Welcome to the August Just Posts: the parenting blogosphere's round-up of writing on social justice issues.
The Just Posts are brought to you every month by myself and Jen of One Plus Two. Starting this month Jen and I are going to be sharing our hosting duties with Susanne of Creative Mother Thinking and Hel of Truth Cycles. Yes, that's right, the Just Posts have made a first small step towards going global. With Susanne in Germany, Hel in South Africa, Jen in the US, and me as the Canuck correspondent, we now come to you from 4 countries and 3 continents. We hope this step will lead to even greater representation and diversity in the material we showcase here each month. If you don't think it is diverse enough, then simply send us links to September posts by October 7th and we'll include them in our next round-up. Easy peasy.
You know, when it comes to this social justice stuff, quite frankly, I have my head up my own asshole. I don't work in any social justice field and I scarce have time between my job, my marriage, and my child to do much more than throw a few bucks at worthy causes each year and to try to live an informed and mindful life. So really--honestly and truly--I feel like a poser here each month as I wax on about issues of which I only have a passing familiarity.
This hypocrisy of mine came crashing down on me once again as I wondered what issue to write about this month. Child labour? Human trafficking? The working poor? Homelessness? What could I possibly say? Sure, I'm media savvy and, as a librarian, I know how to do my research. I can certainly write somewhat informed posts on these issues but how do such posts really change who I am and how I interact with the world? I'm all for raising the level of debate, blah, blah, blah, but right now I need to ask, how can I bring it all home to me--to the me busy work-a-day me, measuring out my life in coffee spoons. And so, this month I would like to look at an issue from my mundane working life. This issue is accessibility.
The library where I work is just wrapping up extensive renovations. We've created one of those snazzy Learning Commons that have been all the rage at cool universities this past decade. Along with the renovations have come much needed improvements vis-a-vis accessibility. The new Reference and Circulation desks each feature a public service station that is lower and cut-away underneath so that we will be able to offer adequate one-on-one assistance to patrons in wheelchairs. The library only recently put in a ramp providing front-door access to wheelchairs and strollers. Our brand spankin' new accessibility room has been equipped with the latest adaptive technologies such as the Kurzweil software which allows students with visual impairments or reading disabilities to have library materials scanned in and then read out to them through a speaker. We have a liaison librarian appointed to the University's Accessibility Centre in an effort to continually monitor and upgrade the services we provide in a responsive fashion. These new services, however, will never be enough if the people behind the desk (aka little ole me) are not in a position to deliver them adequately.
I gotta admit I kinda suck at the reference function of my job. Sure, I know how to use the indexes and reference materials and I have a fairly good handle on our collections. I can grab the APA or MLA style manuals from behind the desk with my eyes closed and I can bore you to tears with talk of subject headings and controlled vocabularies. BUT I get nervous in situations where I don't have a clue what to expect. The reference librarian by definition never knows what's headed her way: What? You want critical articles on Everything that Rises Must Converge? A history of Swedish labour unionism in the 1970s? Reviews of the original production of Caryl Chrchill's Mad Forest? A map of the former Soviet Union with 1995 borders showing? A comparison of popular and peer reviewed articles on ageism in sports medicine? To know where the bathrooms are? For me, this uncertainty makes almost every service encounter awkward. When that already awkward exchange is compounded by additional service requirements, I tend to panic rather than think reasonably and rationally. For example, my purely Anglo up-bringing has given me a tin ear when dealing with ESL students. Unable to process accents very well, I stammer and stupidly need to have things repeated far too many times. The students deserve better. When faced with new adaptive software I tend to break out in a cold sweat rather than calmly read the manual. Erg. Add to this the fact that I work only 2 hours of reference each week and you can pretty much guarantee that I always feel off my game.
So for September, the month when back to school reigns, my social justice commitment is to take directed steps towards learning better strategies for providing reference services to students with accessibility issues. I have a few ideas stewing for how I might go about that at my particular institution and so I will act on them. I will also endeavour to be a more attentive listener and will try to quell my fear and uneasiness so that I can be more interactive with and responsive to my patrons--all of them because that all deserve a consistent level of good service.
OK, now go read. Check out Jen, Susanne and Hel--all good stuff--and then dive into the overwhelming bounty below:
Bon at Crib Chronicles with Blessings
Crazymumma with If I'm going to talk the talk...
Cecilieaux with blogging last word, who is anglo, people of 1066 and portal for billionaires
Jangari with more on squandered funds and stuart highway robbery
Maypole with false hope and i know what it means to love
Denguy with boyo man
Jen with what a long strange trip it's been, national news and side by side
Alejna with some of my best friends are republicans
NoMotherEarth with about a boy
Urban-Urchin with disposable people
Emily with miscarriage of justice
Kevin with Jena 6
MBT with things you get nekkid for
Vera with dominator tentacles
Packaging girlhood with increased suicide rates among teen girls
Lex with compassion
Kitchen Fire with postcript
Aliki with disparity
Gwen with feed your head
From the Front Lines with philanthropy thursday
Flutter with the morning commute and What Should Flutter Cook?
