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The Human Library

Book Descriptions 2017

 

  • First Generation American and Military Veteran
  • Graduate Student Reservist There are only so many hours in the day, how do you find time to work full time, take a graduate class with a demanding list of readings, and still finish your distance learning course for the Army Reserves?  Throw into the mix physical therapy for a broken leg, and you’ve got the recipe for one busy schedule.  Managing that time is practically a part time job unto itself.
  • Mom in a Bilingual, Bicultural Home
  • Simple, Decent Affordable Housing - Volunteer Work with Habitat for Humanity
  • Speaking for the "Speechless", Disabilities that Silence Us
  • Childhood Cancer Survivor and First-Generation University Student
  • American Jew  When I was growing up, I thought our rabbi was off his rocker for being vegetarian and practicing meditation.  Fast forward about fifty years: I am vegan and meditate in addition to being much more religious than in my youth.  A supporter of the Israeli peace movement, but not boycott/divestment/sanctions; avid genealogist; enthusiastic librarian and lover of books. 
  • Reluctant Leader. When do you exercise power and authority?  When do you facilitate and collaborate? In the end the big question is how do you get things done? It has surprised me that some people are not that interested in getting things done. They’d rather talk.  
  • Adopted Child of Appalachia  I share that existential bond to place that is typical among West Virginians.  Also, my childhood was a mix of national confusion (am I American?  am I Canadian?), unrelenting rural poverty, and an intimate connection with the natural world.  What enabled me to become a first-generation college graduate?  How has this history led to community activism today? 
  • A Quirky Professor Who Grew Up in a Midwestern Town Smaller Than the Classes I Teach
  • My Many Chapters. Chapters include: Youthful Activist in the Turbulent 60s; Reproductive (Non) Rights pre Roe v. Wade; My Life as a Stepmother - The Successful Blended Family; My Work in Sex and AIDS Education in the 80s; The Geriatric Student - Returning to Graduate School After 50; My Gay Daughter - My Gay Grandson; Parenting My Six Grown Children - What I've Learned.
  • Living Between the Lines: a Perspective on Genderqueer Living Ever since I was child I felt that I was neither a boy or a girl. Living a life without those boundaries though is close to impossible.  From living in residence halls in college, to every day pronoun use, to even simple things like using a public restroom, the life of trans or genderqueer person is filled with hilarity and frustration in equal measures. 
  • Midwest to Middle East
  • Non-traditional Student in Recovery: Turning Away from Alcohol Towards Graduation  I am an older-than-average student and also in long-term recovery from addiction to alcohol.
  • Bisexual Atheist Transwoman
  • Being Black in America: An International Student Perspective
  • Woman, Veteran, Teacher, Student  Experiences and culture group memberships define our identities, their development, and how we communicate them to ourselves and others. 
  • In the Middle of a War on Race: How a black international student has been navigating through antiblackness in the U.S. 
  • Happy Colombian