S.S. Librarianship

Mind Grapes: We get after those early December blockbusters! Doctor Strange, Arrival, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them are all discussed. We also talk some books with The Expanse series, wildly popular television with The Great British Bake Off, and some real culture with the Star Trek Exhibit at the EMP in Seattle. Class Z(ed): Michael returns to the podcast to tell us about the continuation of his career. In his first appearance in Episode 11, Michael told us all about his work at the Xwi7xwa Library at UBC. His work in this regard has continued as he is now a Digital Applications Librarian at Washington State University working with ethical curation, the Plateau Peoples Web Portal, and the Tribal Stewardship program.

SPOILER WARNINGS FOR WESTWORLD, THE FLASH, LEGENDS OF TOMORROW AND SUPERGIRL. Mind Grapes: Sam is super up-to-date and tells us about her latest TV obsession, Westworld. Mary has been getting into the DC Television family of products, especially Supergirl and The Flash. And medieval musicals? That's pretty much right up Alli's street with Galavant. Class Z(ed): In another edition of let's ask our friends about their cool jobs, Mary shares here experience working at Equinox Software who offer support for the open source integrated library systems softwares Koha and Evergreen. We hear about her job, her travel, and how much fun she's having teaching software up and down the East Coast.

Mind Grapes: Matthew is on again, so that means comics! Lots of comic and manga suggestions from both Matthew and Melanie. Also a few additional podcasts - one new and one previously mentioned, but it has gotten super super good. Class Z(ed): The Comic Conference for Educators and Librarians was a tagged on event at San Diego Comic Con this year and was lovingly organized in no small part by our own Matthew Murray. He tells us all about the events, their goals, and some of the generally awesome stuff he got to do at SDCC.

BiblioFiles: We got to talking and just couldn't stop! Christing Neigel, amazing librarian, teacher, and now PhD student, talks to us about her research project that examines librarian stereotypes from the last couple of decades. This fascinating discussion weaves its way around trashy detective novels, terrible TV shows, and why the media may view librarians the way it does.

Mind Grapes: An idle question of "Hey, have you heard of this Stranger Things show?" turns into an internet sensation. Of course we saw it. It is fantastic (with reservations from Sam). But perhaps more shockingly - Sam's childhood remains in tact after she did not hate Star Trek: Beyond. Class Z(ed): We return to this year's eBook Summit, where Sam was a presenter! We talk about the latest and greatest in library related ebook technology and initiatives. And so can you! Most things available online.

Mind Grapes: You get comic recommendations! And YOU get comic recommendations! But first, Alli talks about her latest podcast binge, the wonderful 2 Dope Queens (showing especial appreciation for Hari Kondabolu’s story). Sara shares some of her latest comic loves in Fresh Romance, Girl Over Paris (a comic spun off from the novel Girl on a Wire), and Southern Cross. In a shocking change of pace, Matthew offers more comic suggestions in the form of the feminist works Chainmail Bikini and Vixen’s Keep, but then tells us a little about Rat Queens Vol. 3, which was slightly disappointing for totally understandable reasons. Sam wraps up with the Netflix Series Cooked, which is Michael Pollen’s latest docuseries looking at the concept of cooking and how it has shaped what we are. Nerd Alert! Sam and Alli both strive to be renaissance nerds that dabble in all forms of nerdery, but comics remain elusive – the entry bar seems high and unforgiving. Matthew has been reading X-Men comics all his life. Sara got super deep into comics in the last few years. And Alli has had an enduring love of the X-Men movies and television series. So how to we enter into a world so deep? Where do we start if we want to learn more about Professor Xavier and his rag-tag group of super-powered children? Sara and Matthew give us some good suggestions and talk about what X-Men Comic Fandom in particular means to them.

This fortnight... Mind Grapes: Alli has been having less than perfect media experiences and complains bitterly about Ernest Cline's second novel, Armada, and the mostly disappointing latest handheld Mario title, Mario and Luigi Paper Jam. Sam also has complaints, but this time about the U.S. political docuseries, The Circus. We do, however, finish with some good reading - Lawrence Hill's The Illegal. ReRoll: Harkening back to episode 59 of the show ("We don't want to throw any babies out with any bathwater, here."), Alli continues to be in a bad mood because 1) The ACRL has officially recisinded the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, clearly not listening to our podcast or the salient advice it gave and 2) everyone needs to calm down about it. Like, for serious.

Mind Grapes: Sam is inspired by a recent episode of This American Life and Lindy West's new book Shrill to pick up Jes Baker's Things No One Tells Fat Girls. Alli was dragged to the Jane Austen adaptation Love and Friendship, but LOVED IT. But this weekend has been devoted to playing Blizzard's latest Overwatch. Speaking of games, Sam also plugs her latest podcast binge Cool Games Inc. Class Z(ed): It's been about a month, but this year's BC Library Conference was a super cool time. We talk about volunteering, Corey Doctorow's firebrand keynote, and an amazing presentation on privacy, and a number of other conference bits and bobs. Also check our article in BCLA Perspectives: "Democracy in Your Earbuds: The Freedom of Podcasting."

Mind Grapes: The Vancouver Public Library has been challenging its staff to read diverse books, and Sam is endeavoring to win the challenge! While she's won a few points with Ms. Marvel, she's hoping to get a few more with Erika Johansen's The Queen of the Tearling. To add to this, Alli recommends The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisen, but doesn't want to spoil anything because it's too good. Instead, Alli offers a review of the second season of Daredevil, the second season of Broadchurch, and listening to the audiobook of Alan Cumming's memoir Not My Father's Son. NERD ALERT!: Sam got to go to Emerald City Comicon, but this year, wearing her librarian hat/flag. She along with friends of the show Erin Fields, Melanie Cassidy, and Anne Gaines gave a panel discussion titled "Research for Writers, World Builders, and Other Types of Nerds" that showed people the power of library-related research. It was a hit - full house, lots of great questions, and the chance to show the power of libraries in a new light.

Mind Grapes: We get through our post-vacation blues by talking about some new stuff, re-reading some old stuff, and talking about reading very old stuff for the first time. Alli saw Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, the new Tina Fey vehicle about a war correspondent in Afghanistan. It was amazing. Jon has been re-reading an old favourite, Perdido Street Station by China Miéville, and talks about how it screws with the norms of Tolkienian fantasy. Sam decided her next comic project will be X-Men, and so she started with the original run back from 1963. NERD ALERT: We all went on the nerd boat. But first, we spent nerd time in Orlando, so we cover the Universal Parks and our incredible visit to Kennedy Space Center. The nerd boat meant different things to all of us, and so we talk about the community, the events, and the boat experience.