Lowrider Librarian

Please join us on Google Hangouts for a discussion between Yago, Autumn, Max and yourselves! Please follow the URL below on Sunday, Sept. 8th from 6-7 pm PST.

I read Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates in one sitting.  It was a decent book. Get this book for your library! So many people have already praised it for its great writing and incredible erudition.  I felt really let down after reading his book because I was expecting so much more. Mr. Coates is a good writer, but he is not a great writer.  His prose flows and I believe he has found his own voice.  However, the writing is not beautiful, nor is it creative or innovative in any manner. In my opinion the most important aspects of this book are his insights on the black body.   African Americans, after all, were considered products to be exploited for their value as slaves.  Their (and latino) bodies are still used in such a way in the prison industry as explicated so brilliantly in Michelle Alexander's seminal work, The New Jim Crow. He COMPLETELY neglects the fact that other ethnicities (besides black people) have race issues in the U...

This book is amazing on so many levels. Poetically, it stands almost alone as an example of relationships, alienation, microaggressions, and racism in the 21st century US. Quote from Citizen A friend recommended this book to me over the break--as we were all freshly cut wide open from the Ferguson coverage, revealing local discussions and ongoing murder of POC from any age and area in the US. I finally got a hold of it via the library and read it in earnest. The descriptions of racial microaggressions in 2nd person narrative poetry are so powerful I was shaking as I read them. Quote from Citizen Each page is condensed emotion, reaction and analysis of a lifetime of experiencing relationships that bite while smiling.  Her poetry describes how inescapable it is to be a POC in the US at this time and place.  The relentless assault upon our senses of 21st century lynchings and their impact the mental health, awareness and identity of POC is explicated in de...

Book Review! Cannabis Pharmacy By Michael Backes 978-1-57912-951-4 Michael Backes has done a great service by producing this wonderful book on medical cannabis. His book covers a nice portion of material on cannabis and related subjects.  It is often hard to get all this material in one book. Cannabis as medicine has a long history of usage.   Here are the contents: Contents of book.  Click image to enlarge. This wonderful resource is broken into logical chunks of information for readers who want to learn about medical cannabis.   Mr. Backes gives a great historical and social perspective on cannabis that is well-researched and is put in terms that the average reader can understand. Adverse side effects are covered and explicated. He then goes on to describe what makes the particular varieties of cannabis and shows a large sample of strains that have been developed by breeders. Varieties of medical cannab...

How do we get kids to read--especially those that appear to not be interested in reading?  Reading!  The answer is:  find relevant material that the reader can empathize with and that the reader can understand.   Back cover of book An adventure making something out of the best of what you have is something ANY kid can empathize with, but the subject matter is most definitely something young Chicanos can relate to and understand.  Cars, space, excitement and fun make this dynamic story a great read young readers.   This is not to stereotype young Chicanos, we are far more diverse than lowriders, but many of us grew up in Lowrider Culture and love and understand this culture.   The language and characters are fantastic, but rooted in Chicanismo.   Cathy Camper and Raul The Third have developed friendly, characters who speak much of the vernacular I grew up with as a 3rd generation Chicano in CA.   ...

The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace hit upon almost all the intellectual struggles I have with education as a scholar of color.  This doesn't mean every person of color will relate to this book, and it doesn't mean that White people can't relate to the book either. It is really a book anyone should read, but the themes covered: Alienation from the dominant culture in an educational institution Bifurcating one's life to handle a life in two worlds What does success mean?        are themes that many people of color in academia can relate to specifically.   Robert Peace was a brilliant Science student, who earned a full scholarship to Yale University.  He graduated and seemed to have everything going for him. This book tells the story of his family background, his upbringing, his education, his post-education decisions and his untimely death.  Rob's story is told from his White-upper middle class roommat...