The Progressive Librarians Guild

Readers, ever since I earned my masters degree this past December I've become quite the joiner. Contrary to my past group-related behavior--a sort of flaky, half-interested hoverering--it is currently my habit to compulsively join any professional organization that catches my eye. The American Library Association? Yes! The Society of American Archivists? OK! The Freedom to Read Foundation? Sure! The Art Libraries Society of North America? Why not? It's really addictive, this joining business (and kind of expensive too--although it's one of those things that you can talk yourself into pretty easily by saying that it's integral to your career and "participating in the profession").

The benefits of this kind of mass subscription are pretty good: I get to list them on my resume under the impressive-sounding "Memberships & Organizations" heading, plus I usually get access to some job-related service the organization may provide (like listservs), I can join a round table discussion group or regional chapter, and, most of the time, these types of groups will publish a journal, which you automatically get a subscription to as a member. Oh, boy, do I love journal subscriptions! I currently get Ohio Valley History and The Filson (both from being a Filson Historical Society member), Library Journal, Art Documentation (from ARLIS), American Archivist (SAA), and soon: The Progressive Librarian!

That last one is something I'm particularly excited about, as they are a fairly radical, pro-union, pro-humanist, pro-F-the-establishment lefty group of librarians who aren't interested in being pushed around by The Man or inviting Starbucks to set up shop in our public libraries. According to their statement of purpose:

"Progressive Librarians Guild was formed in New York City on January 1990 by a group of librarians concerned with our profession's rapid drift into dubious alliances with business and the information industry, and into complacent acceptance of service to an unquestioned political, economic and cultural status quo."

Hmm, I think I'm pretty much on board with that. It's a little jarring, though, to see some library related organization rail against the word neutrality like they do:

"Members of PLG do not accept the sterile notion of the neutrality of librarianship, and we strongly oppose the commodification of information which turns the 'information commons' into privatized, commercialized zones. We will help to dissect the implications of these powerful trends, and fight their anti-democratic tendencies."

One assumes they are referring to being against neutrality as a way of being complicit with corporate/government control of information, and not as being against the unbiased dissemination of information no matter what our own personal feelings/beliefs (i.e. letting people know where the Ann Coulter books are, even though we know she's a giant D-bag. 'cause I agree with that kind of neutrality...). Anyway, I'm pretty sure that's what they're getting at, so I sent my $20 check off this afternoon to the PLG. I'm also totally making an iron-on transfer of that bad-ass eagle logo above, which I found on their website, and will be affixing to a t-shirt in the near future (along with a handwritten source citation, 'natch)

Muchos frijoles, readers! I've recently discovered the wonders of Southwestern cooking, and refried beans are my new specialty/obsession (note the clock on my oven reporting that I was indeed boiling a large amount of mashed pinto beans at 9:30 pm). I'm also quickly perfecting my handmade corn tortilla technique, which combines with my massive bean fixation to equal one titanic stockpile of muy deliciouso burritos in my freezer. And now that warm weather is upon us it is only a matter of time (I'd say this weekend) before I bust out my beloved Waring professional bar blender (in retro green) and finish the deal with some high-octane frozen margaritas--viva!

So everybody who's from KY will know what I'm talking about when I say "Hurrah" for House Bill 251, aka, the "stray horse bill."

Finally! Now there's policy in place for dealing with all these damn stray horses. What? You say you don't have that problem where you're from? Well, welcome to KY, stranger, where you can't go more than a block or two without stumbling over a flaxen-coated Derby contender. Pffsch! Thoroughbreds! Big deal--in my state they're a dime a dozen, and they eat all your grass and shit on your front porch. "Majestic" indeed. There's a reason Kentucky isn't the tourist mecca that Florida or Nevada is (two words: horse flatulence). Now that our streets will soon be equine-free I think we can expect cleaner living, a dramatic drop-off in stampede-related property damage, and a generally more hygienic environment in which to pluck our banjos in our bare feet while courting our first cousins. Yee-haw! *shoots pistols in air*

Wacky (Informative?) Library Books for Kids

Oh boy, readers--it's time for another look into the collection of our favorite local library to see what far-out reading materials are available for the education of our youths! Ready, children?

