So true. When my parents lived in Western Michigan, my normally centrist and very non confrontational father got so tired of the neighbors across the road who had their yard filled with right leaning signs that he got an Obama/Biden 2008 sign to put up. He had put up with both the Prop 2 (ending the use of race and…

Your sister’s recollections sound fairly accurate. I don’t think there were too many tears shed when Bielema left. To add to her observation of Bielema as a sexual deviant, the rumor was that he didn’t go after the younger, college aged women - he preferred more mature women.

I live in Madison and the rumors were circulating about his rumored infidelity. It was mostly online, and the story in the Wisconsin State Journal was the first it had been written about there. The State Journal’s coverage of the Badgers is comparable to Pravda’s coverage of Soviet politics in that it only presents…

I also work in a library and getting position is competitive. The hard reality is that the majority of people in the profession and in library schools are white women, which drives down salaries. The institution I work had a cultural climate survey, which was very mandatory. The results weren’t shocking - mostly…

I live in the Midwest in a city that has absorbed coastal food trends, but thankfully artisinal donut shops are not one of them. People usually bring in donuts from one of two local places - one that has some of the best cake donuts I’ve ever had, but horrendous customer service and the kosher donut shop located near…

Most urban libraries, including Baltimore, have special collections in their collection. Baltimore in particular has the H.L. Mencken Room.

I work in an academic library and feel that Dr. Hayden is a great nominees for Librarian of Congress. The Washington Post published a series of articles criticizing James Billington for his failure to adapt to new technologies and the LoC, most importantly the number of individual software and computer systems it has…

Flint is trying to do something about their water problem unlike Rio. Actually, a Michigan hosted games wouldn’t be a terrible idea. Opening ceremonies in Michigan Stadium and events held in the greater Detroit area, Ann Arbor, and East Lansing. Michigan has experience hosting hostile enemies - Ohio State comes up…

NBC could have used its clout as a significant financial backer for both the Winter and Summer Games to help the Chicago bid. Even with Chicago’s problems, it still would be a better host site than Rio. At least the water is safe there. Having the Olympics would have provided some motivation to improve public transit…

It will get a second season because of HBO’s relationship with Scorsese and their general pattern with the three notable exceptions of automatically renewing their hour long dramas. Another factor could be the production delays on Westworld, which was planned to premiere this fall and may not air until sometime in…

Sen. Peters nay vote is telling because she’s the mother of teenage boys. In another blog, she was quoted as voting against it because it was a non-issue from her experiences interacting with her sons’ classmates.

My parents own a Weimaraner, so I’m thrilled that the GSP won. It’s nice seeing a dog that is a great all around dog and fairly low maitenance grooming wise win. One of my dad’s former bosses had a pair of GSPs that were trained hunting dogs and wonderful overall companions. They were good with kids and other animals,…

I lived in South Dakota for a couple years and the passage of this doesn’t surprise me. That state tends to be a testing ground for legislation designed to pander to conservatives and restrict the rights of targeted groups, including women and now trans men and women. They were among the first states to pass a law…

Yesss. I get tired of the Berniebot posts on my Facebook feed. It’s a mix of the overly idealistic liberals, less pragmatic Democrats and the Bernie bros. Some of the language they use to describe Hilary is miscogynistic, even some from the female written posts.

There was a really interesting exhibit at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago in the mid 2000s on Palestinian costume from the 1850s to 1948. It’s amazing that most of the clothing was created by hand, including the amazing embroidery on both the men’s and women’s clothing. It’s also very individual…

Here’s one for you

That’s a wonderful picture. I love the informal, snapshot nature of it. It’s a breath of fresh air compared to the overly posed, phony ones you see.

My dad adores writing the family Christmas letter. The rest of us (myself, mother, and sister) think that it’s a sign that he needs to find something else to do to keep busy like sweep the garage. He’s not a big fan of social media and really gets irritated when my sister and I tag him in pictures on facebook. He…

She does have a valid point. Women played a key role in the civil rights movement, but the men took over the leadership. White women were key allies, which some blacks want to downplay.

The daughter is probably enjoying her time away from the parental orbit in her first semester of college. She’s probably establishing new routines and trying to find herself away from the parental influence. By the second semester, most college students have established enough of a routine, including checking in with…