Blogs

Jamila Clarke

 

Photographer Jamila Clarke Photo: JamilaClarke\.com

She takes DIY to another level, and she could be the city’s best kept secret.  Jamila Clarke is an impressive creative and she’s good, really good! Clarke does design, illustration, interactive, photography and print, and she even makes jewelry! According to Clarke, her jewelry is “vintage inspired handmade resin jewelry with a modern twist.” More good news: She is right here in Portland. You can find her here , here and here.

Further Exploration: www.jamilaclarke.com

Available at Multnomah County Library: Northwest Passage, The Birth of Portland’s D.I.Y Culture by Lastra, Mike (DVD)

 

Often we need to contact government officials or agencies but knowing where to start can be daunting. Here is a quick list of useful contact numbers and websites to help you reach who you need in government:

Local Government

 

 

State Government

There is no general information line for the state of Oregon. You can visit each agency’s website for their individual contact information or you can look in the state agency directory.

Looking for more information about Oregon government?  Try the Oregon Blue Book.   

 

Federal Government

 

In print you can take a look at the Federal staff directory for an extensive list of who’s who in the Federal government or visit the Federal staff directory online.

Want a printable PDF of contact information for local elected leaders including local school districts?  The League of Women Voters of Portland has you covered.

Caroll’s Publishing Company prints an excellent set of contact information guides for the Federal government as well as nationwide CountyMunicipal, and State governments. 

As always, Multnomah County Library staff is happy to help you find the information you’re looking for.  If you have any questions about this topic or anything else please let us know!

Podcasts and zines- I love them.  Have you tried them?

I love listening to podcasts while I’m crafting, cooking or cleaning. Podcasts are digital audio files that can be downloaded or streamed on your computer or device. If you like audiobooks you might like podcasts. Whatever you’re into, there’s probably a podcast about it somewhere on the internet. Many interesting podcasts can be found on (National Public Radio website) NPR. And of course the Multnomah County Library has podcasts. If you need help finding podcasts ask us. We’d love to help!


I love zines too. Zines are independent publications or homemade magazines a sixth grader told me when I asked him “what are zines?” Zines cover many subjects. Subjects that mainstream press may not cover. Of course the Multnomah County Library has zines. So when podcasts and zines meet up it’s a marriage made in heaven. Or just a really great podcast all about how zines can sometimes find their way to publishers. Take a listen to From Zines to Publishing podcast when some local creators and publishers get together and discuss the publishing landscape for zines. We also have a zines to books list and this is part 2.

Kenneth Doswell

 

BettyJean Couture owner Kenneth Doswell Photo: Oregonlive

Kenneth Doswell is the owner of Bettyjeancouture. He made personal history in 2014 when he received his first national fashion award, Designer of the Year at New York’s Full Figured Fashion week. He only designs for women.  Doswell’s designs are a fashion work of art combining nostalgia with contemporary elements.  He ignores trends and creates beautiful, longlasting fashion.  For most, he is a well kept secret.  If truth be told, Doswell entered the fashion scene at 8 years of age. He designs and creates clothing for leading women. The beauty of it all, his clothes are affordable and he’s right here in Portland!

 

Further Exploration: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/06/north_portlands_kenneth_doswel.html

Available at Multnomah County Library: Michelle Obama, First Lady of Fashion and Style by Swimmer, Susan

 

Ghost Train to the Eastern Star book jacketIn my search for something to read last weekend, nothing seemed quite right.  Then I happened upon my small collection of Paul Theroux books and I knew he was (no pun intended) just the ticket.  I’m a big fan of Mr. Theroux and have been saving Ghost Train to the Eastern Star for the right moment.  Ghost Train traces one of his earlier journeys documented originally in The Great Railway Bazaar.  That trip, which took place in 1973, chronicled Theroux’s mostly train journey from London across Europe and Asia, visiting India and Japan and returning west via the Trans-Siberian Railway.  Writers often travel in the footsteps of others but Theroux follows his own path, visiting old and new countries in order to see what has changed and what has remained the same.  Along the way he applies those same standards to himself.  