I found the above item, The Gas We Pass: The Story of Farts by Shinto Cho, the other day. It's one of those kids' books that try to be informative, but really just come off as being unsettling and weird. I guess I can appreciate the effort, though--kids really do need to understand bodily processes and their reasons for being...but it freaked me out. The text went randomly back and forth between using actual medical terminology (e.g. "anus") and alarming, crude description ("that hole in your bottom"). I think that's probably what makes this book so...distressing: I'd rather just have the real, technical terms thrown at me than be given a creepy, Disney-rated version that makes it sounds like it is something Not-To-Be-Named. That kind of vague insinuation just sends the wrong message (the message being: "I don't want to hear about that hole in your bottom").

So, I don't know if I will ever be recommending this one, but really: what other childrens' non-fiction books about flatulence are really out there? I can't just hand a 5 year old Gray's Anatomy...(although that would be hilarious). I guess I'll have to keep this one in mind for just such an occasion.

(Oh, Also: the artwork is ATROCIOUS)

Filibustin' a Move with Crazy Jimmy B

Well, readers, you may have noticed that one of KY's original good ole boys has been in the news rather prominently (again) as of late--and you know that's never a good thing for KY. Well, this time it's really not a good thing for the huge numbers of unemployed: everyone's "favorite" cantankerous governmental nap-taker, Jim Bunning, has been a lot more active than usual in his job this past week: he's been the lone Senator holding up the legislation that would extend jobless benefits (i.e. unemployment and health insurance) to roughly one million currently out-of-work Americans. Way to take a stand, there, Jimmy boy--right onto the backs of your constituents (KY's unemployment rate is currently one of the nation's highest--10.7%), and during the worst economic crises since the Great Depression, no less.

You may remember the salad days of Jim Bunning insanity fun--back in the years and months before he "decided to retire" (read: before he was pressured by the entire GOP to bail on reelection due to a torrent of gaffes and truly offensive outbursts). You could pretty much count on Jimmy to make the news bi-weekly--whether it was dissing Mitch McConnell or publicly celebrating Ruth Bader Ginsburg's cancer diagnosis or cussing out reporters during a conference call, you knew that if Jimmy had shown up somewhere and said something, whatever it was would be derogatory, petulant, sexist, rude, profane, and/or outlandish. The local newspaper had even suggested (bluntly, and not in jest) that he was getting dementia--they ran an interview last summer with a mental health specialist who used Jimmy's behavior to diagnose a possible loss of brain function(!).

So anyway--here we are, every single one of the other Senators voting to extend unemployment except Jim. Jim who, suddenly, feels like taking a stand rather than his usual MO: i.e. stare in jaded silence, perhaps blurt some shitty remark and then, later, a nap. Or maybe just stay home and skip the whole ordeal. But now we meet principled Jimmy, Mr. Fiscal Responsibility. But don't be fooled, it's still the same old Crazy Jimmy B: while his fellow Senators tried to change his mind he complained about missing a UofK basketball game; when Sen. Jeff Merkely (D-OR) asked him to stand down Jimmy replied "tough shit!"; and when reporters asked him for an interview he casually flipped the bird to one of the producers (according to ABC News)(!).

Of course, these days Jimmy can afford to be a self righteous finger-wagger at our expense: he's not running for reelection next year, so he doesn't really need to worry about the fallout (although, I'm not sure he ever really worried about it before, either). So maybe he figures that by using his final months in office to be an anti-middle class obstructionist A-hole he can cash-in on a little of that tea bagging fever. Maybe Fox News will even make him their newest correspondent...he would fit right in, maybe even make some of their other sideshow attractions seem sane and well-balanced in comparison (note to Glenn Beck: it's gonna take a mighty river of tears to compete with the cluster bomb of crazy that is Jim Bunning, so start hydrating now).

