The JKM Library Blog

With the recent passing of one of my idols, Bill Moyers, I am compelled to share my connection, albeit via electronic means only, to someone who was part of my daily existence during one of the most meaningful periods in my life.

As an art student in NYC in the 1980s-1990s, I had the priviledge of meeting a few famous people: Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, to name two; with the latter being a lecturer-in-residence at my school (Pratt Institute) as I was tasked with ‘handling his slide carousels’ (ask your parents, or grandparents).

But the highlight of my time as a graduate student supervisor in the Media Library was circulating, viewing, and analyzing a multi-series program on VHS tape (with the master on Beta - ask your great-grandparents) entitled “Joseph Campbell and the power of myth”, a set of tapes that we would regularly have to review and re-master in order to manage their playback quality.

The buzz in the academic art world (and others I suppose) was to “read Joseph Campbell,” but as a visual artist, me and many of my classmates, including little Bobby Mapplethorpe (he grew about a foot right after he dropped-out and became famous with his whips and such) lined up, patiently awaiting the rewinding of a tape so we could watch the magic interactions between Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers, sharing insights, questions, and interpretations between the myth and reality of idols, icons, gods and goddesses.

As an anti-social art-punk trying to learn how to conduct an adult conversation - let alone a librarian interview -  these guys -these 2 guys-  were full frontal in my daily analog memory glands of how words talk mouth use to… (sic)

Not only a gateway to the fabulous writings of Joseph Campbell, such as The Hero with a Thousand Faces among others, the videos were thought provoking and packed with enough subject matter to last any art student multiple semesters of imagery.

Beyond the melancholy I can see Bill and Joseph flowing alongside in the the Golden Bough, perhaps with Keith, Jean-Michel and Robert, but back on Earth we can celebrate a great series of moments recorded on film, video, or copied to DVD (as allowed by Section 110 (1) of the Copyright Act of 1976).

I'm sure one could easily locate a stream or YouTube clip, but below are links to the library holdings of the video series as as well as books authored by these two beautiful entities.

Other works in our library by-or-about:

Bill Moyers

https://chatham.bywatersolutions.com/cgi-bin/koha/opac-search.pl?idx=&q=an%3A35883&sort_by=popularity_dsc&count=20

Joseph Campbell

https://chatham.bywatersolutions.com/cgi-bin/koha/opac-search.pl?idx=&q=an%3A68570&sort_by=popularity_dsc&count=20

As the JKM library's highly respected resident film critic (my boss asked if I'd review one of the movies on the shelves) I’ll admit that this review took longer than I thought and that is mainly due to the truly unique inventory that the library has to offer. For example, there are dozens of films in the collection that I know for a fact aren’t on streaming, such as the 1999 Kevin Smith film Dogma, or the 1992 Rick Seback documentary simply titled Downtown Pittsburgh. This very exciting collection of films left me eager to review the movies that I hadn't heard of before, and that's exactly what I hope to do with this series.  

The film I chose was 1984’s Teachers– a movie I've never heard of before despite its totally incredible cast, featuring karate kids and McFly's alike with the duo of Ralph Macchio and Crispin Glover as trouble-making students who sneak out of school and hot-wire cars.

This fun casting choice (and the DVD cover of an apple with a stem lit like a stick of dynamite) would make you think that this would be a wacky comedy where the school staff (Nick Nolte, Judd Hirsch, and Morgan Freeman)  struggle to teach a group of trouble-making students, and end up learning new unorthodox ways to teach the students. Instead of the comedy basics I expected from a 1980s movie called Teachers, I was surprised to see that the movie  focused on very real issues of gun violence, budget cuts, and the neglect of children in a massive public school. It goes without saying that these are real problems, and if you have talked to a teacher about difficulties in teaching, or even just had the experience of attending an underfunded school, I feel you will take something away from this movie.

While the film tackles very dark subject matter, it is able to find ways to add humor undermining the real world issues it portrays–something I feel many movies often struggle with. In short, Teachers may not be laugh out loud funny, but it still gives the audience funny moments while exploring what it means to work in a difficult profession.    

Rating: 8 cartoonishly dark red apples out of 10

Ethan Newton is currently a freshman at Chatham University (and JKM Library student employee) who has decided that instead of choosing a major he will start smaller and choose different films from the library to review. Ethan urges cool Chatham students to come up to him to discuss old movies and 70s comic books.

