#the margaret walker center

[garadinervi]

Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival, The Margaret Walker Center, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS, November 1-4, 2023

(image: Roy Lewis, (photograph), 1973 Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS: Mari Evans, Sonia Sanchez, Margaret Walker (pointing), and June Jordan. © Roy Lewis Photography)

#photography #festival #phillis wheatley poetry festival #mari evans #sonia sanchez #margaret walker #june jordan #the margaret walker center #roy lewis #1970s #2020s

[ebookporn]

School district uses ChatGPT to help remove library books

Faced with new legislation, Iowa's Mason City Community School District asked ChatGPT if certain books 'contain a description or depiction of a sex act.'

by Andrew Paul

Against a nationwide backdrop of book bans and censorship campaigns, Iowa educators are turning to ChatGPT to help decide which titles should be removed from their school library shelves in order to legally comply with recent Republican-backed state legislation, PopSci has learned.

According to an August 11 article in the Iowa state newspaper The Gazette, spotted by PEN America, the Mason City Community School District recently removed 19 books from its collection ahead of its quickly approaching 2023-24 academic year. The ban attempts to comply with a new law requiring Iowa school library catalogs to be both “age appropriate” and devoid of “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act.” Speaking with The Gazette last week, Mason City’s Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Bridgette Exman argued it was “simply not feasible to read every book and filter for these new requirements.”

“Frankly, we have more important things to do than spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to protect kids from books,” Exman tells PopSci via email. “At the same time, we do have a legal and ethical obligation to comply with the law. Our goal here really is a defensible process.”

According to The Gazette, the resulting strategy involved compiling a master list of commonly challenged books, then utilizing a previously unnamed “AI software” to supposedly provide textual analysis for each title. Flagged books were then removed from Mason City’s 7-12th grade school library collections and “stored in the Administrative Center” as educators “await further guidance or clarity.” Titles included Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, and Buzz Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights.

READ MORE

#artificial intelligence #chatgpt #censorship #banned books #book publishers #literacy

[rockislandadultreads]

Read-Alike Friday: Emily St. John Mandel

"Emily St. John Mandel writes character-based noir, literary, psychological, and science fiction but is best known for her apocalyptic novel, Station Eleven. Whether realistic or speculative, Mandel's suspenseful and atmospheric stories center on interpersonal relationships. Her lyrical, often nonlinear writing style pairs well with the melancholy tone of her moving and haunting stories. Mandel's complex, sympathetic, and flawed characters face atypical troubles but their unresolved internal conflicts resonate strongly with readers. While they may travel geographically and Mandel's native land, Canada, makes frequent appearances, what her characters tend to seek are intangibles -- answers, connections, and creative outlets. Start with: Station Eleven." - NoveList

Emily St. John Mandel - start with Station Eleven

One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time—from the actor's early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theater troupe known as the Traveling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains—this suspenseful, elegiac, spellbinding novel charts the strange twists of fate that connect five people: the actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor's first wife, his oldest friend, and a young actress with the Traveling Symphony, caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous self-proclaimed prophet.

Karen Thompson Walker - start with The Age of Miracles

On an ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, Julia awakens to discover that something has happened to the rotation of the earth. The days and nights are growing longer and longer; gravity is affected; the birds, the tides, human behavior, and cosmic rhythms are thrown into disarray. In a world that seems filled with danger and loss, Julia also must face surprising developments in herself, and in her personal world: divisions widening between her parents; strange behavior by her friends; the pain and vulnerability of first love; a growing sense of isolation; and a surprising, rebellious new strength. With crystalline prose and the indelible magic of a born storyteller, Karen Thompson Walker paints a breathtaking portrait of people finding ways to go on in an ever-evolving world.

Margaret Atwood - start with The Handmaid's Tale

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now…

This is the first volume of the "Handmaid's Tale" series.

Kate Atkinson - start with Life After Life

On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born, the third child of a wealthy English banker and his wife. Sadly, she dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in any number of ways. Clearly history (and Kate Atkinson) have plans for her: In Ursula rests nothing less than the fate of civilization.

This is the first volume of the "Todd Family" series.