In Ghost Train, readers learn early on that Theroux’s previous trip took place under trying circumstances on the home front.  As the father of two young children he embarked on a long and seemingly pointless journey against his wife’s wishes.  While the trip brought him a measure of fortune and fame, his marriage never recovered.  In Ghost Train we find an older, more settled Theroux.  Without the family troubles to plague him, he traveled a second time with a more solid sense of home.  Theroux follows his earlier trip as closely as possible.  Politics prevented him from visiting countries like Iran and Afghanistan but this time he traveled through Georgia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan and visits Cambodia for the first time.  

Travel writing as a tale of adventure changed with the advent of air travel.  Travelers began to focus on the destination instead of the journey.  Theroux’s travel writing excels because it brings travel writing back to those earlier times.  For Theroux, the arrival, the departure and all that happens between the two are fodder for explanation.  He incorporates history without distracting from the narrative.  He frequently meets with local writers, in this case Orhan Pamuk and Elif Shafak in Istanbul, Arthur C. Clarke in Sri Lanka and Haruki Murakami in Japan.  He observes the conflicting economies in India, finding sadness at the overwhelming poverty while every rickshaw driver he sees is using a cell phone.  

Ultimately Theroux is a keen observer with a novelist’s heart.  Ghost Train is classic Theroux, peopled with interesting characters that bring shape and form to each trip.  Like his other works, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star allows the reader to sit alongside Mr. Theroux, watch over his shoulder and share the journey.  As with his other travels, the journey is well worth it.

Deena Pierott

 

iUrban founder Deena Pierott Photo: nten\.org

In 2011, Deena Pierott starts iUrban Teen with a focus on introducing, supporting and propelling students in the vast areas of technology. Specifically, iUrban aims to increase technology participation in male Black, Latino and Native American teens. Through interactive summits, tours, trainings and a hands-on approach, iUrban garners national attention. In 2013, Pierott is recognized as a Champion of Change for Technology Inclusion at the White House. More good news: iUrban is right here in Portland!

Further Exploration: http://iurbanteen.org/

Available at Multnomah County Library: African American Firsts in Science and Technology by Webster, Raymond B.

D’wayne Edwards

 

Pensole Founder D'wayne Edwards Photo: bmeccommunity

When he's 17, he crushes the competition in a Reebok design competition. While attending college, he secures a job with L.A. Gear, an old-school footwear company. Every day he submits shoe drawings and a suggestion to hire him as a shoe designer. After submitting a total of 180 sketches, he’s offered a job as the youngest footwear designer in the industry at that time. Eventually, his hard work and determination land him a job at Nike as design director for brand Jordan. His designs sell more than $1 billion, he owns over 30 patents and designs shoes for some of the world’s top athletes, woosh! He decides to leave Nike and use his own money to start Pensole, a shoe design academy. And he’s right here in Portland!

Further Exploration: http://www.pensole.com/founder/

Available at Multnomah County Library: Footwear Design by Choklat, Aki

I am a philosophy professor and chair of the Philosophy Program at Southern Oregon University. Having been trained in both Indian and Western philosophy, my reading covers a wide spectrum. For the last several years I have become interested in issues in political philosophy, the role of scientific literacy in modern democracy, and issues at the interface between science and religion. I see reading as a walk I am taking with a friend while exploring a subject. Depending on the topic, the conversation can be calm or passionate. Either way, the dialogue almost always enriches my life. This has required me to buy a few more bookshelves.

Here are some reflections on a variety of books I have been reading. Please feel free to send me your questions and comments.

Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality by Danielle Allen

While there are thousands of volumes written about the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence from as many perspectives as one can imagine, the pages of Princeton philosopher Danielle Allen’s reading of the Declaration are filled with rigor and passion. Allen walks us through the document, helping us understand and appreciate the significance of various ideas and making a case the true freedom is not possible without equality. Each chapter is nicely organized in manageable lengths for easy reading.