May 2022

Did you know that the JKM Library has hundreds of thousands of eBooks available to you? They range from bestselling fiction to course texts. We know that sometimes our eBooks can be overlooked, so we decided to show them a bit of love with this roundup of some interesting fiction titles that you can read right now through the JKM Library. A few things to know about our eBooks…most of them come to us packaged as a larger subscription, so we don’t actually hand pick all of our eBooks (although we do handpick some of them!). We trust the third-party academic vendors to include titles of worth in these subscriptions. That being said, sometimes you can find some surprising titles in these packages. Make sure to always evaluate your sources, even if they’re coming from the library. Because many eBook titles are included in larger subscriptions, they operate a bit like movies on Netflix. Sometimes they are removed from the package and we no longer have access to them. This is up to the third-party vendor, and can result in broken links on our end. Lastly, our eBooks are not compatible with most eReaders, like Kindle. You need a browser to read them. This is again due to the ways the third-party academic vendors operate. Just an fyi! All summaries comes from the publisher. Images are from Goodreads. A Million Aunties by Alecia McKenzie American-born artist Chris is forced to reconsider his conception of family during a visit to his mother’s Caribbean homeland. Told from different points of view, this is a compelling novel about unlikely love, friendship, and community, with several surprises along the way. The story takes place against the backdrop of rural Jamaica, New York City, and Paris, France. An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon Aster lives in the low-deck slums of the HSS Matilda, a space vessel organized much like the antebellum South. For generations, the Matilda has ferried the last of humanity to a mythical Promised Land. On its way, the ship’s leaders have imposed harsh moral restrictions and deep indignities on dark-skinned sharecroppers like Aster, who they consider to be less than human. When the autopsy of Matilda‘s sovereign reveals a surprising link between his death and her mother’s suicide some quarter-century before, Aster retraces her mother’s footsteps. Embroiled in a grudge with a brutal overseer and sowing the seeds of civil war, Aster learns there may be a way off the ship if she’s willing to fight for it The Aosawa Murders by Riku Onda In the 1960s, 17 people die of cyanide poisoning at a party given by the owners of a prominent clinic in a town on the coast of the Sea of Japan. The only surviving links to what might have happened are a cryptic verse that could be the killer’s, and the physician’s bewitching blind daughter, Hisako, the only person spared injury. The police are convinced Hisako had a role in the crime, as are many in the town, including the author of a bestselling book about the murders written a decade after the incident, who was herself a childhood friend of Hisako’s and witness to the discovery of the killings. The truth is revealed through a skillful juggling of testimony by different voices: family members, witnesses and neighbors, police investigators and of course the mesmerizing Hisako herself. The Bear by Andrew Krivak From National Book Award in Fiction finalist Andrew Krivak comes a gorgeous fable of Earth’s last two human inhabitants and a girl’s journey home. Coming In Third by Amber Kell Fancy some erotica? With his mother plotting to have him wed, Niall decides to sneak out of the fae palace and fulfill one of his greatest fantasies. At the Unconventional bar, he finds a pair of lion shifters looking to spice up their love life. Unable to resist the strong attraction between them, Niall lets the persuasive pair take him home. Daughters of Smoke and Fire by Ava Homa Set in Iran, this extraordinary debut novel takes readers into the everyday lives of the Kurds. Leila dreams of making films to bring the suppressed stories of her people onto the global stage, but obstacles keep piling up. Leila’s younger brother Chia, influenced by their father’s past torture, imprisonment, and his deep-seated desire for justice, begins to engage with social and political affairs. But his activism grows increasingly risky and one day he disappears in Tehran. Seeking answers about her brother’s whereabouts, Leila fears the worst and begins a campaign to save him. But when she publishes Chia’s writings online, she finds herself in grave danger as well. Monsterland (aka North American Lake Monsters) by Nathan Ballingrud Recently adapted into a tv show for Hulu! Nathan Ballingrud’s Shirley Jackson Award winning debut collection is a shattering and luminous experience not to be missed by those who love to explore the darker parts of the human psyche. Monsters, real and imagined, external and internal, are the subject. They are us and we are them and Ballingrud’s intense focus makes these stories incredibly intense and irresistible. Monsters of the Week: The Complete Critical Companion to The X-Files by Zack Handlen and Emily Todd VanDerWerff TV critics Zack Handlen and Emily Todd VanDerWerff look back at exactly what made the long-running cult series so groundbreaking. Packed with insightful reviews of every episode—including the tenth and eleventh seasons and both major motion pictures—Monsters of the Week leaves no mystery unsolved and no monster unexplained. Mr. Cadmus by Peter Ackroyd A wickedly satirical novel, filled with mystery, revenge, outlandish killings, greed and jealousy, from the multi-award winning author. The arrival of an enigmatic stranger wreaks havoc on the denizens of the idyllic English village of Little Camborne; most notably two apparently harmless women. Miss Finch and Miss Swallow, cousins, have put their pasts behind them and settled into conventional country life. But when Theodore Cadmus – from Caldera, a Mediterranean island nobody has heard of – moves into the middle cottage, the safe monotony of their lives is shattered. My Greek Island Summer by Mandy Baggot Becky Rowe has just landed her dream job house-sitting at a top-end villa on the island of Corfu. What could be better than six weeks laying by an infinity pool overlooking the gorgeous Ionian waters while mending her broken heart. Elias Mardas is travelling back to Corfu on business whilst dealing with his own personal demons. Late arriving in Athens, Becky and Elias have to spend a night in the Greek capital. When they have to emergency land in Kefalonia, Becky’s got to decide whether to suck up the adventure and this gorgeous companion she seems to have been thrown together with or panic about when she’s going to arrive at Corfu… Finally reaching the beautiful island, Becky is happy to put Elias behind her and get on with her adventure. Until he turns up at the villa… Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko Tarisai has always longed for the warmth of a family. She was raised in isolation by a mysterious, often absent mother known only as The Lady. The Lady sends her to the capital of the global empire of Aritsar to compete with other children to be chosen as one of the Crown Prince’s Council of 11. If she’s picked, she’ll be joined with the other Council members through the Ray, a bond deeper than blood. That closeness is irresistible to Tarisai, who has always wanted to belong somewhere. But The Lady has other ideas, including a magical wish that Tarisai is compelled to obey: Kill the Crown Prince once she gains his trust. Tarisai won’t stand by and become someone’s pawn—but is she strong enough to choose a different path for herself? The Revelations by Erik Hoel Monday, Kierk wakes up. Once a rising star in neuroscience, Kierk Suren is now homeless, broken by his all-consuming quest to find a scientific theory of consciousness. But when he’s offered a spot in a prestigious postdoctoral program, he decides to rejoin society and vows not to self-destruct again. Instead of focusing on his work, however, Kierk becomes obsessed with another project—investigating the sudden and suspicious death of a colleague. As his search for truth brings him closer to Carmen Green, another postdoc, their list of suspects grows, along with the sense that something sinister may be happening all around them. Sea Change by Nancy Kress In 2022, GMOs were banned after a biopharmed drug caused the Catastrophe: worldwide economic collapse, agricultural standstill, and personal tragedy for a lawyer and her son. Ten years later, Renata, a.k.a. Caroline Denton, is an operative of the Org, an underground group that could save the world from itself. Their illegal research is performed and protected by splinter cells, which are hunted by the feds. Now a mole is in the Org. Who would put the entire Org in jeopardy? Renata is the only one who can find out–and she will need to go to her clients in the Quinault Nation for answers. Search History by Eugene Lim Search History oscillates between a wild cyberdog chase and lunch-date monologues as Eugene Lim deconstructs grieving and storytelling with uncanny juxtapositions and subversive satire. Frank Exit is dead–or is he? While eavesdropping on two women discussing a dog-sitting gig over lunch, a bereft friend comes to a shocking realization: Frank has been reincarnated as a dog! This epiphany launches a series of adventures–interlaced with digressions about AIgenerated fiction, virtual reality, Asian American identity in the arts, and lost parents–as an unlikely cast of accomplices and enemies pursues the mysterious canine. In elliptical, propulsive prose, Search History plumbs the depths of personal and collective consciousness, questioning what we consume, how we grieve, and the stories we tell ourselves. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw The Secret Lives of Church Ladies explores the raw and tender places where black women and girls dare to follow their desires and pursue a momentary reprieve from being good. The nine stories in this collection feature four generations of characters grappling with who they want to be in the world, caught as they are between the church’s double standards and their own needs and passions. With their secret longings, new love, and forbidden affairs, these church ladies are as seductive as they want to be, as vulnerable as they need to be, as unfaithful and unrepentant as they care to be, and as free as they deserve to be. Temporary by Hilary Leichter In Temporary, a young woman’s workplace is the size of the world. She fills increasingly bizarre placements in search of steadiness, connection, and something, at last, to call her own. Whether it’s shining an endless closet of shoes, swabbing the deck of a pirate ship, assisting an assassin, or filling in for the Chairman of the Board, for the mythical Temporary, “there is nothing more personal than doing your job.” This riveting quest, at once hilarious and profound, will resonate with anyone who has ever done their best at work, even when the work is only temporary. The Tiger Flu by Larissa Lai In this visionary novel by Larissa Lai–her first in sixteen years–a community of parthenogenic women, sent into exile by the male-dominated Salt Water City, goes to war against disease, technology, and powerful men that threaten them with extinction. Bold, beautiful, and wildly imaginative, The Tiger Flu is at once a female hero’s saga, a cyberpunk thriller, and a convention-breaking cautionary tale–a striking metaphor for our complicated times. 

