At Bread and Roses, we are building a street library so that houseless folks can have regular access to books as well as a place to sit and read them. This will be in conjunction with our developing literacy and GED programs. There is a book drop off point in Cafe Vita.

I saw this by Rob Richards in the Book exchange thread and I want to help publicize it. A street library is an excellent idea.

Plus as the weather warms it is time for spring cleaning. We can clear out books in good shape that we don't need anymore, help out the library, and free up more room for ourselves. We all win.

Bread and Roses

Volunteering was chaotic fun and good exercise...this was my first time to volunteer but am planning to go back for future sales...

My haul...

The Illustrated History of Oxford University, Ed. John Prest
Over Washington: A Companion to the KCTS-9 TV Series, Photography by Harald Sund, Text by Murray Morgan
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself by Harriet A. Jacobs
Whose Science? Who's Knowledge?:Thinking from Women's Lives by Sandra Harding
Food for Life by Neal Barnard, MD
Literature: Fifth Edition Ed. James Pickering and Jeffrey Hoeper
Evelina, or The History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World by Fanny Burney
Reading Skills Handbook by Weiner Bazerman
Feminist Literary Theory: A Reader Ed. Mary Eagleton
The Chomsky Reader by Noam Chomsky
Life's a Stitch: The Best of Contemporary Women's Humor Ed. Anne Safran Dalin
Blackwood Farm by Anne Rice
The Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou
How Stella Got Her Groove Back by Terry McMillan
The Story of English: A companion to the PBS TV Series by Robert McCrum, William Cran, and Robert MacNeil
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Sweet and Sugar Free by Karen E. Barkie (fruit juice sweetened baked goods...mmmm)
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora neale Hurston
Baudolino by Umberto Eco
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Sisters of the Earth Ed. by Lorraine Anderson (women's writings on nature)
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
The Edge of the Sea by Rachel Carson
Save the Animals: 101 Easy Things You Can Do by Ingrid Newkirk

Octavia Butler was the first African American woman science fiction writer and is one of my favorite authors. I just finished listening to the sound recording of Kindred and will be returning it to the library soon. More a work of historical fiction than science fiction, Kindred is an exploration of how a modern woman would cope with living without the freedoms she was used to post civil rights era as she time traveled to antebellum Maryland.

Although I liked Kindred, I like Octavia Butler's short stories best. I would highly recommend Bloodchild which, according to Butler, is an exploration of the circumstances in which a man might willingly go through the painful process of pregnancy and childbirth for the sake of love, in the way that women do. Interestingly, Bloodchild is often misinterpreted as a work of class subjugation or slavery. I wonder if this is due to Butler's perspective on pregnancy or whether it is due to the different roles that we, as a culture, expect from men and women and the changed perspective of the roles when gender is switched. I also find my own emotional reaction to a species other than human being in charge to be interesting. Sort of like in Jurassic Park where humans animals became prey rather than predator. If you read, or have read, the story I'd be interested to hear your perspective on these things.

I had planned to spend the day at the history museum at Tacoma where there will be a presentation about Katrina survivors but my friend, who is a Katrina survivor, cancelled due to illness and I've decided to celebrate by posting about The Feminist Book Project at the Olympia Free School instead.

The project focuses on works by women with emphasis on works by women of color. I've volunteered to do the initial set-up for the project including creating the section dividers and lettering on the sign above the display. I'd like to invite you to go in to take a look, check out a book and even, if you feel so inclined, to donate a feminist book...especially a book by a woman of color.

I'll be posting more about this project in the future.

What are you reading? What have you read in the last couple of months? (Sometimes I find it interesting to find out what others are reading. Perhaps a short title and description would be useful to someone else.)

I have read lately:

Riding Rockets by Mike Mullane hard back Oly Library Story of an astronaut from his childhood to the shuttle program with emphasis on the Challenger Disaster. Funny, insightful, exciting.

Feynman's Rainbow by Leonard Mlodinow book on tape Oly Library Something of a memoir about a young scientist meeting his idol Richard Feynman at Cal Tech. Explores a side of Feynman outside of science. Fantastic. Interesting. Insightful.

Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Ablom book on CD Oly Library Story of a guy who dies in an accident and how he meets five people who intersected his life, to some degree and have a lesson to teach. Heartfelt, sad, thoughtful.