#science fiction #dystopia #dystopian fiction #readalikes #emily st. john mandel #reading recommendations #reading recs #book recommendations #book recs #library books #tbr #tbr pile #to read #booklr #book tumblr #book blog #library blog

[hbhughes]

William R. Pickering, Jr.

William R. Pickering Jr., 85, of Woodside Drive, Dallas, died Friday, Nov. 11, 2022, in Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, Plains Twp.

Born in Kingston, he was the son of the late William R. and Catherine Knecht Pickering Sr. He graduated from Forty Fort High School and served in the U.S. Navy.

Bill resided in Dallas for the past 20 years. He was self-employed, owning a Tastykake franchise. He was a member of Alderson United Methodist Church. He was an avid hunter and fisherman and enjoyed carving decoy ducks. He was also past president of the Cherry Run Rod & Gun Club. For 20 years, he volunteered at the Department of Veterans Affairs Wilkes-Barre Medical Center in Plains Twp.

Preceding him in death was his wife of 58 years, Margaret Davis Pickering, in 2021.

Surviving are his children, William D. Pickering and his wife, Lori, Hunlock Creek; daughter, Lynda Nicholson and her husband, Robert, Palm Bay, Fla.; grandchildren, Mariel Zink; Carissa Lengler and her husband, Matthew; and Sammie, Kaya and Art Pickering; and great-grandchild, Russel Lengler.

A funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday from Hugh B. Hughes & Son Inc. Funeral Home, 1044 Wyoming Ave., Forty Fort, with the Rev. David Walker officiating. Interment with military honors will be in Chapel Lawn Memorial Park, Dallas. Friends may call from 10 a.m. to service time Tuesday.

Memorial contributions, if desired, can be made to St. Jude or the Kidney foundation.

[abwwia]

Margaret Eleanor Atwood CC OOnt CH FRSC (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight children's books, and two graphic novels, as well as a number of small press editions of both poetry and fiction. Atwood has won numerous awards and honors for her writing, including two Booker Prizes, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Governor General's Award, the Franz Kafka Prize, Princess of Asturias Awards, and the National Book Critics and PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Awards. A number of her works have been adapted for film and television.

Atwood's works encompass a variety of themes including gender and identity, religion and myth, the power of language, climate change, and "power politics". Many of her poems are inspired by myths and fairy tales which interested her from a very early age.

Atwood is a founder of the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Writers' Trust of Canada. She is also a Senior Fellow of Massey College, Toronto.

Atwood is also the inventor of the LongPen device and associated technologies that facilitate remote robotic writing of documents.

Photo Tim Walker

#womeninliterature #PalianShow ##femalewriters #womenwriters #novelist #femalenovelist

#margaret atwood

[kammartinez]

Against a nationwide backdrop of book bans and censorship campaigns, Iowa educators are turning to ChatGPT to help decide which titles should be removed from their school library shelves in order to legally comply with recent Republican-backed state legislation, PopSci has learned.

According to an August 11 article in the Iowa state newspaper The Gazette, spotted by PEN America, the Mason City Community School District recently removed 19 books from its collection ahead of its quickly approaching 2023-24 academic year. The ban attempts to comply with a new law requiring Iowa school library catalogs to be both “age appropriate” and devoid of “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act.” Speaking with The Gazette last week, Mason City’s Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Bridgette Exman argued it was “simply not feasible to read every book and filter for these new requirements.”

“Frankly, we have more important things to do than spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to protect kids from books,” Exman tells PopSci via email. “At the same time, we do have a legal and ethical obligation to comply with the law. Our goal here really is a defensible process.”

According to The Gazette, the resulting strategy involved compiling a master list of commonly challenged books, then utilizing a previously unnamed “AI software” to supposedly provide textual analysis for each title. Flagged books were then removed from Mason City’s 7-12th grade school library collections and “stored in the Administrative Center” as educators “await further guidance or clarity.” Titles included Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, and Buzz Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights.

“We are confident this process will ensure the spirit of the law is enacted here in Mason City,” Exman said at the time. When asked to clarify what software Mason City administrators harnessed to help with their decisions on supposedly sexually explicit material, Exman revealed their AI tool of choice: “We used Chat GPT [sic] to help answer that question,” says Exman, who believes Senate File 496’s “age-appropriateness” stipulation is “pretty subjective… [but] the depictions or descriptions of sex acts filter is more objective.”

