“Feel like rearranging the deck chairs?” we used to ask in my library when we saw the writing on the wall about its sad demise. It was around that time that I received this wonderful cookbook called Last Dinner on the Titanic: Menus and Recipes from the Great Liner as a gift. To begin with, I … Read More
Rabbit holes are curious things. One moment you click on an article that a social media algorithm tossed onto your feed based on your likes, clicks, and general activity, and three hours later you are an armchair expert in a subject you never paid attention to before. It may be a one-off thing. Maybe your … Read More
It was 6 pm in Ukraine, 9 am in California, and 12 pm in New Jersey on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, when 300 librarians gathered virtually for an international Zoom event initiated by a librarian at UC Berkeley. For an hour and a half, we were listening to personal accounts of our Ukrainian colleagues related … Read More
If you grew up in the United States, you must know who Judy Blume is. If you didn’t, the name may still sound familiar, especially if you are interested in banned books. The Newark Star-Ledger’s headline that one of the rest areas along the Garden State Parkway was recently named after Judy Blume is not … Read More
WARNING: This post contains graphic content dealing with sexual assault and war crimes against civilians. “You can’t possibly think anyone would publish a story with the slightest hint that the Heroic Soviet Liberators were amusing themselves by raping women in their spare time during World War II” read the rejection letter in 1981, sent by … Read More
When I was an undergraduate, my grandfather gave me a copy of Pogo: We Have Met the Enemy and He is Us. Walt Kelly’s comic collection from 1972 introduced me to graphic stories with a moral aim. The comics mock corporate greed, bureaucratic disconnect and the collective guilt of our society implicated in contributing to … Read More
[This post was written in mid-March, 2022. Scroll down for updates to follow the story of warship Moskva and the stamp.] True or false? The Ukrposhta, the Ukrainian Post Services released a stamp with a soldier giving the middle finger to a Russian warship. In the past few days a social media post went viral … Read More
I’ve been reading American Cuisine: And How it Got This Way by Paul Freedman. It delves into the history of “American” cuisine and how it was shaped by the country’s history. As can be imagined, there are many factors involved in this evolution, from the various cultures and backgrounds that are the heart of America’s … Read More
With Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine, war is back on the minds of the West––even though, as Syria, Yemen, and other sites of conflict should remind us, it never really left. A recent New York Times essay by the Ukranian poet Ilya Kaminsky meditates on the role of poetry in times like these. Kaminsky’s own … Read More
The School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) is committed to support students throughout their studies at Rutgers. The SEBS Academic Support page provides not only an Academic Success Calendar, but also lists two special courses. Organized by the Office of Academic Programs, the Academic Mentoring course aims to help first-generation SEBS students with their transition … Read More