I highly recommend reading the book, especially today as we are working through several social and political challenges.

What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets by Michael J. Sandel

In this book, Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel, author of the New York Times bestseller Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?, takes up some of the moral dilemmas we are encountering more and more in our society -- fighting wars, selling admission to colleges, drug testing -- and subjects them to moral scrutiny. Sandel argues that in the end, to separate markets and economics from morality “is not good for democracy, nor is it a satisfying way to live.”

The book is an excellent resource to get us thinking about the issues we face today. It also illustrates how philosophers go about doing philosophy.

Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature Is Almost Certainly False by Thomas Nagel

Is everything, including mind/consciousness, ultimately reducible to material/physical substance and process alone? Or is there something more to it? Philosophers and theologians have been debating this question for centuries, if not longer. Ever since the publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859), the debate gained new life, especially with those who pushed to explain mental phenomena in terms of material processes.

In Mind and Cosmos, renowned philosopher Thomas Nagel, makes a provocative proposal that arguments to reduce mind/consciousness to a physical foundation is, as he puts it in the title, “…almost certainly false.” The book has given rise to some interesting and, in some circles, even acrimonious exchanges. In reviewing the book, the Harvard cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker wrote that Nagel’s thesis is the “…shoddy reasoning of a once-great thinker.”

Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them by Joshua Greene

Human beings may be unique in facing moral dilemmas. While historically there have been answers galore as to how one ought to behave, modern cognitive science and neuroscience are challenging and offering new insights into what constitutes morality and where we get it. In fascinating book, Harvard social scientist Joshua Greene explores how the human brain processes morality, shaped by evolution and cultural forces. In this very accessible book, he offers a moral framework, to help us examine and inform our moral quandaries.

The book will be of interest to all those who are interested learning about how new sciences can and are shaping our sense of morality.

Exploring Happiness: From Aristotle to Brain Science by Sissela Bok

The Politics of Happiness: What Government Can Learn from the New Research on Well-Being by Derek Bok

The last few decades have seen increased interest, attention, and research focused on happiness, a fundamental human emotion. While philosophers have discussed the concept for centuries, new research is shedding fresh light on how happiness can enhance and shape our wellbeing in society. In Exploring Happiness, philosopher Sissela Bok offers a philosophical overview of happiness from Aristotle to what neuroscience is telling about this subject. In The Politics of Happiness, Derek Bok, former president of Harvard University, offers a broad survey of how new research on happiness can help us address some of our vexing social and economic problems. He touches on such challenges as income inequality, marriage and families, and quality of political leadership.

The Boks articulate a complex subject clearly and I recommend the books to anyone interested in understanding the present human condition, and perhaps why we need to rethink our approach to solving some of our personal, social, and political challenges.

Here are some other books on my bookshelf (outside of my professional reading):

Travels with Epicurus: A Journey to a Greek Island in Search of a Fulfilled Life by Daniel Klein

The Meaning of Human Existence by Edward O Wilson

Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris

For more reading recommendations customized for you, try the My Librarian service.  My Librarian and our featured guest readers are made possible by a grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation to The Library Foundation, a local non-profit dedicated to our library's leadership, innovation, and reach through private support.

It’s a new year - have you checked your credit reports lately? There are three nationwide consumer credit agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) and together they maintain the official website AnnualCreditReport.com which lets you check your credit report (or “credit file disclosure”) for each of these agencies once every 12 months, for no cost.

For more information and motivation, take a look at this credit score action plan from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation.

(Keep in mind that your credit report is different from your credit score, which is a number assigned by a credit agency. The Federal Reserve has a webpage which explains the difference.)

Once you’ve figured out your credit situation, the library has books which can help you learn how to control and repair your credit and debt. There are also a number of nonprofit agencies who provide free debt counseling:

I have a degree in history and, admittedly, can be something of a snob about it. If the facts aren’t right, well, I mumble under my breath and toss the book aside. Unfortunately, that eliminates a lot of popular history; work written for a broad audience. While often dramatic and exciting, these books can often be overly simplified or simply historically wrong. That means I read mostly dry, academic works that may satisfy my intellect but fail to stimulate the senses. There are exceptions, however.

