I always enjoy trying to come up with something creative for a FTRW display at my library and this year was no different. Going back to what I said earlier in the week (in a post that had a display we did just as Covid was starting to turn towards pandemic status in early […]
Shea and I have been showing the kids a lot of our favourite movies from when we were growing up – “Dirty Dancing” to “Adventures in Babysitting” to “Airplane!” – movies that both of us remember being allowed to watch by our parents at relatively young ages with no censorship or restrictions (*maybe* I’d […]
Through my work with the Writers Guild of Alberta, I became involved with the Calgary Freedom to Read Week Committee. I can’t find it online now but my memory is that this committee of writers, librarians, publishers and social activists was formed after some MLA held up some book in the Alberta Legislature to denounce […]
Another aspect of Freedom of Expression in the age of Covid is whether workers feel empowered to speak out about safety concerns they see in their workplaces without fear of reprisal. Most legislation has provisions to protect workers for speaking out on safety issues of any kind but many workplaces also take the position that […]
This has been an unprecedented twelve months that has impacted all sectors including public libraries. Libraries have had to pivot in a variety of ways – from implementing curbside pickup to quarantining books to opening up to the idea of staff working from home – and there are numerous articles about the impacts of Covid […]
I posted this song in June 2019 with only a brief reference to the controversy around the song’s contents which evoke incest and rape. But I thought it might be worth revisiting for FTRW, especially in light of the news that came out in August 2020 that the band’s bassist had subsequently been accused of […]
I’m a huge Freedom of Expression guy and think Freedom to Read Week should be a highlight of every librarian’s calendar. I don’t think I managed to do it every year but ever since I was in library school in 2006 (also the year I started this blog), I’ve tried to do an annual series […]
Also this… Aruba, Jamaica, Ted Cruz ain't gonna take yaBermuda, Bahama, just freeze or ask ObamaKey Largo, Montego, baby why don't HE goOh Ted won't take you down to Cancun, Mexico, HE'LL GET THERE FAST, you'll have no water flowThat's where Ted wanna go, while you're covered in snow — Cliff Schecter (@cliffschecter) February 18, […]
Donald Trump’s *second* impeachment began yesterday and this was one of the first videos shown summarizing the insurrection of January 6 (very telling it comes with a warning!)…
Well, the dominant narrative of this story is “large group of Internet-enabled Reddit underdogs figure out strategy to bankrupt billion dollar hedge fund” but the reality, as usual, is probably a lot more complicated and also consequential.