And it's not just unemployment benefits that will be affected: 2,000 federal workers will be furloughed, reimbursements to states for transportation projects will be halted (including two bridge replacement projects in Kentucky), a provision expired that would have stopped a 21% cut in Medicare reimbursements to doctors, and loan programs for small businesses are now on hold. Whew! That's a whole lotta work for an old guy like Jimmy--I'm sure it was enough to really tucker the poor guy out. Let's hope all the angry phone calls and bomb threats that his Kentucky office has been receiving this week hasn't kept him from catching his z's.

Shreck's Photo Diary: Special Sale on "Energy Cola"

There's nothing like shopping for bargain booze on a Sunday at my favorite local beverage merchant, Shreck's Kentucky Liquor Store Drive-In, to get me in a good mood, readers. This week's special is a bevy of various incarnations from the Jolt Energy line, which, oddly enough, has me waxing nostalgic: it's a brand that I remember being introduced sometime in the mid-90's, just in time to reap the benefits of my grade school's problems with the epidemic use of over-the-counter stimulants by some of my junior junkie classmates (think: truck stop caffeine pills--AKA kiddie speed). The introduction of Jolt Cola--and it's more ethnic cousin, Josta--provided a nice chaser with which a tweaked-out 13-year-old could wash down his double dose of No Doz. Ah, memories!

I really didn't think they made this stuff anymore--I mean, doesn't it seem like the sort of thing that would have some gruesome, quasi-true urban legend attached to it? Like Pop Rocks or lawn darts? I just assumed they had taken it off the market shortly after the Clinton administration--but then, I suppose the introduction of modern "energy drinks" (ala Red Bull, Monster, Crunk!!!, and 5 Hour Energy) pulled this brand out of its inevitable decline/implosion (then again, their official website is bringing up an error message in Fire Fox...). So, the possibility that this is indeed a discontinued--and soon-to-be rare--product may make the asking price, $.75 or 2 for a dollar, a downright steal (especially for the Ebay set...).

Mercy Missiles to Attend ALA Annual

Oh, boy, readers--guess who's attending this year's American Library Association Annual Conference in our nation's capitol?! It's me, your humble biblio-correspondent! I just got my official ALA membership card in the mail yesterday and I'll be attending the big show in June with a compatriot, and I have to say--I'm really getting psyched up for it. My MLS degree was conferred to me in December, so I'll be walking into the profession's biggest annual event with the confident swagger of a know-it-all little upstart--I can't wait to see Nancy Pearl wagging her finger disapprovingly at me!

And speaking of celebrities (Nancy Pearl--a "celebrity" in library circles, anyway), I've just been checking out the conference's itinerary and have to admit, I'm getting pretty star struck. The opening general session speaker will be Toni Morrison! W-O-W! My undergraduate American Lit professor (in whose classes I read pretty much everything Morrison has written) would cry tears of joy if she knew I was going to be in the same room with her idol, and I'm pretty giddy at the prospect myself. And also: Art Spiegelman, best known for his graphic novel Maus: A Survivor's Tale, will also be on hand for a program about the value of maintaining comics and graphic novels as a special collection(!)

The only problem I foresee is my lackluster track record dealing with celebrities. I usually mumble something ridiculous/embarrassing, avoid eye contact, and run away after a few awkward seconds. This has been epidemic behavior for me in my past encounters with various rock and roll types (I once found myself in a public restroom with Kathleen Hanna! I defy you to think of a better way to play it cool in this situation than staring at the celebrity in gawking, open-mouthed astonishment. I sure couldn't). Acting like an anti-social weirdo is fine when you're just trying to impress some semi-obscure musician/performer, but I'll really have to step it up if I want to appear well-adjusted in front of a Nobel Prize winner.

More to come!