March 2022

We at the JKM Library know how difficult COVID-19 has been on our Chatham community. Many of us have never had the opportunity to meet, when in normal circumstances there would have been plenty of moments for librarians and library staff to meet you, help you personally, and put faces to names. Now that we are mostly back on campus, and some faces are being revealed, we decided to put together a fun “Staff Picks” book display and Spotify playlist to help you get to know us a bit better! Stop into the JKM Library in March to browse our physical book display showing off some of the library staff’s favorite books from our collection, and visit our Spotify account to listen to a playlist of some of our favorite songs. We have a broad range of tastes, and we’re always delighted to talk to you about books, music and more! If you’d like to get in contact with one of the librarians, you can find our emails on our Staff Directory page of our website. All books included in the display are available for you to checkout and read yourself. Perhaps you’ll discover a new personal favorite. Keep reading to learn more about your library staff, our areas of academic expertise (that we’re more than happy to help you in), fun facts and interesting hobbies about each of us, and then the book and song we each picked!

Jill Ausel
Job title: Library Director
Favorite part of job: I really enjoy my job, and the
best part is helping students and making the library a place of learning and fun.
A fun fact: I’m an Ancient Greek History nerd!
My book pick: The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World by Adrienne Mayor
My song pick: “In These Shoes?” by Kristy MacColl

Kate Wenger
Job title: Head of Access Service
Liaison areas: Accounting, Business, Economics, Criminology, Psychology, Social Work
Favorite part of job: Working with students, including our wonderful student workers!
An interesting hobby: I enjoy vegetable gardening,
and I love the snow and am excited to use my new cross-country skis again soon!
My book pick: Think Again by Adam Grant
My song pick: “That Was a Crazy Game of Poker” by O.A.R.

Dana Mastroianni
Job title: Head of Public Services
Liaison areas: Health Sciences, Art & Design, Communication
Favorite part of job: Being a practical help to students. Helping them discover, think and rethink,
and successfully fulfill their information needs. And my fellow librarians are pretty awesome
An interesting skill: My car karaoke skills are on point.
My book pick: Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
My song pick: “Where the Streets Have No Name” by U2

Daniel Lincoln Nolting
Job title: Head of Technical Services
Specialty areas: Data and materials management.
Favorite part of job: Stickers! Putting call numbers on books! Never gets old…
An interesting skill: Along with an MFA in painting, while in NYC, I also learned an old Japanese woodcut method.
My book pick: These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore
My song pick: “Keep It Comin’ Love” by KC & The Sunshine Band

Molly Tighe
Job title: Archivist & Public Services Librarian
Academic expertise: Archives, preservation, and museums
Liaison areas: History, Political Science, Policy Studies, Bio, Chem, Math, Physics
Favorite part of job: Sharing and discovering (or helping others discover) Chatham history and how it informs campus activities today.
An interesting hobby: I sew my clothes! While I still
wear a fair bit of ready-to-wear, I try to include a me-made in every outfit.
My book pick: Ramp Hollow: The Ordeal of Appalachia by Steven Stoll
My song pick: “Jolie Holland” by All the Morning Birds

Jocelyn Codner
Job title: Reference & Outreach Librarian
Liaison areas: Food Studies, Sustainability,
Environmental Science, Education, English, Creative Writing/MFA
Favorite part of job: Working one-on-one with students!
An interesting skill: I play Irish flute.
A fun fact: I used to DJ my high school dances.
My book pick: The Diviners by Libba Bray
My song pick: “No Quiero Saber” by Selena

Carina Stopenski
Job title: Access Services Associate
Academic expertise: Gender and cultural studies, media studies, comics
Favorite part of job: Getting to see all the
interesting titles that patrons request!
A fun fact: I love to collect natural curios, like rocks, herbs, crystals, and resins!
My book pick: Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
My song pick: “Calamity Song” by The Decemberists

Jennifer Langilotti
Job title: Technical Services Assistant
Favorite part of job: Learning from more experienced librarians.
A fun fact: Good at Tetris!
My book pick: A Lost Lady by Willa Cather
My song pick: “Dennis Quaid” by Taylor Janzen

Alley Lindner
Job title: Reference Associate
Specialty areas: English Literature with a focus in Queer Theory
Other areas of interest: Juicy pop culture takes!
Favorite part of job: I love working with students–helping with research, talking through book recommendations, etc.
A fun fact: I was named after my grandmother’s three-legged dog.
My book pick: Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson
My song pick: “Motion Sickness” by Phoebe Bridgers

Chelsea Gabrielson
Job title: Reference Associate
Specialty areas: Health Sciences and Children’s Literature
Favorite part of job: I love when I can help students with research!
A fun fact: I once did a 185-mile bicycle ride down the coast of Oregon.
My book pick: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
My song pick: “Dark Red” by Steve Lacy

Amy Melnyk
Job title: Reference Associate
Specialty areas: Social Sciences
Favorite part of job: Definitely helping students!
A fun fact: I have 51 tabs currently open.
My book pick: Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong
My song pick: “Family Affair” by Mary J. Blige

Jackson Adkins
Job title: Access Services Aide
Major: Management Information Systems, Data Science minor
Favorite task at the JKM Library: Getting journals and scanning them from the basement!
A hobby: I have been snowboarding for 12 years.
An interesting skill: I can clap with one hand!
My book pick: Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black
Youth’s Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa by Mark Mathabane
My song pick: “Footsteps in the Dark” by The Isley Brothers

Trai BreenLusen
Job title: Access Services Aide
Major: English, Creative Writing and Studio Arts minors
Area of academic interest: Animation
Favorite task at the JKM Library: Pulling books for EZ Borrow and packing mail.
Something interesting about me: I’m an artist hoping to start my own business.
My book pick: The Hobbit: There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkin
My song pick: “Hey Look Ma, I Made It” by Panic! At The Disco

Riley Hurst Brubaker
Job title: Access Services Aide
Major: Journalism and Film
Favorite task at the JKM Library: Shelving and interacting with staff and fellow students.
An interesting skill: Arranging flower bouquets.
My book pick: A Black Women’s History of the United States by Daina Ramey and Kali Nicole Gross
My song pick: “Highway Unicorn” by The Highwomen

Leyla Fevola
Job title: Access Services Aide
Major: Mathmatics and Secondary Education
Favorite task at the JKM Library: I love helping and creating projects with other staff members!
Something interesting about me: I am a dual citizen, I am a citizen of the USA and Italy!
My book pick: Beautiful Boy by David Sheff
My song pick: “All For Us” by Labrinth and Zendaya

Becca Pennington
Job title: Access Services Aide
Major: Exercise Science
Favorite task at the JKM Library: Stack searches (searching for missing books)
A hobby of mine: I run cross country and track
My book pick: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
My song pick: “Runaway” by Linkin Park

