Arts
As most listeners know, I’ve mainly done interviews with individuals associated with arts and entertainment. For me, podcasting is all about archiving the experience of connecting with another person in addition to learning about the lives of those I’m not always entirely familiar with. Most recently, I was enrolled in a library science class in which my professor included a link to a webinar regarding “Transgender Inclusion In Libraries.” Watching this particular webcast, while also reading more information and doing research on this particular subject really filled with me a sense of motivation to spread awareness. Hence this episode. I’ve also just started my MLIS program and already see a lot of possibilities when it comes to activism and meeting the needs of everyone within the community. Awareness and intelligence surrounding this comes courtesy of today’s incredibly articulate and empathic guest by the name of Micah Kehrein. Kehrein believes that public libraries must explicitly center equity and social justice in order to truly provide access for all. Once they have completed the MLIS program, Kehrein hopes to go back to their roots and practice radical, welcoming librarianship in rural America. They are responsible for a lot of terrific collaborative efforts alongside peers and fellow co-workers when it comes to ensuring the transgender community is welcome within the library. Even if you are unaware of their accomplishments, you will truly be engaged and intrigued throughout the duration of our conversation. Micah offers a lot of resources, insights, experiences, and compelling arguments for why the community needs to collaborate in order to make a difference. I cannot thank Micah enough for taking some time to shed some light and share a lot of great possibilities for all to consider. In case you need a starting point along with some helpful links to explore this subject, look no further than this Google Doc listing of links courtesy of today’s guest: https://tinyurl.com/SJSU-TransResources Also, this resource collection from Oak Park is mentioned as well: https://oppl.org/read-listen-watch/transgender-resource-collection/