Does Reading a Good Book Make You Better? Learning From Librarians

James LaRue, librarian and head of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, gave a short talk at Dominican University recently (the 22nd Annual McCcusker Memorial Lecture). I attended – and as a non-librarian, I was informed and encouraged by the important work that public libraries are doing to secure and strengthen public space…

Starbucked

Taylor Clark’s Starbucked: a double tall tale of caffeine, commerce and culture has made me sensitive to the carefully engineered spaces of commerce that now dot our cities and malls. Engineering does not fully capture the totality of the effort, either. These spaces – the Panera’s, the Barnes and Nobles, the A&F and the hundreds…