Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/author/mary-treacy/)
Please check out my blog at:http://marytreacy.wordpress.com One time librarian and former executive director of the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information I am currently a very happy independent consultant exploring untold options. My passion is to contribute the bit I am able to an informed and engaged community in which everyone's story can be told - and heard. This means using a dynamic array of media - newspapers, websites, television, radio, social media and whatever comes on line tomorrow. It means being willing to plumb the depths of a story - and it means having the courtesy, if not the intellectual curiosity, to learn from others. My sons are both enmeshed in the information maze. Rick Birmingham is the Manager of IT Services at MAP for Nonprofits. Steve Birmingham works his magic on the public access terminals in Hennepin County Library. Grandson Will Birmingham, 19 months, loves food, slides, puddles and books - in that order. A graduate of what was then the College of St. Catherine I went on to get a MS in Library Science. Truth to tell, I didn't work in real libraries that much, but I did work 18 years as Director of Metronet, a collaboration of nearly 600 public, academic, corporate, medical, school and other libraries and information services in the TC's. In recent years I've worked in a number of consulting positions, most notably the Sisters of St. Joseph Ministries Foundation. As a hapless volunteer I've worked with a host of nonprofits including the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information, Learning in Style, the DFL Education Foundation, the Village Farmers Market among others. I've also written several pieces for TCDP. In recent weeks I've been joined the throngs of scribe wannabes by launching my own little blog called Poking Around With Mary - because poking around is what I do a good deal of the time.
Midst the cacophony that drowns out rational thinking during political campaigns I have long perked up my ears when I heard that Kathleen Hall Jamieson would be the guest commentator. Continue Reading
Noting the recent spate of blog posts celebrating the lives of African American women, a dear friend in Los Angeles sent me a note asking if I knew anything of the life of Bridget “Biddy” Mason. Continue Reading
The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect. Tim Berners-Lee W3C.
We should emphasize not Negro History, but the Negro in history. Continue Reading
The sun has shone and the sun has hidden behind many a bureaucratic and political cloud since the launch of Sunshine Week a decade ago. Continue Reading FOIA Machine lubricates the wheels of access|Some holiday time-off-task offers a chance to get back to Poking Around – so where do I start? With a post about FOIA…. Though I’m eager to poke around a broader sphere, I have been intending to share this newish tool for some time. Continue Reading #Pointergate points to the imperative of oversight|In another life I was a stooge on the Minnesota News Council. At some point I, as a member in good standing, read in the press that the MNC was to be no more – no explanation, a simple affirmation that the staff person had acquired a safe position at the University of St. Thomas. Because I was too otherwise engaged to explore the roots of a decision I accepted as a done deal, closed that file, and gave complicit assent to a decision I knew was wrong. Continue Reading Treat your palate to a mixed menu of readings at Eat My Words|If you’ve discovered Eat My Words, you’ve been there often. If not, the next couple of weeks offer a great chance to explore this charming bookstore nestled in the Northeast Minneapolis Arts Area. Whether you’re a veteran visitor or a newbie you’ll find the agenda of readings during the early holiday season is intriguing, even irresistible. Continue Reading Human rights: Common threat, common theme|When Ursula LeGuin and Pope Francis echo each other’s concern for basic human rights being relegated to mere commodities it is time to take heed. As these intellectual giants remind us, human beings have a certain and inalienable right to access to food and access to information and ideas. The right to food and literature transcend the unfettered pursuit of wealth and the power that it affords. Pope Francis spoke at the International Food and Agriculture conference meeting in Rome.(http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=49396#.VHjGY8aC14M). Ursula LeGuin shared her thoughts from the prestigious platform of the 2014 National Book Awards. (http://www.nationalbook.org/amerletters_2014_uleguin.html#.VHjFjcaC14M) Continue Reading A weekend to think about this nation at war and at risk|The coming weekend marks not one but significant dates in American history. Sunday, December 7, is familiar to many Americans as the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, the efficient cause of the Second World War. Since 1994 that global tragedy has been officially designated as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, a date that FDR correctly predicted would live in infamy. (See earlier post) Continue Reading |