Reviewed by Anna M., Materials Handler

Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? by Kathleen Collins is also available as an ebook and audiobook.

Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? written by Kathleen Collins is a posthumous collection of elegantly written contemporary short stories that follow the lives of  Black women. Collins was a filmmaker, director, poet, playwright, and civil rights activist. After Collins’ untimely death due to breast cancer at the age of 46, Nina Collins—Kathleen’s daughter—found multiple unpublished short stories in Kathleen’s attic. Delighted by her mother’s raw, passionate yet delicate stories, Nina felt moved to publish the short stories in a collection that would commemorate Kathleen Collins’ life and gift for writing prose. 

I first read Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? during my freshman year of college for my Experimental Blackness class. It was the first time I heard about Kathleen Collins, but it would not be the last. Although reading the novel was a part of an assignment, reading Collins’ collection of short stories was a breath of fresh air. Collins’ work was a mix of the abstract, experimental, traditional narration, and poetry, and was unlike anything I had ever read before. A few years later, during my junior year, it was a part of my English class’s curriculum to attend a reading. By a stroke of luck, Nina Collins lead a reading of Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? in her mother’s honor. Listening to Nina talk about her mother and her mother’s work brought a new appreciation for the text, which I have loved more and more over the years.

The collection explores and provides insight into gender and racial disparities, creating a platform for a much needed conversation about inclusivity. Although Collins filled many shoes, her experience with filmmaking, directing, and writing plays heavily influenced her work, as seen in stories like “Exteriors”, “Conference: Parts I and II”, “Treatment for a Story”, and “When Love Withers All of Life Cries”. “Exteriors”, the frontrunner of the collection, is a three-paged story that delicately follows the buildup of heartbreak. Collins describes the scene like a director, signaling for light, focusing on props, and other tactics used by directors and filmmakers. Although the piece is short, Collins succeeds in creating relatable characters and exposes the hard truth about the end of relationships.

Stories like “How Does One Say,” and “The Happy Family” illuminate the strengths and struggles of a Black woman in modern America. “Documentary Style” cleverly delves into racial and gender issues that have plagued America for centuries. Themes of race, gender, family, and sexuality are aptly woven together to create Collins’ masterpiece. Although her collection was written before the 1980s, her work continues to be relevant and leaves a lasting impression on readers, making it a must-read. 

This is review is part of the Finding Value series, inspired by the eleven core values central to the Library's mission. Tune in as Library staff review books and movies that highlight the values accessibility, civil discourse, inclusiveness, integrity, intellectual freedom, lifelong learning, literacy, respect, safety, service, and stewardship. 

You did it! The community-wide reading goal of 200,000 minutes was met on Saturday, June 13, just 13 days into the summer reading games! Congrats to Hoosier Hills Food Bank, who will receive a $2,000 check from the Friends of the Library.

Since then, you’ve far surpassed this goal and have made it all the way to 539,745 minutes, as of Monday morning, June 29! In fact, the Library now has a new goal for summer reading––1 million minutes! 

Should this goal be met, some staff members have pledged personal donations totaling $1,525 to various community organizations of their choice. The organizations these staff members have selected include:

• Shalom Community Center
• Hotels 4 Homeless
• Middle Way House
• Banneker Community Center
• Stages Bloomington
• Friends of the Library

Other monetary donations continue to serve as benchmark prizes within the games themselves, benefiting Shalom Community Center, Youth Services Bureau, and Stepping Stones. Additionally, many books and/or games have already been donated to Little Free Libraries, and to area daycares and camp groups, including The Nest, the daycare at New Hope for Families.

Keep tracking your minutes through August 1 to continue to support our community and earn tickets towards prize drawings. You can still register to play too!

Reviewed by Dean M., Materials Handler

The Man in a Case by Anton Chekhov is also available in a short story collection on Hoopla.