Jolie Phan
Job title: Access Services Aide
Major: Human Biology
Favorite task at the JKM Library: Checking books in and out to patrons
A hobby of mine: I love playing the piano and violin
My book pick: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
My song pick: “Heroes” by David Bowie

Stephanie Spano
Job title: Access Services Aide
Major: Cell and Molecular Biology
Area of Academic Interest: Genetics
Favorite task at the JKM Library: Stack searches
(searching for missing books) or helping patrons at the desk!
A fun fact about me: I’ve been to 25 out of 50 states in the US!
My book pick: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
My song pick: “Oh My God” by Adele

Julia Windsheimer
Job title: Access Services Aide
Major: Interior Architecture, Music minor
Favorite task at the JKM Library: Shelving books
A hobby of mine: I like playing the flute
My book pick: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
My song pick: “Rock and Roll” by The Velvet Underground

Savannah Wood
Job title: Access Services Aide
Major: Psychology
Favorite task at the JKM Library: Doing inventory
An interesting skill of mine: I can twirl batons and was the majorette captain at my high school.
My book pick: Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur My song pick: “Thelma + Louise” by Bastille

December 2021

As the world begins to open back up again and we start to see each other beyond the fuzziness of a Zoom screen, sitting at home reading may be the furthest thing from our minds. However, 2021 gave us some fantastic titles, both entertaining and educational alike. With a breadth of pandemic and political literature at the forefront of the literary movement right now, though, it can be beneficial to sit down with some creative titles to keep us engaged over the winter break. Here are some of 2021’s best books that you can find right here in the JKM Library collection! Call Us What We Carry, Amanda Gorman After performing her poem “The Hill We Climb” at the 2020 inauguration, Amanda Gorman quickly became a household name. Her use of impactful aesthetics, politically charged dialogue, and sprawling free verse creates an honest, almost journalistic approach in her writing that even non-poetry fans can enjoy. The collection’s inclusion of “The Hill We Climb” sets up this text to fit in the collections of humanitarians and political activists alike. Only released just this December, Gorman’s words will keep audiences engaged, enamored, and most importantly, motivated to make change in the world that we live in. Punch Me Up to the Gods, Brian Broome This memoir from Chatham alum Brian Broome has made its way onto many book lists and accrued a few awards already this year, and for good reason. Broome’s striking portrayal of growing up Black and gay in Ohio’s Rust Belt. Full of striking prose and unflinching portrayals of a complex adolescence, Broome’s words will make your heart ache in the best way possible. Broome opens up the reader to a version of Appalachia that is unlike the whitewashed depictions we’re so used to seeing in the media. This year’s Kirkus Prize winner for nonfiction, Punch Me Up to the Gods has garnered attention from all over the literary world. An Alternative History of Pittsburgh, Ed Simon You don’t need to be a history buff to enjoy Ed Simon’s book on eclectic Pittsburgh history. In this nonfiction text on Pittsburgh’s hidden histories, Simon opens up the reader to a Pittsburgh that is not often discussed. An accessible read that presents history in an easy-to-follow narrative, this book breathes life into local tales spanning from the Whiskey Rebellion to the legacy of Andy Warhol, with plenty of vignettes in between. Simon highlights a version of Pittsburgh that even locals may be shocked to learn about, and all through a lens that’s both entertaining and informative. American Bastard, Jan Beatty Pittsburgh poet Jan Beatty has released another poetry collection, this one specifically centering around her identity as an adopted child. Beatty recalls the search for her birth parents with heart-wrenching lyricism and the effects of a broken system that decentralizes identity. Beatty holds back no punches when she discusses the corruption of the adoption industry and the nuances of parenthood once the bridge between birth family and adoptive family starts to crumble. Her approach is stark, but still hopeful for a future that could be better for adoptees. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, Deeshaw Philyaw Even though it was released at the tail end of 2020, Deeshaw Philyaw’s short story collection gained a ton of traction in 2021. A tour-de-force example of literary fiction, Philyaw paints vivid scenes of the lives of Black women and girls, punctuated by themes of sexuality and religious-associated guilt. Drawing from the “church ladies” that she knew growing up in the church, women who approached life in a perfectionist, godly way, Philyaw forces us to question the rhetoric surrounding Black women’s bodies and sexual feelings. We Could Be Heroes, Mike Chen Mike Chen’s speculative fiction-superhero novel is one that’ll keep readers on their toes from start to finish. Telling the story of two amnesiacs who have mysteriously gained superpowers, Chen explores the intricacies of the human condition paired with some high-octane action scenes and witty dialogue. When these two superpowered characters encounter each other in a memory loss support group, readers get to watch the unraveling and paranoia happen firsthand. A fast-paced read for the hero in all of us. 
~Carina Stopenski is the Access Services Associate at Chatham University’s Jennie King Mellon Library. They started out as a student worker while getting their creative writing degree at Chatham, and received their Master’s of Library Science at Clarion University in summer 2020. They enjoy games of both the board and video persuasion, vegan baking, and reading graphic novels. They also teach cultural studies and “cartoon theory” classes on the platform Outschool. 
 

December 2021

The JKM Library is honoring the cultures and history of Native Americans through a book display. Native American and Indigenous Peoples’ Heritage Month may have already passed (please take a look at our related resources page), but we should continue to reflect on the past, present, and future of these communities and their relationship to of the United States of America: how Indigenous people were colonized, how they were almost decimated, and how they are still oppressed. We recognize that we occupy the unceded, ancestral land of many Indigenous peoples, including the Delaware, the Shawnee, and the Seneca Nation, who were members of the Haudenosaunee (hoe-dee-no-SHOW-nee) Confederacy. As recently as the 1960s, nearly one-third of the Seneca’s tribal lands were taken by the U.S. government to build the Kinzua Dam northeast of the Pittsburgh (for more on land acknowledgments, see this handout). Located in the first floor, the display offers a curated selection of more than 40 books with an interdisciplinary focus, ranging from literature and history to environmental studies. Part of our goal is to make these resources more visible, which often remain hidden in the stacks. In addition, we wanted to center texts by Indigenous voices. In the case of books by non-Native American authors, we have tried to include works that are inclusive in their approach and do not reproduce problematic stereotypes. For instance, we excluded a critically acclaimed book, S.C. Gwynne’s Empire of the Summer Moon, because of its description of the Comanches as “primitive” and “barbarian.” Such language harks back to the racist discourse of past centuries, but the book was published only ten years ago and was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. We also did not choose to share most of our Native American art books because they perpetuate the colonialist idea that Indigenous cultures are to be collected by white institutions without any attention to Native American perspectives. It is therefore urgent to share correctives to these narratives, especially from the perspective of institutions like ours, which not only occupy unceded land but also play a role in the formation of collective memory. In addition, the library’s DVD collection does not include any films directed by Native Americans except for Reel Injun, a documentary about the depiction of indigeneity in Hollywood movies, which is part of the display. We hope to be adding more items to our collection that reflect these concerns. We invite everyone to experience the exhibit and check out any books that might interest you. Some books that we would like to highlight because of their importance for Native American history and cultures are: Roxane Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States (history) Two-Spirit People: Native American Gender Identity, Sexuality, and Spirituality (gender and sexuality) Natalie Diaz, When My Brother Was an Aztec (poetry) Cherie Dimaline, The Marrow Thieves (fiction) The Book of Elders: the life Stories of Great American Indians (testimony) Terese Marie Mailhot, Heart Berries (memoir) Native Americans and the Environment: Perspectives on the Ecological Indian (environmental studies) David J. Silverman, This Land is their Land: the Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled history of Thanksgiving (history) Sean Sherman, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen (cooking)
~Khalila Chaar-Pérez (she/they) is Reference Associate at the JKM Library and also works at the People’s Media Record, a grassroots video archive in Philly. She’s a proud trans Puerto Rican committed to cultivating transformative justice, antiracism, and a world without capitalism. She is also an avid hiker, a film nerd, and a trekkie. 

