Sunday, October 22, 2017

Cultural Appropriation is Inappropriate!

There is currently a discussion on the librarian Facebook group ALATT concerning cultural appropriation.

You should hear some of the rationalizations!

Everything from the insulting: "Let me tell you a secret: All Culture is appropriated!"

Then people go on to say, "Yes--like agriculture, rock n roll..." and other absurd comparisons.

This seemingly funny statement, is passive aggressive to the extreme.

These statements belittle people's feelings about their heritage and culture.  This is especially true then aspects of their culture are used in inappropriate manners such as when White people run 'Native American' sweat lodges that allow anyone who pays to come sweat and pray--that is fucking absurd and spits in the face of indigenous tradition!

You may be asking yourself, "Why is Max getting all bent out of shape about this?"

Please watch this video for a better understanding:



I hope more librarians become more empathetic and will listen to people when they say to stop doing things that hurt them, or are offensive or insulting.

Saturday, September 30, 2017

Free Speech Programming for Library Ideas and...



I humbly submit some programming ideas for my friends who work in libraries.


Bookshelf with text that says, "Beyond Books."
Do something different!


  • Constitutional rights workshops
  • Civics workshops
  • How to avoid ICE
  • DACA rights workshops
  • Cannabis Consumer Workshops (In states where it is legal)
  • Medical Cannabis patient workshops
  • How to decolonize Education
  • Activism Workshops
  • Anti-Doxxing Workshops
  • FreeSpeech versus HateSpeech Community Discussions
  • Black History Programming
  • How to monitor the police
  • Patron electronic privacy workshops
  • Marginalized people in Children's literature
  • How to share electronic information anonymously 
  • Ethnic Studies Workshops for local communities
  • Archiving local neighborhood history
  • How to build community
  • How to get involved with local  public cable broadcasting
  • How to publish a book
  • How to blog
  • How to be a neighborhood reporter
  • How to start a news program
  • How to write news articles
  • How to be a public speaker
  • How to listen
  • How to argue
  • How to self-reflect
  • How to be a DJ
  • How to break dance
  • How to skateboard
  • What is Punk Rock?
  • What is Body Modification?
  • Truths versus myths about recreational drugs
  • What is empathy?
  • What is Whiteness?
  • What is BLM?
  • Marginalized groups in comics
  • What is Philosophy?
  • What is Hip-hop?
  • Where to get Mental Health assistance