According to Exman, she and fellow administrators first compiled a master list of commonly challenged books, then removed all those challenged for reasons other than sexual content. For those titles within Mason City’s library collections, administrators asked ChatGPT the specific language of Iowa’s new law, “Does [book] contain a description or depiction of a sex act?”

“If the answer was yes, the book will be removed from circulation and stored,” writes Exman.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT is arguably the most well-known and popular—as well as controversial—generative AI program currently available to the public. Leveraging vast quantities of data, the large language model (LLM) offers users extremely convincing written responses to inputs, but often with caveats regarding misinformation, accuracy, and sourcing. In recent months, researchers have theorized its consistency and quality appears to be degrading over time.

Upon asking ChatGPT, “Do any of the following books or book series contain explicit or sexual scenes?” OpenAI’s program offered PopSci a different content analysis than what Mason City administrators received. Of the 19 removed titles, ChatGPT told PopSci that only four contained “Explicit or Sexual Content.” Another six supposedly contain “Mature Themes but not Necessary Explicit Content.” The remaining nine were deemed to include “Primarily Mature Themes, Little to No Explicit Sexual Content.”

Regardless of whether or not any of the titles do or do not contain said content, ChatGPT’s varying responses highlight troubling deficiencies of accuracy, analysis, and consistency. A repeat inquiry regarding The Kite Runner, for example, gives contradictory answers. In one response, ChatGPT deems Khaled Hosseini’s novel to contain “little to no explicit sexual content.” Upon a separate follow-up, the LLM affirms the book “does contain a description of a sexual assault.”

Exman tells PopSci that, even with ChatGPT’s deficiencies, administrators believe the tool remains the simplest way to legally comply with new legislation. Gov. Kim Reynolds’ signed off on the new bill on May 26, 2023, giving just three months to comply.

“Realistically, we tried to figure out how to demonstrate a good faith effort to comply with the law with minimal time and energy… When using ChatGPT, we used the specific language of the law: ‘Does [book] contain a description of a sex act?’ Being a former English teacher, I have personally read (and taught) many books that are commonly challenged, so I was also able to verify ChatGPT responses with my own knowledge of some of the texts. After compiling the list, we ran it by our teacher librarian, and there were no books on the final list of 19 that were surprising to her.

For now, educators like Exman are likely to continue receiving new curriculum restrictions from politicians hoping to advance their agendas. Despite the known concerns, the rush to adhere to these guidelines could result in continued utilization of AI shortcuts like ChatGPT.

#books #censorship #education #politics #leechware #ai #artificial intelligence

[kamreadsandrecs]

Against a nationwide backdrop of book bans and censorship campaigns, Iowa educators are turning to ChatGPT to help decide which titles should be removed from their school library shelves in order to legally comply with recent Republican-backed state legislation, PopSci has learned.

According to an August 11 article in the Iowa state newspaper The Gazette, spotted by PEN America, the Mason City Community School District recently removed 19 books from its collection ahead of its quickly approaching 2023-24 academic year. The ban attempts to comply with a new law requiring Iowa school library catalogs to be both “age appropriate” and devoid of “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act.” Speaking with The Gazette last week, Mason City’s Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Bridgette Exman argued it was “simply not feasible to read every book and filter for these new requirements.”

“Frankly, we have more important things to do than spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to protect kids from books,” Exman tells PopSci via email. “At the same time, we do have a legal and ethical obligation to comply with the law. Our goal here really is a defensible process.”

According to The Gazette, the resulting strategy involved compiling a master list of commonly challenged books, then utilizing a previously unnamed “AI software” to supposedly provide textual analysis for each title. Flagged books were then removed from Mason City’s 7-12th grade school library collections and “stored in the Administrative Center” as educators “await further guidance or clarity.” Titles included Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, and Buzz Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights.

“We are confident this process will ensure the spirit of the law is enacted here in Mason City,” Exman said at the time. When asked to clarify what software Mason City administrators harnessed to help with their decisions on supposedly sexually explicit material, Exman revealed their AI tool of choice: “We used Chat GPT [sic] to help answer that question,” says Exman, who believes Senate File 496’s “age-appropriateness” stipulation is “pretty subjective… [but] the depictions or descriptions of sex acts filter is more objective.”