January 2021

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown was a wonderful book. At several points in the book I found myself wondering what the next twist would be. The Da Vinci Code is about a symbologist named Robert Langdon. One night, while staying in Paris, he is called to the Louvre to help out on a murder investigation. The victim is in a peculiar pose with instructions to find Langdon scrawled on the floor. Little to his knowledge, Langdon is being investigated as one of the criminals. Now to clear his name, Langdon must solve the mystery himself using his knowledge of symbols. I enjoyed how the author tied symbology into his novel. I learned things that I was not expecting to in a way that did not feel like I was in a class. I also feel that the action packed novel kept me engaged with the characters. I often found myself sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for the next piece of the puzzle to be revealed. I highly recommend The Da Vinci Code to any who love mysteries or even to those looking for an adventure. You can put a hold on The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown today through the JKM Library catalog and pick the book up at the library! Click here to get started. 
Nerice Breen Lusen is an English Major here at Chatham University with a minor in Creative Writing. They have been working at the Jenny King Mellon Library as a student worker since their freshmen year, starting in 2018. Following their time at Chatham they plan to gain their master’s degree in Library and Information Science and become a librarian themself. 
 

December 2020

2020 has truly been a year of turmoil and adversity, but that doesn’t mean it stopped the literature industry from producing new gems. Our shifting cultural climate has been met with a new wave of prose and poetry that addresses issues of injustice on a deeper level, and now more than ever, books are providing us with an outlet for the powerlessness we’re feeling due to the effects of this year’s chaos. In order to be culturally responsible literary citizens, we need to expand our horizons and develop as wide of a cultural canon as we can. I’ve compiled a list of 2020’s best inclusive titles and while the JKM Library is currently closed for the winter season before the next semester, upon our reopening, patrons can utilize E-ZBorrow and Interlibrary Loan to request newer title that we may not have on our own shelves. Best Fiction The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich Erdrich is known for her impressive blend of historical and literary fiction, highlighting the struggles of Native Americans suffering the effects of colonialism. The Night Watchman is loosely based on Erdrich’s grandfather’s experience working as a nightwatchman during the Native dispossession era. One of the novel’s protagonists, Patrice, desires a life outside of the reservation and rejects the matriarchal roles that are setout for her, longing to move to Minneapolis to follow the lead of her older sister. The second hero, Thomas, is a night watchman and Chippewa council member on their North Dakota reservation, fighting against Congress’ new “termination” bill to eradicate Native communities. Erdrich does not romanticize life on the rez–rather, she paints a colorful cast of characters that encapsulates the essence of the Native struggle, one that is poignant, witty, and tender. The Death of Vivek Oji, by Akwaeke Emezi  Powerhouse newcomer Akwaeke Emezi third novel addresses the intersection of African identity with queer identity, highlighting otherness, isolation, and the feeling of finding home. A deep, complex mystery that finds itself in the middle of political reform in the 1990s Nigeria, The Death of Vivek Oji forces the reader into complicated literary disorientation. The titular protagonist Vivek struggles with dissociation and a sense of belonging, befriending the mixed-race children of immigrant mothers to Africa and struggling with what he considers a “sinful” relationship. Emezi’s swirling prose coupled with the layered cultural narrative present in the novel creates a tension that is so hard to achieve in literary fiction, but when attained, is incredibly significant. Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel, by Julian K. Jarboe This is my personal favorite title of 2020, and for good reason. Jarboe’s debut fiction collection covers everything from cyberpunk dystopia, body horror, mythical lore, subtle romance, and stories of abusive religious institutions. All of these vastly different narratives share a common thread, though: the constant threat of being stripped of our individuality, whether it be our culture, our community, our physical vessel. Jarboe’s literary voice is spectacular from segment to segment and the pacing never falls flat. I particularly enjoyed the stories “I Am a Beautiful Bug!,” which is part love letter to Kafka’s The Metamorphosis and part transgender allegory, and “Self Care,” an antiestablishment stream-of consciousness narrative that highlights the end of times at the hands of ostentatious religiosity and greed. Homeland Elegies, by Ayad Akhtar Loosely inspired by Akhtar’s own experiences as an Arab-American following 9/11, Homeland Elegies tells the story of a family struggling with feelings of national dispossession. While the story is fictional, the content is autobiographical in nature, drawing directlyontheoppression thatAkhbar felt in the field of the humanities. He makes you long for an America that never truly existed, one that could have hyperbolized peace and unity. Rather, we’re exposed to a more complex, pessimistic America whose racial bias and detestment of immigrants bleeds through to our everyday life whether we’re cognizant of it or not. Best Nonfiction Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot, by Mikki Kendall If 2020 has taught us anything, it is that racial injustice has always been a reality, it has only become more apparent in the media because we have more access to the struggles of others. Kendall discusses the overwhelming power of white feminism, and how so often gender overpowers other facets of identity. The crux at which true allyship happens includes race, class, ability, and sexuality, and Kendall’s thesis statement enforces that all issues of denial to access are issues of feminism. The critique of mainstream feminist scholars is biting and well-written, tackling issues like food insecurity, education, medical care, and more in its analysis. Kendall truly reminds us that it’s not feminism unless it’s inclusive and intersectional. Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning, by Cathy Park Hong Part immigration memoir, part critical cultural studies, Hong’s essays directly confront modern-day racial consciousness here in America with a twist. What she calls “minor feelings” are stand-ins for the grief, shame, and internalized notions about race that we face in a society that is so inherently whitewashed. Hong works to unpack this implicit bias of self and others in a way that is both intellectual and entertaining, peppering in stories from her youth to punctuate the more theoretical elements of the text. Park discusses the stereotypes typically inscribed upon Asian Americans; she manages to blend the educational with the conversational in a way that even the newest of allies can process. Me and White Supremacy, by Layla Saad What started as an Instagram challenge to encourage white people to address their implicit biases became one of the year’s best tools for white allies to use to confront their implicit biases surrounding race and ethnicity. Saad creates a resource that elevates BIPOC people and teaches white people about their levels of privilege and unconscious engagement in the white supremacist capitalist patriarchy without forcing people of color to exert their emotional labor. So often, communities exploit the emotional and mental work of its scholars of color and assume they will be educators