Perhaps my favorite author of exciting, accurate history is James D. Hornfischer. His three books about the naval war in the Pacific possess more action and drama than most Hollywood films. His works focus on those moments during WWII when the outcome was less than certain and the Japanese had the advantage. This allows him to imbue the story with real peril. Hornfischer is especially adept at bringing any historic figure to life, whether a gunner’s mate or fleet admiral.

Last Stand of the Tin Can Soldiers book jacketLast Stand of the Tin Can Sailors focuses on one element within the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944. It tells the story of a group of small US warships that successfully fought off a much more powerful Japanese naval force that threatened the American landings in the Philippines but at a terrible cost. Few works highlight the bravery and sacrifice of men in battle more than this book.

Ship of Ghosts tells the story of the USS Houston, an American heavy cruiser. Stationed in the eastern Pacific in December 1941, theShip of Ghosts book jacket ship joined a motley assortment of other Allied vessels in a futile attempt to halt the Japanese advance through the East Indies.  When the Houston sank, most of her crew became POWs and endured unimaginable hardships. Few works capture the POW experience better than this book.

Neptune's InfernoNeptune’s Inferno, Hornfischer’s most ambitious work, tells the story of the naval campaign surrounding Guadalcanal in 1942-43. The U.S. Navy, still reeling from the losses at Pearl Harbor, suffered some of its greatest defeats ever, but ultimately broke the Japanese Navy and paved the way for Allied victory.  Few works demonstrate the uncertainty of victory in the war's early stages as graphically as this book.

So, if you’re leery of reading history but like great adventure stories, give James Hornfischer a try. I’m confident you’ll like what you find.

Wikipedia logo.Wikipedia, is a free encyclopedia with over 4 million articles in multiple languages, created by users all over the world. Can you trust all of them? Probably not, although this website can be great for finding a quick answer when you don't need the information to be 100%-guaranteed accurate.

Your professor or teacher might say that you can't use Wikipedia when you're writing a research paper - but this doesn't mean that it's not useful to you in your research. Many of the articles in Wikipedia have citations indicated throughout them, and a list of references at the end where the authors are claiming to have found their information. This doesn't prove that everything in the Wikipedia article is true - but if you find a fact that you need, you can use the citations and the list of references in the article to find out which source might have that fact. 

And if you need help finding any of the sources listed in your Wikipedia article, just ask a librarian and we can help!

Introduction: This, the final week of Black History Month, we focus on NOW!  The past several weeks featured African Americans, both dead and alive, who made significant contributions to American culture. Their ingenuity, creativity and dedication inform and influence how we live, NOW! The same inventiveness, originality and artistry continues today, as we will see in the lives of this week's features. And you don't have to go very far to find most of them. History is NOW! We live, NOW! We end this month's journey through Black history with a focus on NOW! Enjoy and engage.

Clarke Flowers

 

Portland Model Clarke Flowers Photo:

She’s beautiful and taking the fashion world by storm. Clarke Flowers proves you can pursue your dream while obtaining a college degree. Here’s the kicker: She didn’t start modeling until she was 18 years old! As winner of the 2014 Portland Fashion and Style award for Best Female Model, Flowers is versatile. She’s done editorial, glamour, lifestyle, swimwear, promotional and fashion, but her favorite is owning the runway. And good news: She’s right here in Portland. Although there are rumors of her relocating to Los Angeles. Where ever she goes, Portland has the distinguished honor of claiming her as our own.

Further Exploration: www.optionmodelandmedia.com

Available at Multnomah County Library: The Fashion Industry by Roman Espejo

 

Our Souls at Night jacketWhat's it like to be inside someone else's head, looking out? That's a nut technology has yet to crack. Luckily we have fiction. Everything I know about what it's like to be...a young gay man in a repressive society, an elderly woman looking back on her life, a Japanese man struggling with identity... and on... I learned from reading fiction. With each book, I push a little outside the known world of myself.