According to Exman, she and fellow administrators first compiled a master list of commonly challenged books, then removed all those challenged for reasons other than sexual content. For those titles within Mason City’s library collections, administrators asked ChatGPT the specific language of Iowa’s new law, “Does [book] contain a description or depiction of a sex act?”

“If the answer was yes, the book will be removed from circulation and stored,” writes Exman.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT is arguably the most well-known and popular—as well as controversial—generative AI program currently available to the public. Leveraging vast quantities of data, the large language model (LLM) offers users extremely convincing written responses to inputs, but often with caveats regarding misinformation, accuracy, and sourcing. In recent months, researchers have theorized its consistency and quality appears to be degrading over time.

Upon asking ChatGPT, “Do any of the following books or book series contain explicit or sexual scenes?” OpenAI’s program offered PopSci a different content analysis than what Mason City administrators received. Of the 19 removed titles, ChatGPT told PopSci that only four contained “Explicit or Sexual Content.” Another six supposedly contain “Mature Themes but not Necessary Explicit Content.” The remaining nine were deemed to include “Primarily Mature Themes, Little to No Explicit Sexual Content.”

Regardless of whether or not any of the titles do or do not contain said content, ChatGPT’s varying responses highlight troubling deficiencies of accuracy, analysis, and consistency. A repeat inquiry regarding The Kite Runner, for example, gives contradictory answers. In one response, ChatGPT deems Khaled Hosseini’s novel to contain “little to no explicit sexual content.” Upon a separate follow-up, the LLM affirms the book “does contain a description of a sexual assault.”

Exman tells PopSci that, even with ChatGPT’s deficiencies, administrators believe the tool remains the simplest way to legally comply with new legislation. Gov. Kim Reynolds’ signed off on the new bill on May 26, 2023, giving just three months to comply.

“Realistically, we tried to figure out how to demonstrate a good faith effort to comply with the law with minimal time and energy… When using ChatGPT, we used the specific language of the law: ‘Does [book] contain a description of a sex act?’ Being a former English teacher, I have personally read (and taught) many books that are commonly challenged, so I was also able to verify ChatGPT responses with my own knowledge of some of the texts. After compiling the list, we ran it by our teacher librarian, and there were no books on the final list of 19 that were surprising to her.

For now, educators like Exman are likely to continue receiving new curriculum restrictions from politicians hoping to advance their agendas. Despite the known concerns, the rush to adhere to these guidelines could result in continued utilization of AI shortcuts like ChatGPT.

#books #education #politics #censorship #leechware #ai #artificial intelligence #jesus fucking christ on a goddamned pogo stick #there's just #so many LAYERS OF STUPID here #SO. MANY.

[cscclibrary]

[Image: A square graphic with a pale green background and watercolor paintings of tropical leaves peeking in from the edges. Green and black text in the center says "July Authors / Columbus State Library / library.cscc.edu."]

July simply overflowed with author birthdays! Do yourself a favor and add their works to your Summer reading.

James M. Cain (July 1, 1892), influential author of hardboiled fiction. Notable works: Mildred Pierce, Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice.

Wisława Szymborska (July 2, 1923), poet and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Notable works: Non-Required Reading, Monologue of a Dog Ensnared in History, Rhymes for Big Kids.

Franz Kafka (July 3, 1883). Notable works: The Metamorphosis, The Trial.

Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804), fiction writer. Notable works: The Scarlet Letter, House of the Seven Gables, A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys, Tanglewood Tales.

Margaret Walker (July 7, 1915), author and part of the Chicago Black Renaissance movement. Notable works: For My People, Jubilee.

Alice Munro (July 10, 1931), Nobel Prize-winning short story author. Notable works: The Love of a Good Woman, Runaway.

E. B. White (July 11, 1899), semicolon-loather and author of children's fiction, essays, and The Manual of Style.

Jhumpa Lahiri (July 11, 1967), award-winning fiction writer and essayist. Notable works: Interpreter of Maladies, The Namesake.

Pablo Neruda (July 12, 1904), poet and politician. Notable works: Canto General, Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair.

Wole Soyinka (July 13, 1934), the first Black person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Your humble correspondent highly recommends Aké: The Years of Childhood!