for white people without providing compensation. This book can provide that insight for white allies to understand that they must use their power to support people of color, and that with privilege comes a special position to support others. The Undocumented Americans, by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio DACA recipient Villavicencio decided to start writing this collection in response to the 2016 election results, and in it paints a beautiful depiction of undocumented immigrants in the United States. She meets with immigrants all over the country and learns their stories in order to come up with some semblance of her own. It is a touching, unrestrained take on refuge and sanctuary, how with citizenship comes privilege, and the denial to access that goes hand-in-hand with undocumented status. Rather than living in the shadows of her own identity, Villavicencio advocates on behalf of other undocumented people in an unflinching critique on how our society treats those simply seeking solace in the world. Best Poetry Just Us: An American Conversation, by Claudia Rankine A spiritual successor to her collection Citizen, Rankine tackles the big issues of white supremacy in a jarring collection of poems, short prose, and art. Just Us highlights the microcosms of Americana, a nation divided, and how indifference has made even liminal spaces hostile for non-white individuals. Rankine dives into the politics of politeness, calling attention to the way that privilege often encourages the majority to turn a blind eye to oppression and marginalization. Her poetic voice is blatant and urgent while still providing a strong aesthetic flow, a varied poetic voice that has cemented itself as one of the most strikingofthe21st century. Wicked Enchantment: Selected Poems, by Wanda Coleman. Poetry spanning a forty year body of work, Wicked Enchantment is a consciously anti-racist collection that confronts marginalization with humor, ennui, and sometimes anger. Coleman’s legacy on the poetry community is insurmountable, and with an introduction and edits from the great Terrence Hayes, she so rawly and honestly depicts the progression of racism in America. The poems in this collection are not about being pretty or being pleasing. They are about feeling and filling a void where society has failed us. In addition to the overarching theme of racial injustice, Coleman also tackles concepts like mental illness, wealth inequality, and the failings of the healthcare system particularly against Black women. This is a dense read, but a very worthwhile one. Music for the Dead and Resurrected: Poems, by Valzhyna Mort Belarusian poet Mort discusses the traumatic intergenerational legacy of war and propaganda in this heart-wrenching collection of love letters to the dead. She weaves historical elements likeWorld WarII, Soviet labor camps, and tyrannical dictatorships throughout the text, tracing the timeline of her native country’s development to her and her family’s experiences in these toxic, violent environments. Tethering her own comingof-age with the mythology of a fragmented nation, Mort creates a lyricism of ghosts, an existence that will always be permeated by the atrocities committed against or by our ancestors. Music for the Dead and Resurrected confronts the American historical myths and forces the reader to take an uncomfortable but nonetheless poetic look at how they got to where they are. Inheritance, by TaylorJohnson A recent release, TaylorJohnson asserts the precariousness of poor Black identity in a nation that constantly surveils our most at-risk populations in this collection. They elaborate in their poems about the intrinsic link of capitalism to the exploitation of bodies of color, and with broad lyricism, Johnson opens a dialogue as to what a world without the boundaries of class and financial standing would look like. Cynicism of cultural monoliths permeate the text as Johnson conveys their theories through the lens of radical love and sex. There is a stark juxtaposition of lightheartedness with the prison industrial complex, pleasure against poverty. This jarring dichotomy conveys the meaning of the collection: suffering will always plague us so long as we allow ourselves to adhere to oppressive cultural rules. Best Children’s and Young Adult You Should See Me in a Crown, by Leah Johnson Johnson’s debut novel is one that is sweet and fun, typical of YA, but tackles the very real issues of growing up a minority in small- town America. Protagonist Liz Lighty views herself as being “too Black, too poor, too awkward” to be taken seriously in her rural, conservative community, and she desires nothing more than to break out of this restrictive town and attend a prestigious university. Johnson highlights the very real threat of financial insecurity that plagues teens and young adults, and Liz’s reluctant journey to attain prom royalty to assure financial aid is an interesting subversion of the traditional high school narrative. It’s so important to see young, empowered Black girls in stories where they have agency and dreams, and where their hardships are not fetishized–Johnson creates a new kind of Black hero in Liz, one in which many young viewers can see bits of themselves. A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor, by Hank Green The follow-up to Hank Green’s bestseller An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is just as stunning as its predecessor, a science- fiction tale that tackles concepts like colonization, decimation of lands, and class consciousness. Green’s social commentary is presented in a youth-friendly way, fast-paced and action- packed. The elements of mystery and eclectic cast of characters is what will draw you in, but the interesting theories surrounding technology, reality, and virtuality will keep you coming back for more. Considering Green’s science background, there’s validity to the scientific elements of the text, but it’s not so academic that it’ll go over the head of the readers. Clap When You Land, by Elizabeth Acevedo In a similar style to her bestseller The Poet X, Acevedo crafts a novel-in-verse that ties together the notions of togetherness and grief in an incredibly touching testament to the power of familial love. Camino, who lives in the Dominican Republic, and Yahaira, who lives in New York City, are sisters who are totally unaware of one another’s existence until a horrible tragedy brings them together. Their intrinsic connection forces them to think about the boundaries between their cultures and what sorts of secrets lurked within their families. The blend of poetry and prose makes for an easy reading experience and the content helps to show the subtle differences between groups of Latinx identity. The Degenerates, by J. Albert Mann Disability is a subject of intersectionality that we don’t see too often in modern fiction, or at least when it’s not portrayed in the unfortunate genre of “inspiration porn.” The Degenerates does not glamorize the disabled experience in the case of mental, physical, and learning disabilities. Taking place in an institution for the mentally ill or disabled, these girls are not portrayed as weak, simple, or naive. Instead, they are empowered and fierce young women, dedicated to escaping the system that oppresses them. The Degenerates also doesn’t shy away from the severity of institutionalization–the interactions are coarse, belittling, and show the reality of living with a disability in a world that does not provide access or accommodations. Carina Stopenski is the Access Services Associate at Chatham University’s Jennie King Mellon Library. They started out as a student work while getting their creative writing degree at Chatham, and received their Master’s of Library Science at Clarion University in summer2020.Theyenjoygamesof both the board and video persuasion, vegan baking, and reading graphic novels. They also teach cultural studies and “cartoon theory” classes on the platform Outschool. 

