get reliable, real-time assessments of public sentiment during rapidly changing events around the world. According to the Associated Press, the CIA is monitoring up to 5 million tweets a day, poring over Facebook and blog posts, and watching other social networks from a nondescript facility in a Virginia industrial park.
What exactly is nondescript? On eof many, that does not stand out?
A CIA spokesman did not immediately respond to a request today for comment on the report.
Was the request sent as a text message?
A CIA team known internally as the "vengeful librarians" that numbers in the hundreds gathers information in multiple languages to build a real-time picture of the mood in various regions of the world.
Why vengeful?
The analysis is "sought by the highest levels at the White House" and ends up in the President's intelligence briefing almost daily, the AP quoted Doug Naquin, director of the CIA's Open Source Center, as saying.
Imagine that, tweets wind up in the daily intelligence briefing POTUS sees.
CIA monitors up to 5 million tweets daily, report says - Agency's Open Source Center said to use social media to assess reaction to world events
Twitter and Facebook are enabling the Central Intelligence Agency to get reliable, real-time assessments of public sentiment during rapidly changing events around the world. According to the Associated Press, the CIA is monitoring up to 5 million tweets a day, poring over Facebook and blog posts, and watching other social networks from a nondescript facility in a Virginia industrial park.
What exactly is nondescript? On eof many, that does not stand out?
A CIA spokesman did not immediately respond to a request today for comment on the report.
Was the request sent as a text message?
A CIA team known internally as the "vengeful librarians" that numbers in the hundreds gathers information in multiple languages to build a real-time picture of the mood in various regions of the world.
Why vengeful?
The analysis is "sought by the highest levels at the White House" and ends up in the President's intelligence briefing almost daily, the AP quoted Doug Naquin, director of the CIA's Open Source Center, as saying.
Imagine that, tweets wind up in the daily intelligence briefing POTUS sees.
Chihuahua alista eventos por Día Nacional del Libro
Cuentacuentos, talleres, verbenas populares, charlas y un Festival Internacional de Cortometraje, "El cine a las calles", serán parte de las actividades que se desarrollarán a partir de mañana en las instalaciones de las bibliotecas Pública Central e Infantil.
Storytelling, workshops, popular festivals, talks and International Short Film Festival, "Film to the streets" will be part of the activities taking place from tomorrow at the premises of the Central Public and Children Library.
Con motivo del Día Nacional del Libro, el gobierno del estado, a través de su programa "Chihuahua vive la cultura", desarrollará estas actividades culturales gratuitas del 9 a 12 de noviembre, dirigidas a niños y jóvenes de esta entidad.
Storytelling, workshops, popular festivals, talks and International Short Film Festival, "Film to the streets" will be part of the activities taking place from tomorrow at the premises of the Central Public and Children Library.
Con motivo del Día Nacional del Libro, el gobierno del estado, a través de su programa "Chihuahua vive la cultura", desarrollará estas actividades culturales gratuitas del 9 a 12 de noviembre, dirigidas a niños y jóvenes de esta entidad.
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