Cormac McCarthy (July 20, 1933), award-winning author. Notable works: The Road, Blood Meridian, No Country for Old Men.

Alexandre Dumas (July 24, 1902), author of The Count of Monte Cristo, The Corsican Brothers, The Three Musketeers, and dozens of other novels, plays, articles, and even a gastronomical dictionary.

Chang-rae Lee (July 29, 1965), author and educator. Notable works: A Gesture Life, Such a Full Sea.

#July authors #Columbus State Community College

[veronicaleighauthor]

Fun Facts About “Of Two Minds”

As you may have heard, my latest story, “Of Two Minds” was published in Starlite Pulp Review #2. It is the third in the Lady Sheriff Series. If you’re interested in reading my story, you can buy a copy of the review here. This post is about the fun facts / behind the scenes of this story. Enjoy!

This is not the first time I used the title “Of Two Minds” for a story. Years ago, I wrote a fantasy story by the same title, which was rejected by everyone and their brother. Just as it should have been. Since it was a failed story, I took the title and used it for this tale. The title actually suits this story better and matches up with the themes.

https://youtu.be/h2Ccbjp3hCg 

The song, “Hang Out the Stars in Indiana” sung by Al Bowlly, is featured in “Of Two Minds.” A British singer, he was known for “The Very Thought of You” and “Melancholy Baby,” he tragically died in a Luftwaffe Parachute Mine explosion in 1941.

Sheriff Claire Williams wears her badge when she’s on duty, and carries it around in her purse when she’s off-duty, in case she needs to put it on. I’ve tried to do research, to figure out what a sheriff’s badge from Indiana in the 1930s, and haven’t been able to come up with anything. I found this cute little badge on Temu and it matches what I’ve described in the series. I put my little badge next to an old 1917 postcard: the note is from one great-great grandmother to another, and mentions Edith giving birth to Margaret. Edith was my great-grandmother, whose story and a bit of her personality inspired Claire Williams. And Margaret was my grandma, whose stories of the past inspired many of my writings.

There’s a character named Isom in the story. On my mom’s side of the family, we have an ancestor named Isom.

Deputy Joseph Frank is a series regular character and I imagine him looking like a young Steve Buscemi.

Blackbirds show up in “Of Two Minds.” If you’re a Terre Haute/Wabash Valley native, you’re familiar with the plague of blackbirds that show up every October and torture us until the following spring. I used to live in the center of town and the birds were so bad there, when they flew in hordes over us, we’d have to run from the house to the car – or visa versa – carrying newspapers over our heads to avoid their… deposits. Our cars would be coated in a grotesque mix of white, brown, red, and black. Very nasty business.

“Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” is featured in this story, sung by Deputy Frank. I consider it the theme song for this series.

https://youtu.be/XYG9bXOLr_E

In my continual research of this time period and of the lady sheriffs in the early 20th century in general, I came across this fascinating clip on YouTube. It took me a few months, but I was able to learn the sheriff’s full name was Sheriff Jennie Walker. Her journey to sheriff was a little different from those who inherited their positions from their deceased husbands. After her husband’s failed campaign, upon the encouragement of the locals, Jennie Walker campaigned for the position and was elected…she was the first woman to be elected sheriff in Kentucky! She served the people faithfully and was respected by all. Special thanks to Knox Historical Museum for answering my many questions about Sheriff Jennie Walker. She’s become yet another part of the inspiration for my Lady Sheriff Series.

If you’re interested in reading the other Lady Sheriff stories, click here. Or you can check out its tag, Lady Sheriff Series, for updates.

#of two minds #Starlite Pulp Review #lady sheriff series #crime fiction #mystery fiction #historical fiction #gothic fiction #speculative fiction #indiana #sheriff claire williams

[garadinervi]

Institute for the Study of the History, Life, and Culture of Black People [then Margaret Walker Center], founded by Margaret Walker in 1968, while teaching at Jackson State University, Jackson, MS [Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS]

#photography #margaret walker #the margaret walker center #Institute for the study of the history life and culture of black people #mississippi museum of art #1960s

[livinginhisgratefulness]