December 2020

The book Carmilla is an 1872 English novella by J. Sheridan Le Fanu. Carmilla can be downloaded as a PDF from the library’s website or it can also be requested in tangible form through E-ZBorrow (when E-ZBorrow is accessible). The novella features the first appearances of a female vampire in English gothic literature. Carmilla served as an inspiration for Brim Stoker’s Dracula, which was published about twenty-five years later in May of 1897. The novella begins with a prologue from a doctor’s assistant explaining that the tale that follows is a recounting of events that befell one of the doctor’s patients. It is told from a young woman named Laura’s point of view. She begins by telling the reader of her first encounter with Carmilla when she was just six years old, saying that it is her oldest memory. She is left scared and scarred from this encounter. The story picks up years later as Laura explains the castle she and her father have come to live in. Together with Laura’s governess and “finishing governess” – as Laura calls her – Laura and her father live in Syria but are originally from England. One day Laura and her father receive a letter from one General Spielsdorf. He has unfortunately cancelled his visit to them because his niece and ward had died, claiming that she was killed by a monster. On a walk shortly after, a carriage crashes in front of Laura and her father. The riders of the carriage consist of an elderly woman and a younger woman the elder claims as her daughter. The young woman is hurt in the crash but seeing as her mother is on an important journey, she leaves her daughter in the care of Laura’s father. The girl is introduced as Carmilla, and Laura is excited to have a friend to spend the foreseeable days with. I thought the novella was well written, though the dialect – being that of the 1800’s can be a bit confusing for the modern reader. While I was reading there were passages that I read twice to make sure I understood them, but I don’t think this detracted from the story that was being told. Carmilla, the character, was not forth coming with details about herself. This gripped me as a reader and made me want to read onwards. Vampires are often characterized in stories with alluring and mysterious airs. Carmilla is no exception. There are often times in the story where either Carmilla speaks to Laura, vice versa, or even when Laura describes Carmilla to the reader that shows an attraction between the girls – romantically and even physically. It is not explicit in the novel that Carmilla and Laura are together in any sense, but it creates a dynamic between the two characters that made me want to read more. It made me what to learn more about the mysterious Carmilla just as Laura wished to. The story is not one of grand fights or intense dramas like novels or novellas of today, but I felt that Carmilla was a great book. It is a quick read and holds themes and motifs that are ahead of its time. Sydney Nerice Breen Lusen is an English Major here at Chatham University with a minor in Creative Writing. She has been working at the Jenny King Mellon Library as a student worker since her freshmen year, starting in 2018. Following her time at Chatham she plans to gain her master’s degree in Library and Information Science and become a librarian herself. 