Kent Haruf was one of those writers who could take you directly into the experience of another. In language that is deceptively simple, he describes the emotional and often isolated lives of people living in the small towns and country of the west. He died in November of last year, and so sadly, there is nothing more to read except for his last book, Our Souls at Night.

Our Souls at Night recounts the story of two widowed people: Louis and Addie live a couple houses away from one another in a small town. They know each other to say hello at the grocery store, and of course, because it's a small town, they know the rough landscapes of each others' lives - how forty years ago, Louis had an affair; how Addie and her family lived through a tragic accident. Some believe that small towns have a stronger sense of community, but in fact, it's just as easy to be isolated and removed from life in a small place as it is in a large. Addie makes a decision to poke at this loneliness by inviting Louis to be her bed-mate, to come over each night and lie in the dark with her and talk. After some initial awkwardness, they settle into a quiet joy in their companionship. Their contentmet is shared out to Addie's grandson, who stays with her when her son's marriage begins to disintergrate. But the solace they find in one another will be tested by the bitterness and anger of others.

Haruf's story is heart-rending in its simplicity, and if you have older parents, it will challenge you to think about how aging, and loss, and the judgement of others affect our elders. And it will make you mourn for the loss of this great writer.

 

I’m struggling to find a term for this. I don’t think it’s metafiction (according to the online definitions I’ve found), but if it’s not that, then what do you call a novel where the author has taken as her/his fictional universe a fictional universe created by an earlier author?

Mr. Timothy book jacketLouis Bayard, in Mr. Timothy, and Lynn Shepherd, in The Solitary House, both clearly know (and love) their Charles Dickens, a master of 19th century plot, setting, and people. A Dickens universe is filled with vivid atmosphere and memorable characters, so why not borrow them for your novel? Bayard sets his novel 17 years after the events in A Christmas Carol, and features a Timothy Cratchit all grown up and the inheritor of E. Scrooge’s substantial estate.  No longer needing that crutch, Tim finds himself weighed down by the love and trust of his late benefactor.

Shepherd, on the other hand, opts for a mystery set slightly before the tumultuous events of Bleak House, where that novel’s villain, The Solitary House book jacketSir Edward Tulkinghorn, requests the assistance of private investigator/“thief-taker” Charles Maddox to determine who is threatening one of his clients.

In both novels, half the fun (for this reader) is anticipating and recognizing how the sort-of remembered details of the originals are incorporated into the homages. It doesn’t hurt that both authors happen to tell a rattling good story on their own.

In Bayard’s subsequent historical fiction, he has switched his settings to actual events and characters (Edgar Allan Poe at West Point, Theodore Roosevelt in the Amazon), while Shepherd has stayed with fiction (killing off a Jane Austen heroine, placing mysterious bite marks on the neck of her hero).

And, if you like your Downton Abbey served with a slice of cheerful snark, don’t miss Bayard’s recaps of each episode in the New York Times.

Ben Arogundade

hoto of Ben Arogundade - Photo from www\.benarogundade\.com

We wrap up this week’s fashion theme with a book recommendation, author Ben Arogundade’s Black Beauty. As stated on Amazon:

“Through over 150 color and black and white photographs and an engaging, informed text, Black Beauty discusses the position of blacks within the beauty hierarchy of the West, as well as the kinds of work available to black models within the past century. Author Ben Arogundade also offers insight to the ways in which certain styles of black beauty have been promoted above others. In considering black icons and celebrities from Marcus Garvey, Josephine Baker, and Muhammad Ali to Billy Dee Williams, Grace Jones and Lauryn Hill, Black Beauty reveals the many differing images of those who have embodied black beauty in our culture. Portraits by Herb Ritts, Albert Watson, Richard Avedon, and other eminent photographers are included in this stunning compilation.”