Free snowstorm parking lot program in Minneapolis St. Paul was a big hit

MINNEAPOLIS – The reviews are in: Last week’s snowstorm saw free parking in the Twin Cities. Minnesota’s largest cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul, wanted to reduce the number of cars on the roads during snowy conditions. Minneapolis provided seven parking spaces for free, while St. Paul provided eight. Christina Smith said, “I pretty much instantly took advantage of it because i just didn’t want to deal with winter parking chaos,” she picked up her car at the Walker Art Center’s underground ramp on Sunday. New Creation Baptist Church’s Pastor Daniel McKizzie in Minneapolis said that the parking was free and wonderful. Two vans from the church rode out the storm on a Minneapolis parking lot. Kali Lentz said, “It was fantastic,” after she parked her car in St. Paul. I didn’t need to worry about parking. I didn’t need to worry about parking to get to work. Margaret Anderson Kelliher is Minneapolis’s director for public works. She says that almost every lot available was used during the week. The city is now working on guidelines to determine when it can use the strategy again. Anderson Kelliher said it would be used for snowfalls that are more severe. Anderson Kelliher stated that the project was very successful. It was extremely helpful to remove those cars from the streets, and it allowed our crews be able get a cleaner plowing. Minneapolis issued almost 4,000 tickets and tow more than 500 vehicles during the snow emergency. Anderson Kelliher however says that this is still a lower number than they usually see in big snowstorms. She said crews are now in cleanup mode, clearing snow from intersection corners and going back over alleyways. Source

[margaretwalkercenter]

Knowledgeable about Black history and culture? Skilled at social media and communications? Want to work with the public? We're looking for our next Education & PR Manager at the MWC. Apply on the @jacksonstateu website! https://jsums.peopleadmin.com/postings/10844 (at Margaret Walker Alexander National Research Center) https://www.instagram.com/p/CoaMXwsriFl/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[hbhughes]

William R. Pickering, Jr.

William R. Pickering, Jr., 85, of Woodside Drive, Dallas, died on November 11, 2022 at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, Wilkes-Barre.

Born in Kingston he was the son of the late William R. and Catherine Knecht Pickering, Sr. He graduated from Forty Fort High School and served in the US Navy.

Bill had resided in Dallas for the past 20 years. He was self-employed owning a Tasky Cake franchise. He was a member of Alderson United Methodist Church. He was an avid hunter, fisherman and enjoyed carving decoy ducks. He was also past president of the Cherry Run Rod & Gun Club. For 20 years he volunteered at the VA Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre.

Preceding him in death is his wife of 58 years, Margaret Davis Pickering, 2021.

Surviving are his children, William D. Pickering and his wife, Lori, Hunlock Creek, daughter, Lynda Nicholson and her husband, Robert, Palm Bay, Florida, grandchildren, Mariel Zink, Carissa Lengler and her husband, (Matthew), Sammie, Kaya and Art Pickering; great grandchild, Russel Lengler.

Funeral on Tuesday at 11 A.M. from the Hugh B. Hughes & Son, Inc., Funeral Home, 1044 Wyoming Avenue, Forty Fort, with Rev. David Walker, officiating. The interment with Military Honor’s will be at Chapel Lawn Memorial Park, Dallas. Friends may call on Tuesday from 10 A.M. until service time.

Memorial contributions, if desired, can be made to St. Jude or the Kidney foundation.

For more information or to send the family an online condolence visit hughbhughes.com.

[trans-axolotl]

Disability Justice Reading List

Hey everyone! Here’s a list of some interesting Disability Justice readings. Here’s a link to a Google Drive with all of these files, but I will also list them out here for easier finding. If you have any requests, let me know and I will try to find a pdf to add it to the list! I’ll update this post as I add more books and essays, as this was just what I could easily find tonight.

Intro to Disability Justice:

A Disability Justice Primer by Sins Invalid

Spoon Theory by Christine Miserandino

Access Intimacy by Mia Mingus

Medical Industrial Complex Infographic by Mia Mingus

Sick Woman Theory by Johanna Hedva

Designing Collective Access: A Feminist Disability Theory of Universal Design by Aimi Hamraie

Neurodiversity: Terms and Definitions by Nick Walker

Autism FAQ by Lydia X.Z. Brown

Psychiatry Critical/Abolitionist perspectives on Psychiatry:

Defining Mental Disability by Margaret Price

The Myth Of Mental Health by Kai Cheng Thom

Reframing Psychotherapy by Kai Cheng Thom

Harm Reducation Guide to Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs by the Icarus Project and Freedom Center

Race and Madness by Nadia Kanani

Disability Incarcerated edited by Liat Ben-Moshe, Chris Chapman, and Allison C. Carey

Care Work by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Helping Your Friends Who Sometimes Want to Die Maybe Not Die by Carly Boyce

The Protest Psychosis by Johnathan M. Metzl

The Race of Hysteria by Laura Briggs

Miscellaneous: 

The Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde

Feminist, Queer, Crip by Alison Kafer

Work In The Intersections: A Black Feminist Disability Framework by Drs. Moya Bailey & Izetta Autumn Mobley

Disability and Difference in Global Contexts: Enabling a Transformative Body Politic by Nirmala Ervelles

Medical Apartheid by Harriet Washington Ch. 1 (If anyone can get the whole book please let me know!)

Fugitive Science by Britt Rusert

#personal #disability #mental illness #disability justice #resources #mental health #antipsychiatry #disability reading list #actuallydisabled #disability studies #okay to reblog

[theblerdbox]

America’s Top 30

I came across a disturbing Facebook post this morning that said Barnes & Noble should have a display, front and center, of every banned book. 

Banned Books.

Oh, yes, that’s a thing! It’s terrible, isn’t it? All the personal experience and trauma, these writers (rock stars) bravely poured into their work, erased from the modern curriculum? Historic tragedies and calls to action, dissolved?

(Moment of silence for the culture)

Alas! Have no fear. Barnes & Noble does have that display for you to explore.

Here is a list of the Top 30 best-selling, and most challenged, banned books:

1. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison 2. The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story 3. 1984 by George Orwell 4. Fahrenheit 451: A Novel by Ray Bradbury 5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter Series #1) by JK Rowling 6. To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee 7. Animal Farm by George Orwell 8. Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck 9. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt 10. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley 11. Lord of the Flies by William Golding 12. Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death by Kurt Vonnegut 13. Their Eyes Are Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston 14. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood 15. The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas 16. The Color Purple: A Novel by Alice Walker 17. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey 18. Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie 19. Beloved by Toni Morrison 20. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson 21. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds 22. All American Boys by Jason Reynolds 23. Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak 24. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 25. How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith 26. Where the Sidewalk Ends: Poems and Drawings by Shel Silverstein 27. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov 28. The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls 29. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood  by Marjane Satrapi 30. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide Series #1) by Douglas Adams

#banned books #youth revolt #reading list #ratedr #censorship #america #books #dark academia

[sartle-blog]

Art History Reader: How to Read a Photograph (As Art)

Robert Frank, Trolley - New Orleans, 1955, Gelatin silver print, 8 5/8 x 13 1/16 in., The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

  From Rembrandt to Frida Kahlo, artists have long found inspiration in the mirror. While their painted selfies may have taken a bit longer to create, they are not so different from what we post on Instagram. Whether it's to share your experiences or please the algorithm, we continue this trend of photographing ourselves for our followers. Our technology allows us to do this through the grueling work of clicking a button, not to mention using apps to edit and perfect this version of us. The amount of likes then confirms that we have shared a significant picture with the world, as we sit back and wait for verification from the Pulitzer or TIME committees. However, contrary to social media’s endorsements, “liking” a photograph isn’t the same as critically reading a photograph. 

There is more to a photograph than simply looking at it. Since we are so inundated with images--from the news, social media, and memes--slowing down, practicing visual literacy, and comprehending what we see is essential. Here are a few easy steps to start to more critically read and analyze photographs. 

  Do a formal analysis. 

Just like checking an influencer’s photos for Photoshop mistakes, slow down and look at every nook and cranny of the photograph. Try to see each item and element individually without creating any expectations or stories. List the items, people, words, indications of location, and the elements of art in the image. Photographs are a record of light, bouncing, reflecting, and being absorbed by different surfaces. Acknowledge the light and colors that are visible.

Consider the example of Robert Frank’s Trolley, seen above. There are strong lines that create a grid to frame the shapes of the subjects. The light is diffused likely from the clouded sky creating bouncing reflections on the trolley siding. Photographs that have many aspects to formally analyze are:

Gunsmith and Police Department, 6 Centre Market Place and 240 Centre Street, Manhattan by Berenice Abbott

Untitled by Francesca Woodman

  Examine the composition.