The setting for the story “The Man in a Case” aka “About Truth” or "The Man in a Box" is a barn on the outskirts of a Russian village. A schoolmaster named Burkin and a veterinary surgeon named Ivan Ivanych discuss the topic of solitary people. The story is part of a short-story trilogy titled “The Little Trilogy” where men tell stories in three different settings, and there is always a profoundness from what they discuss in their short time together.

“The Man in a Case” is the 2nd story of this trilogy and in it Burkin tells Ivan the story of a schoolmaster, Burkin's neighbor, who lived a solitary and fearful life and caused fear in the lives around him. This man was named Byelikov. Byelikov is described as being “afraid to speak aloud, afraid to send letters, afraid to make acquaintances, afraid to read books, afraid to help the poor, to teach people to read and write…”. Byelikov is so solitary that his peers are perpetuated to help him get a wife. 

The story is no longer about the two men sitting in a barn telling stories, but somehow the reader is never ignorant of that fact. As readers discover the hardships that happened to Byelikov, they also discover the similarities between Byelikov’s life and overly precautious ways to the lives of most people and their seemingly normalized precautions. People work to stay comfortable and often take the safe approach to controversial problems to stay politically correct. The value of civil discourse relates because the telling of good and interesting stories will never be “politically correct”, instead it will be discourse into the lives of other people which can be helpful. Meeting people that cause fear are often the victims of another type of fear and, without the ability to tell stories, readers wouldn’t be able to self-reflect with others fears. Civil discourse allows this to happen. 

This is review is part of the Finding Value series, inspired by the eleven core values central to the Library's mission. Tune in as Library staff review books and movies that highlight the values accessibility, civil discourse, inclusiveness, integrity, intellectual freedom, lifelong learning, literacy, respect, safety, service, and stewardship. 

Each year the Friends of the Library invites Library employees to submit their enterprising ideas for consideration of a Pioneer Grant. Projects must be innovative and beneficial to the community and lead the way to a knowledgeable, inclusive, and engaged community empowered by the Library. This year two projects were awarded grants.

Adventure Backpacks

Community Engagement Librarians Jen Hoffman and M. W. and Edwin Fallwell, a Senior Information Assistant, proposed a collection of Adventure Backpacks. In their proposal, the team noted that the backpacks would “facilitate an interactive exploration of nature, the outdoors, and local park and trail systems.”

Adventures Backpacks contain several useful items for your outdoor adventure including identification guides (flowers, trees, birds), and outdoor tools (binoculars, compass, multi-tool, flashlight).

Additionally, the team worked with the Department of Natural Resources and Indiana State Parks to provide a voucher allowing for free admission to any Indiana State Park. Backpacks check out for seven days and are now available!

Dyslexia-Friendly Library

A second Pioneer Grant was awarded to Community Engagement Librarian Kim Baker to make the Library dyslexia-friendly. The purpose of the project is to kickstart development of a new service offering for dyslexic individuals, their caretakers, or people looking to learn more about dyslexia.

Kim’s proposal requested funds for staff training to serve as a foundation for a system-wide turn towards developing a dyslexic-friendly library. Kim was motivated by Indiana’s Senate Enrolled Act 217 which dictates that all kindergarteners through second-graders must be pre-screened for dyslexia.

“The Library is in a unique position to offer individuals in our community much-needed resources and support in an inclusive environment which they may not otherwise have access to furthering our ability to foster lifelong learning opportunities for members of our community,” Baker wrote.

As part of the dyslexia-friendly library project, all children’s signage at Downtown and Ellettsville has been updated. While the Library is closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, staff are developing their understanding of dyslexia through online training and expanding their knowledge of accessible resources. More updates coming soon!

History

Curious about past Pioneer Grant winners? In 2019, Creating Access for Violence Survivors (CAVS) was proposed by Information Assistant Shannon Bowman-Sarkisian. The project created Library protocol for Monroe County residents in hiding or transitional housing due to escaping domestic violence. It also provided training for Library staff on domestic violence and related issues, and gave Middle Way House residents access to eLibrary and digital learning tools on Library-curated iPads and Playaway tablets.