Further Exploration:  http://www.arogundade.com/ben-arogundade-biography-bio-author-and-e-book-publisher-arogundade-books.html

Available at Multnomah County Library: Black Beauty by Arogundade, Ben

For those of us who love classical literature, Multnomah County Library is a great resource. There are Classics Pageturners book discussion groups at Hillsdale Library and Hollywood Library.  The book lists for those discussion series are below, and include the dates of the discussions in the annotations.  Following that are a series of lists of Western and non-Western literature from every era. For the rest of the Classics Pageturners 2014-2015 season, here is the schedule:

Hillsdale Library Classics Pageturners, second Saturdays, 3-5 pm

March 14, The second half of Lost Illusions, by Honoré de Balzac

April 11, Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott

May 9, The Ambassadors, by Henry James

June 13, Tartuffe, by Molière

Hollywood Library Classics Pageturners, third Sundays, 2-4 pm

March 15, Utopia, by Thomas Moore

April 19, The Art of War, by Sunzi

May 17, The Second Sex, volume 1, by Simone de Beauvoir

June 21, The Second Sex, volume 2, by Simone de Beauvoir

toot your own hornSo you’ve written a book and found a publisher. Marvelous. Now, on to the next project, yes? Leave promotion of your work to publisher and publicist, right? Not so fast, my ink-spilling friend. The plasma of artistic creativity may course through your veins, but unless you’re some breed of celebrity, literary success these days depends on you taking a central role in the business side of writing. Many a well-written contemporary book has withered on the vine due to the author’s inability or unwillingness to take part in the task of marketing and self-promotion. Here are some ideas on how to approach this crucial component to your would-be livelihood (whether you’ve published yet or not.)

Networking/Marketing

Depending on the source, there are between 130,000 and 185,000 writers (or more!) in the United States and over 300,000 books published in this country each year. With so much out there, how do you get your voice heard? How do you stand out?

For networking, you might use HelpAReporter.com (HARO) to promote yourself as a news source or expert in your field (and therefore, in your book). Or you might take advantage of social media - here's an article about LinkedIn for writersDepending on your genre, you might find a local or national writer's associationThere's also the The National Association of Independent Writers and Editors, a one-stop shop for writers seeking assistance with support, marketing, professional development, and networking.

As for marketing: here are some thoughts on self-promotion from The Huffington Post, and a New York Times article on building one’s brandA site called YourWriterPlatform.com has a simple message: “Your platform makes all the difference in the success or failure of your book. The bigger your reach, the more books you are likely to sell.” A service called BookBub.com offers free and deeply discounted ebook deals as a tool to reach new readers.

Grants, Awards, & Fellowships

Maybe you’re in the enviable position of having a spouse or relative $upport your artistic vision. While such a benefactor is certainly possible, it’s unlikely some monied stranger will drop by your garrett some gray winter morn (or your spare bedroom any season of the year), plop a pile of money down on the boards of your rough-hewn writing table (or flimsy particle board desk) and tell you to “get it done.” It’s just as unexpected--and just as unlikely--you’ll be graced with one of those legendary $500,000 MacArthur Genius Grants. But never fear, there are sources of funding you may have a shot at:

Locally, there's the Oregon Literary Fellowships from Literary Arts, Individual Artist Fellowships from the Oregon Arts Commission, and various grants from the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC).

Nationally, you might find grants through FundsforWriters.com or WritersandEditors.com. You might even try applying for a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts!

Freelance Writing

Wait just a minute. Maybe you’re interested in earning an income as a writer, but not interested in writing books. Rather than make a name, you’d rather earn your way as a player in the world of freelance, finding gainful employment with newspapers, magazines, websites, blogs, and the like. But, how to find the support, how to network? Here are a few ideas.

Locally, there's Portland Copywriters, a group of Portland-area freelance copywriters who support each other in the creation, growth, and sustainability of one’s freelance business. Freelanced.com claims to be the largest social network site for freelancers and can help you find work in your neck of the woods. It has sliding scale membership fees. Of course, you can also find work through Craigslist: writing gigs and writing jobs are the categories to browse.