After looking at the individual elements, see the image as a whole. Be aware of how your eyes move through the photograph, observing if there are places for pause. Consider the overall tone of the work, whether there is more complexity or harmony in the shapes, patterns, light, color, and contrast. Ask yourself whether these moments create a sense of balance or instability. Again, practice looking rather than creating assumptions. 

The composition of Trolley is very formal and symmetrically balanced by the trolley’s wall and windows. The subjects are centered horizontally. The contrast overall is rather high, where the middle gray frames the subjects. Photographs that have strong compositions are:

Roadside Stand, Vicinity Birmingham, Alabama by Walker Evans

At the Time of the Louisville Flood by Margaret Bourke-White

  Identify the narrative.

Now that we’ve read the receipts we can spill all the tea we want! Think about the story and meaning of the photograph. While photographs are documents of the world around us, each image is carefully curated by the artist with regard to the story they want to tell. Sometimes that narrative is about people, where the expressions, actions, and clothing (or lack thereof) convey the character’s personality. Objects and colors can give more abstract context to the story, being symbolic of a larger idea. Be aware of what is not included in the frame as well based on any shadows, lines, or shapes surrounding the subject.

In Trolley, the assumption is that the passengers are using public transportation. The facial expressions and clothing indicate personalities, showing irritability in the older woman, apathy and concern in the children, and resignation in the man. Consider their lack of interaction. Other photographs with strong narratives include:

Flower Power by Bernie Boston 

Untitled Film Still #35 by Cindy Sherman 

  Give context to the artwork.

Now that we have an understanding of what is going on in a photograph, we have to establish the why. The artist’s goals often shift the way a viewer interprets an image. Context can be given in two ways: within the photograph or through a title and artist statement.

Within the photograph, explore the details of location and time period. Location can be explored through the scenery, whether there is urban infrastructure or natural landscapes. The time in history can be more difficult to establish but clothing and objects often give it away. The time period is essential for understanding the social and political atmosphere of the scene. Tension and upheaval in racial, gender, and economic inequalities are prevalent throughout twentieth century photographs. While these larger ideas are not always the ultimate goal of the artist, it is important to understand the historical context.

The artist statement gives a very specific version of the artist’s story and objectives. These will place the exact year of the image and often describe the process and story behind the photograph. No photograph is neutral nor can it be objectively read. Viewers bring their own preconceived ideas to each image based on their own beliefs of what is visualized and what a photograph can do. The artist usually has a specific story they are telling to share information, create commentary, and give visuals to situations and ideas. 

The racial tensions in Trolley are the primary subject matter. The racially charged atmosphere is clear in the segregation of seats on the trolley. The dispositions of the passengers also hints to the turbulence of the time. Explore these other photographs that show a larger concept with greater context:

American Gothic by Gordon Parks

Self Portrait with Fried Eggs by Sarah Lucas

  Establish where the image exists.

Whether you’re scrolling through Instagram, on a gallery date, or seeing ads in a magazine, the location, size, placement, and space of the photograph can alter the reading of it. Consider where the image exists. Installations of photographs allow the artist to curate a viewer’s experience of the images. Images in advertisements have an indication of commodity and capitalism. Images on social media are immediately given ratings. While the first experience you have with a photograph is not the only way to read the image, the impression of your encounter will affect your reading.

Frank’s Trolley exists within the larger monograph The Americans, a book which features 83 photographs. There is a specific order for the viewer to read the images. Seeing a photograph between the pages of other photographs creates a connection between them, allowing the viewer to understand them in relationship to each other. Consider the following photographs and their installations:

Untitled from The Kitchen Table series by Carrie Mae Weems

The Flooded Grave by Jeff Wall

  Scrolling through Instagram might be a bit easier than critically reading a photograph, but the payoff is worth more than likes. The more practice you have, the better you will be at understanding the ways of truth and manipulation in images. While many of these steps seem simple, the act of slowing down will be beneficial for reading any kind of artwork. You will also be even better at spotting selfie edit fails! 

By: Epiphany Knedler

#art history reader #art education #photography