Stumbling and Mumbling with you know you're a conservative when and the tangible harm of inequality
Izzy with forgive my bluntness but i hate george bush
11D with bob herbert morphs into david brooks
MOTR with enough
Janet with my grass roots are showing
Eden with some animals are more equal than others
Acukiki at Sticking to the Point with Follow Your Dreams
African Fragments with Sisters Can Do it For Themselves
Christine at Running on Empty When I Grow Up
Ewe with Baaaaad Party, Baaaaad Party and A Sunday Not-So-Funny...
Fortune and Glory with What fills us up makes us whole again and Today as I hold my head...
Gary with Homeless
Gettin' it wrong with Twisty Slides, Twisted Logic and Olivia
Jen at One Plus Two with Teaching Fish to Swim, I Was Interviewed by National News, side by side and What a Long, Strange Trip Its Been
KC with Colorless, II*
La vie en Rose with It's the body...always the body
Latoya Peterson at Racialicious with 4th Generation Racist: Can you be anti-racist if you're anti-white?
Lia with Pensioned Serenity
Maddie at Persisting Stars with Someone with sky and birds in his heart
Nina Smith with Books Review: On My Own Two Feet
Open Synergy with Darwin's Jihad-A Luta Continua
Snigdha Sen with Streets Are For Walking, Stop Stalking
Suzanne Reisman with The Real Story: Attack Of The Predatory Lenders On Single Women Homeowners
Susanne at Creative Mother Thinking with Housework for Children and Being Sick Shouldn't Make you Bankrupt
Thailand Gal with Katrina put me over the edge, Repeat ch-ch, repeat-ch-, and Your silence will not protect you
Tired Mommy with Learning what we live
The World's Yours To Live!! with The World of Peace
Wayfayer Scientista with Seasonal Goodbyes and Working against cultural biogotry
The readers
Jess
Thordora
Cecilieaux
Chani
Alejna
KC
Christine
Catherine
Aliki
Sarah
Karen
De
Mad
Jen
Hel
Susanne
Do you see your name here and don't have the button code for your sidebar? Email me. madhattermommyAThotmailDOTcom
Monday, September 10, 2007
The August Just Posts
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18 hats in the ring:
Thanks for such an honest post...I often feel like I have no business talking about such lofty topics when my big goal of the day is getting Rosebud to eat some fruit.
I do love checking out these posts though and I certainly do care about the issues even if I am bit bogged down at the moment.
Thanks for all your hard work (and the others) for bringing these posts forward each month.
I am so excited about this going global. You all are amazing.
Just being in this world often feels like being a work in progress.
And I love that Suzanne and Hel are on board with this as well.
I look forward to all of this reading tonight...
i love your idea. and i love your social justice soul.
You know, the feeling of being a big faker has been what's keeping me from writing about issues that I feel are really important. This post really HELPED. Thanks.
You sum up my feelings about hosting the Just Posts quite well too. I'm only writing about social justice issues because I promised to back when this whole thing started. I felt that I should be more supportive, somehow a better person. But then I thought a little and found that the commitment to write at least one social post a month does make a difference and making a note of what I have read about topics like that do so too.
And I like it that you have taken that feeling and have turned it into something that you can do in you everyday life too.
Thanks, Mad. This list is tremendous.
And by that I meant stupendous!
For me the writing of this post was very scary. Many would say that it is easy to write about social issues when they are not crippling you.
But like you I then realized that it is not about what others can do. It is about what I can do and the changes that I can make.
I believe that the changes you are about to make will mean a lot to many students with accessibility issues. It will have a big impact on their studies and therefore their futures.
i think the best thing any of us can do is to tackle issues right in our own back yard. and it isn't easy. we feel unrest and discomfort and fear. but you are confronting all that, and that is important, mad. very important.
I think your new goal is wonderful. We all do in our own ways. We can't all be Jens or even Mads, KWIM. You are inspiring here.
Awesome list as always and triple shame to me for not having my act together and emailed to you despite repeated notices LOL.
Julie
Using My Words
Mad, I love you.
i love that you're committing to do something in your small corner of the world. Something that you will see the impact of. Excellent.
I'm flattered to be on the list with these fabulous people. Thanks
So many good things to read...
I think that doing the research to post about a social justice issue of which you only have a basic knowledge gives you a deeper knowledge of it. Ain't nuthin' wrong with that. But I know what you mean - it's why I have yet to post a "just post."
Reference is H-A-R-D. I had a few good years at it ... now my performance is often spotty. Your commitment to improving your public work is perfect.
this is great, Mad, and i'm grateful for the nod...but mostly pleased to know that you too feel you have your head up your ass in the social justice department. because many of us, clearly, feel the same and maybe getting beyond that feeling will help us all to do more.
as for accessibility...in the physical sense, i got a real eye-opener when during my eternity of bedrest while pregnant with Oscar, the hospital allowed Dave to take me out on the streets of Halifax occasionally in a wheelchair. in March. and all two hundred pounds of him could barely lump my delicate self up over the slushy curbs, and nobody made eye contact with me. quite fascinating.
what you're aiming for at the library is part of the current goal here at the UPEI library too. and it's not easy. but it's good.
I feel over my head when I try to tackle social issues too. Do I, in my comfortable office, have any first hand knowledge of the few topics I've tackled. No, not really. But this is how we learn, isn't it? By informing ourselves and others.
I can't wait to tackle all of these posts!
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