Lowrider Librarian

 I was honored to be be selected to speak at San Jose State's Information School last month. San Jo is my hometown and it was super cool to be able to speak at SJSU! I hope you enjoy this. Comments encouraged! Special thanks to Dr. Michele Villagran and San Jose State!

My heroes call out to me from across time Some call out from hundreds of years ago I can hear some from just yesterday My heroes call out to me and make my heart strong They are our alternative narrative Calling out our history Calling out our enemies Calling out our allies Calling out our resistance My heroes call out to me and I listen They are part of what makes our culture great They are the true Americans Calling out hatred makes us stronger My heroes call out that shit What if Huey P. Newton hadn't called out? What if Rosa Parks hadn't called out? What if John Trudell hadn't not called out? What if Malcolm X hadn't called out? What if Audre Lorde hadn't called out? What if Larry Itliong hadn't called out? What if we don't call out? My heroes call out to me  

[This blog post is a sketch of ideas. I plan on fleshing these ideas out.  I want to share them now though.] Fake News as Related to Culture and Information Literacy: The recent information that has come out about fake news sites and stories   that were shared on social media and influenced the recent elections are directly related to the concept of Information and Culture .  The idea of controlling public perception via the control of media was perfected by the Nazis' Josef Goebbels.  Now the ideas of Edward Bernays have been combined with Goebbels  techniques to manipulate and reinforce the idea of Whiteness in US culture. In many ways, this election was about Whiteness versus the alternative developing multicultural worldview that exist within the USA.  These ideas, because a lack of access to education and publishing by people of color, are still developing.  The pace this development has picked up steam recently. The backlash by the Racis...