June 10, 2020

Many organizations and institutions have been offering incredible antiracist reading lists, packed with critically acclaimed fiction and nonfiction that add to our individual education on systemic and institutional racism in the United States and around the world. You should consult these lists and make your own TBR (to be read) pile of antiracist titles. It is a personal, moral, and civic duty that we commit to learning about the history, hardships, and experiences of our fellow Americans. It is also our duty to confront white supremacy on personal, local, and systemic levels. These reading lists can be an excellent start to that work. Armed with new knowledge and understanding, we can be better equipped to help push for lasting change in this country and around the world. Knowledge truly is power. Below is a list of eBook titles that can be accessed freely by Chatham University students, faculty, and staff. Some are antiracist staples, some are more specifically focused on education, and some can help you take the next step in turning your knowledge into productive action for the collective good. Images are from Goodreads. Descriptions are from the publishers and/or Goodreads. Follow the linked titles to check out the eBook today. The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois “This collection of essays by scholar-activist W. E. B. Du Bois is a masterpiece in the African American canon. Du Bois, arguably the most influential African American leader of the early twentieth century, offers insightful commentary on Black history, racism, and the struggles of Black Americans following emancipation. In his groundbreaking work, the author presciently writes that ‘the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line,’ and offers powerful arguments for the absolute necessity of moral, social, political, and economic equality. These essays on the Black experience in America range from sociological studies of the African American community to illuminating discourses on religion and ‘Negro music,’ and remain essential reading. A new introduction by Jonathan Holloway explores Du Bois’s signature accomplishments while helping readers to better understand his writings in the context of his time as well as ours.” The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander “Once in a great while a book comes along that changes the way we see the world and helps to fuel a nationwide social movement. The New Jim Crow is such a book. Praised by Harvard Law professor Lani Guinier as ‘brave and bold,’ this book directly challenges the notion that the election of Barack Obama signals a new era of colorblindness. With dazzling candor, legal scholar Michelle Alexander argues that ‘we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.’ By targeting Black men through the War on Drugs and decimating communities of color, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control —relegating millions to a permanent second-class status—even as it formally adheres to the principle of colorblindness. In the words of Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, this book is a ‘call to action.’ Called ‘stunning’ by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Levering Lewis, ‘invaluable’ by the Daily Kos, ‘explosive’ by Kirkus, and ‘profoundly necessary’ by the Miami Herald, this updated and revised paperback edition of The New Jim Crow, now with a foreword by Cornel West, is a must-read for all people of conscience.” Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment by Patricia Hill Collins “In spite of the double burden of racial and gender discrimination, African-American women have developed a rich intellectual tradition that is not widely known. In Black Feminist Thought, Patricia Hill Collins explores the words and ideas of Black feminist intellectuals as well as those African-American women outside academe. She provides an interpretive framework for the work of such prominent Black feminist thinkers as Angela Davis, bell hooks, Alice Walker, and Audre Lorde. The result is a superbly crafted book that provides the first synthetic overview of Black feminist thought.” On Lynchings by Ida B. Wells-Barnett “Though the end of the Civil War brought legal emancipation to Blacks, it is a fact of history that their social oppression continued long after. The most virulent form of this ongoing persecution was the practice of lynching carried out by mob rule, often as local law enforcement officials looked the other way. During the 1880s and 1890s, more than 100 African Americans per year were lynched, and in 1892 alone the toll of murdered men and women reached a peak of 161. In that awful year, the 23-year-old Ida B. Wells, the editor of a small newspaper for Blacks in Memphis, Tennessee, raised one lone voice of protest. In her paper, she charged that white businessmen had instigated three local lynchings against their black competitors. In retaliation for her outspoken courage, a goon-squad of angry whites destroyed her editorial office and print shop, and she was forced to flee the South and move to New York City. So began a crusade against lynching which became the focus of her long, active, and very courageous life. In New York, she began lecturing against the abhorrent vigilante practice and published her first pamphlet on the subject called ‘Southern Horrors.’After moving to Chicago and marrying lawyer Ferdinand Barnett, she continued her campaign, publishing ‘A Red Record’ in 1895 and ‘Mob Rule in New Orleans,’ about the race riots in that city, in 1900. All three of these documents are collected in On Lynchings, a shocking testament to cruelty and the dark American legacy of racial prejudice.” Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave: Written by Himself, Critical Edition “A new edition of one of the most influential literary documents in American and African American history. Ideal for coursework in American and African American history, this revised edition of Frederick Douglass’s memoir of his life as a slave in pre-Civil War Maryland incorporates a wide range of supplemental materials to enhance students’ understanding of slavery, abolitionism, and the role of race in American society. Offering readers a new appreciation of Douglass’s world, it includes documents relating to the slave narrative genre and to the later career of an essential figure in the nineteenth-century abolition movement.” Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor “By the late 1960s and early 1970s, reeling from a wave of urban uprisings, politicians finally worked to end the practice of redlining. Reasoning that the turbulence could be calmed by turning Black city-dwellers into homeowners, they passed the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, and set about establishing policies to induce mortgage lenders and the real estate industry to treat Black homebuyers equally. The disaster that ensued revealed that racist exclusion had not been eradicated, but rather transmuted into a new phenomenon of predatory inclusion. Race for Profit uncovers how exploitative real estate practices continued well after housing discrimination was banned. The same racist structures and individuals remained intact after redlining’s end, and close relationships between regulators and the industry created incentives to ignore improprieties. Meanwhile, new policies meant to encourage low-income homeownership created new methods to exploit Black homeowners. The federal government guaranteed urban mortgages in an attempt to overcome resistance to lending to Black buyers – as if unprofitability, rather than racism, was the cause of housing segregation. Bankers, investors, and real estate agents took advantage of the perverse incentives, targeting the Black women most likely to fail to keep up their home payments and slip into foreclosure, multiplying their profits. As a result, by the end of the 1970s, the nation’s first programs to encourage Black homeownership ended with tens of thousands of foreclosures in Black communities across the country. The push to uplift Black homeownership had descended into a goldmine for realtors and mortgage lenders, and a ready-made cudgel for the champions of deregulation to wield against government intervention of any kind. Narrating the story of a sea-change in housing policy and its dire impact on African Americans, Race for Profit reveals how the urban core was transformed into a new frontier of cynical extraction.” Black and Blue: The Origins and Consequences of Medical Racism by John Hoberman “Black and Blue is the first systematic description of how American doctors think about racial differences and how this kind of thinking affects the treatment of their black patients. The standard studies of medical racism examine past medical abuses of Black people and do not address the racially motivated thinking and behaviors of physicians practicing medicine today. Black and Blue penetrates the physician’s private sphere where racial fantasies and misinformation distort diagnoses and treatments. Doctors have always absorbed the racial stereotypes and folkloric beliefs about racial differences that permeate the general population. Within the world of medicine this racial folklore has infiltrated all of the medical sub-disciplines, from cardiology to gynecology to psychiatry. Doctors have thus imposed White or Black racial identities upon every organ system of the human body, along with racial interpretations of Black children, the Black elderly, the Black athlete, Black musicality, Black pain thresholds, and other aspects of Black minds and bodies. The American medical establishment does not readily absorb either historical or current information about medical racism. For this reason, racial enlightenment will not reach medical schools until the current race-aversive curricula include new historical and sociological perspectives.” We Have Not Been Moved: Resisting Racism and Militarism in 21st Century America by Elizabeth Betita Martinez (Editor) Matt Meyer (Editor), Mandy Carter (Editor), Alice Walker (Afterword), Sonia Sanchez (Afterword), Cornel West (Foreword) “A compendium of writings that detail the grassroots actions of social and political activists from the civil rights era of the early 1960s to the present day, this book reviews the major points of intersection between white supremacy and the war machine through historic and contemporary articles from a diverse range of scholars and activists. Among the historic texts included are rarely seen writings by antiracist icons such as Anne Braden, Barbara Deming, and Audre Lorde as well as a dialogue between Dr. King, revolutionary nationalist Robert F. Williams, Dave Dellinger, and Dorothy Day. Never-before-published pieces appear from civil rights and gay rights organizer Bayard Rustin and from celebrated U.S. pacifist supporter of Puerto Rican sovereignty Ruth Reynolds. Additional articles, essays, interviews, and poems from numerous contributors examine the strategic and tactical possibilities of radical transformation for lasting social change through revolutionary nonviolence.” Antiracist School Leadership: Toward Equity in Education for America’s Students by Jeffrey S. Brooks “Since the passing of Brown versus Board of Education to the election of the first Black president of the United States, there has been much discussion on how far we have come as a nation on issues of race. Some continue to assert that Barack Obama’s election ushered in a new era—making the US a post-racial society. But this argument is either a political contrivance, borne of ignorance or a bold-faced lie. There is no recent data on school inequities, or inequity in society for that matter, that suggests we have arrived at Dr. King’s dream that his ‘four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.’ Children today are instead still judged by the color of their skin, and this inequitable practice is manifest in today’s schools for students of color in the form of disproportionate student discipline referrals, achievement and opportunity gaps, pushout rates, overrepresentation in special education and underrepresentation in advanced coursework, among other indicators (Brooks, 2012). Though issues of race in the public education system may take an overt or covert form; racial injustice in public schools is still pervasive, complex, and cumulative. The authors in this book explore various ways that racism is manifest in the American school system. Through a plurality of perspectives, they deconstruct, challenge, and reconstruct an educational leadership committed to equity and excellence for marginalized students and educators.” Towards Collective Liberation: Anti-Racist Organizing, Feminist Praxis, and Movement Building Strategy by Chris Crass “Organized into four sections, this collection of essays is geared toward activists engaging with the dynamic questions of how to create and support effective movements for visionary systemic change. These essays and interviews present powerful lessons for transformative organizing. It offers a firsthand look at the challenges and the opportunities of antiracist work in white communities, feminist work with men, and bringing women of color feminism into the heart of social movements. Drawing on two decades of personal activist experience and case studies within these areas, Crass’s essays insightfully explore ways of transforming divisions of race, class, and gender into catalysts for powerful vision, strategy, and building movements in the United States today. This collection will inspire and empower anyone who is interested in implementing change through organizing.” The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs “The pioneering Asian American labor organizer and writer’s vision for intersectional and anti-racist activism. In this powerful, deeply humanistic book, Grace Lee Boggs, a legendary figure in the struggle for justice in America, shrewdly assesses the current crisis—political, economical, and environmental—and shows how to create the radical social change we need to confront new realities. A vibrant, inspirational force, Boggs has participated in all of the twentieth century’s major social movements —for civil rights, women’s rights, workers’rights, and more. She draws from seven decades of activist experience, and a rigorous commitment to critical thinking, to redefine “revolution” for our times. From her home in Detroit, she reveals how hope and creativity are overcoming despair and decay within the most devastated urban communities. Her book is a manifesto for creating alternative modes of work, politics, and human interaction that will collectively constitute the next American Revolution—which is unraveling before our eyes.” We hope you find this eBook reading list helpful as you begin or continue your antiracist work. You can follow the JKM Library’s Instagram account (@jkmlibrary) for more book recommendations on various topics. And you can recommend a specific book to be added to the JKM Library’s collection by emailing Reference@Chatham.edu or reaching out to a specific librarian.