Cognotes 2019 Annual Conference Highlights - 10

COGNOTES

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HIGHLIGHTS

Hayden and Klinenberg Address Social Infrastructure
By Chris Heckman, Student to ALA

The Auditorium Speakers Series continued June 22 with Librarian of Congress Carla
Hayden and Eric Klinenberg, professor of
sociology and director of the Institute for
Public Knowledge at New York University.
Klinenberg spoke about his new book, Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure
Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and
the Decline of Civic Life.
Klinenberg's book argues for the importance of "radically inclusive" social spaces
that encourage people from all walks of life
to visit, leading to communal activities and
individual interactions between people who
otherwise would not cross paths. These interactions are important for the functioning of a
civil society and a healthy democracy, as they
help us to connect and empathize with other
members of our community. In addition,
these places can provide life-saving services
as well as social and material support for
people on the margins of society. Klinenberg
dubs this "social infrastructure," the physical
and interpersonal resources that keep society
running and highlights several sites of social

infrastructure including childcare
centers, churches, synagogues,
bookstores, parks, and libraries.
Libraries are really the star of
this book. Klinenberg explained
that he was inspired to write the
book because of libraries and later
expanded the scope of his study to
include other social spaces.
Hayden and Klinenberg
touched on number of topics
relating to the importance of
libraries over the course of their
discussion. Klinenberg said his
work helped communities to
recover after Hurricane Sandy
and pointed to the importance
of social infrastructure in that
recovery. He told the audience
that city officials, attempting to
Hayden, Klinenberg on Libraries, Radical Inclusiveness
construct what they called a community resilience center, essentially came up tage of librarians' willingness to do more with dressing how library science programs can
with the idea for a library.
less by continually cutting budgets, while better prepare students to do the work of
Hayden and Klinenberg discussed some Hayden expressed frustration with finding radical inclusiveness and empowerment, the
of the challenges of advocating for libraries. herself the lone advocate for libraries in some emerging focus on the value of libraries as a
Specifically, Klinenberg cited his frustration government meetings.
topic in sociological research, and the benwith public officials who seem to take advanThey opened the floor for questions ad- efits of librarians running for political office.

Charlemae Rollins Program
Highlights Issues
of Social Change
By Chris Heckman, Student to ALA

Christian Robinson signs his book, Another, for Tiffany Alston and other
attendees at the book signing station in the Exhibit Hall.

Adeyemi
» from page 6
be thoughtfully interwoven into the fabric
of her own fantasy.
While conversing with Brock, Adeyemi
noted that "all stories of fantasy...dystopia
are about oppression, but without people
who go through it." Adeyemi writes to tell
stories that matter. She wants her readers to
see characters they can identify with in her

Miller
& Wheeler
» from page 6
creators. For Miller, Cursed is his first major
work aimed at a young audience. "This was
a way for me to stretch and try new things.
It's taken me back to school, and that's
always a good thing," said Miller.
Still, the young adult audience did not
mean that they lightened much about the
original myth.
"I think the worst thing you can do is talk
down to your audience. If it's kids, you change
some of the graphic focus, but this story has to

stories. Moreover, she writes so that "readers
can fall in love with characters" or people that
do not look like them.
Children of Blood and Bone allowed Adeyemi to create a story and setting where she
was "the god of her own universe," which was
deeply empowering.
Adeyemi continues to write stories about
black people out of self-love and so that everyone can love black people. A directed by
Rick Famuyiwa is in the works.
be tough. I wanted [Nimue] to be an absolute
warrior. It's a 'dark fairy tale meets an all-ages
Game of Thrones,'" Wheeler said.
Cursed is also being released as a Netflix
Original series, expected in 2020, with
Miller and Wheeler at the helm as executive producers.
"The show and the book have different
story demands, but we are deeply involved
in both of them," Wheeler said, adding that
the book and the Netflix series will have
significant differences but that they will
both be deeply gratifying for audiences. The
Cursed book will be available in Fall 2019.

The Association for Library Services
to Children (ALSC) Charlemae Rollins
President's Program featured three engaging, thoughtful, and inspiring speakers
on June 24. During "Subversive Activism:
Creating Social Change through Libraries,
Children's Literature, and Art," speakers
touched on ways their work helps to enact
positive change.
ALSC President Jamie Campbell Naidoo
introduced Nicole Cooke, PhD, associate
professor of information science University
of Illinois at Urban-Champaign. Cooke
discussed her efforts to recover and compile
a bibliography of every issue of the Interracial Books for Children Bulletin (IBCB). This
publication, 1966-1989, highlighted issues
related to representation of racial and ethnic
minorities in children's literature as well as
others. Cooke noted IBCB was a hard-hitting
news bulletin that "didn't pull any punches,"
and the authors didn't hesitate to call out
racism, sexism, or other issues. While the
topics it addresses are still relevant today, issues of IBCB can be difficult to find. Cooke's
project will help make IBCB easier for this
generation to discover.
Janina Fariñas, PhD, discussed work she
does as pediatric neuropsychologist. Fariñas
studies the effects of trauma on children's
brains. She shared her experience coming
to the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant
from El Salvador, remembering the strain
that put on her family. She said children's
literature has value in helping children
and young adults to cope with and process
trauma. Fariñas explained that children's
literature is an important tool that she uses in
her work. Specifically, she cited a great need
in the current political climate for children's

literature written from a Latina perspective
that focuses on family separation.
Yuyi Morales, author and illustrator of
many children's books including Dreamers,
discussed the impact of her own experience as
an immigrant. She explained how gathering
items and taking pictures of places important
to her helps her to create the look and feel
of her art. For example, she used the color
and texture of the brick she uncovered while
renovating her home as the skin tone for
some of the characters in Dreamers.
Morales told how her mother used to
make paper skirts for her as a child, because

Specifically, Fariñas
cited a great need in
the current political
climate for children's
literature written from
a Latina perspective
that focuses on family
separation.
they couldn't afford traditional fabric. At the
time, she was embarrassed to wear them, but
in adulthood she has embraced this experience by depicting the mother in Dreamers
in a paper skirt. Morales explained that this
is also a reference to Mexican folklore as
there are powerful supernatural figures that
are said to have "a skirt of stars" and "a skirt
of snakes." She gave her character a skirt of
paper, in part to honor her roots and in part
because paper is the source of her power as
an artist.
Morales ended by encouraging the audience to learn along with her what they can
do to help immigrant children currently
being separated from their families at our
southern border.

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Cognotes 2019 Annual Conference Highlights

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