Nationally, you might find help from FreelanceWritersDen.com, the supportive place where freelance writers learn how to grow their income — fast, or FreelanceWriting.com, your source for Freelancing, Freelance Writing Jobs and Articles for Freelance WritersThe National Writers Union UAW Local 1981 is the only labor union that represents freelance writers, and the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) is the professional association of independent nonfiction writers.

You know, your library has scads of books that may come in handy. Try this booklist, which contains books on freelancing, marketing and promotion, legal matters, grants, and more.

- by Kass A.

Every week, new books  are added to my ever growing "to be read" pile.  While it’s a pleasant hazard of the library profession, the looming tower of unread tomes has grown a bit too tall for comfort. However, after a recent search through the new titles joining the collection, I think there's some room left. Here are three I'm excited about.

 

 

stiletto cover

 

 

 

Myfanwy Thomas returns in Daniel O'Malley's anticipated sequel to The Rook

 

 

 

 

jon cryer book cover

 

 

 

Duckie's AKA Jon Cryer's story promises to "try a tenderness" and entertain 

 

 

 

 

tricky vic cover

 

 

 

Pssst! wana buy the Eiffel tower?

 

 

 

Bethann Hardison

 

Bethann Hardison Photo: VibeVixen

Where to start, where to start? Bethann Hardison embodies the idea of making things better than how you found them. She shot to fashion/modeling fame during the 60s and 70s. The beautiful and elegant Hardison has worked in every facet of the fashion industry  as a model, booking agent, fashion show producer, in public relations, as a contributing editor for several fashion magazines (she was even Editor-at-Large for Vogue Italia in 2010) and owner of the Bethann Management Agency. She opened her agency with one goal in mind: to change the racial climate of the fashion industry. And, she did! Hardison is a driving force behind the success of some of today’s top models. She states, “Eyes are on an industry that season after season watches design houses consistently use one or no models of color.” Taking it a bit further, Hardison started the Black Girls Coalition, BGC to advocate and support African-American models. As co-founder of BGC, Hardsion authored a series of letters calling fashion houses, councils, federations and more to the carpet. If you’re curious, read Bethann's Letters. One more thing, Hardison is the mother of Dwayne Wayne. Remember? Whitney’s boyfriend from the popular T.V. show "A Different World"?  

Further Exploration: http://www.elle.com/news/fashion-style/bethann-hardison-nyfw

Available at Multnomah County Library: Skin Deep, Inside the World of Black Fashion Models by Summers, Barbara

I like lots of music that’s just plain pretty--I'll admit that I have a weakness for harmonies and a sprightly fiddle line-- but there’s something especially bracing for me about listening to women singing loud, singing honestly with little regard for “just plain pretty.” It makes me feel a little freer myself, like swearing sometimes does, like quitting jobs to take off traveling used to feel.

The latest album to scratch that itch for me is Sleater-Kinney’s No Cities to Love. The songs are catchy, with quirky, inventive guitar. The lyrics are all about power, getting it or fighting it. My favorite song right now is the first single, “Bury Our Friends.”

We speak in circles
We dance in code
Untamed and hungry
On fire and in cold
Exhume our idols and bury our friends
We're wild and weary but we won't give in

My heart gives this little leap when Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein sing that “won’t give in”.  The vocals are howled in No Cities to Love.  I read an article that said Tucker, in particular "sounds like a badly injured opera soprano, or like an enraged mother hyena.” She does, and it’s great. This whole album made me think of the story that Tina Fey told in Bossypants about Amy Poehler saying “I don’t care if you like it” , a story that seems to be resonating with me and a lot of women I’ve talked to lately. We want to be ourselves. Sometimes it isn’t pretty. We don’t care if you don’t like it.

One thing you will like is that this album, as of this writing, is available both on CD and on MCL’s streaming music and video service, Hoopla. So if you have a library card and an Internet connection, you could be listening to it right now. After that, check out this list I made of other loud, honest female voices. Let me know if there are artists I missed who I should have included!

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software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2015-11
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web with URLs provided by Blekko for February 2015
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf