Astronomy Reference Question, Out of the Blue

Last Friday (7/8/05), I was at the Information Desk in the early morning. The phone rang, and the patron at the other end of the line asked the following question:

"Can the M-13 Cluster be seen close to the Scorpio Constellation?"

Of course, I could not tell him off the top of my head. I initially tried to do some online searching as I talked to him to gather a bit more information, but there was something going on the background, likely his call waiting. At least, that was his claim. At any rate, he said he would call back, and while I waited, I decided it would be easier to find some books on the topic to get an answer. The man never called back. Nevertheless, here is the answer to the best of my ability:

The answer is no. You cannot see the M-13 Cluster near the Scorpio Constellation. However, you can see the M-6, M-7, M-4, and M-80. These are listed as clusters near or part of the Scorpio Constellation. I found the answers here:

1. Chartrand III, Mark R. Skyguide: A Field Guide for Amateur Astronomers. New York: Golden Press, 1982. Who says those little Golden Guides are not handy? See page 184 for the listing.
   
2. Burham Jr., Robert. Burnham's Celestial Handbook: An Observer's Guide to the Universe Beyond the Solar System. New York: Dover Publications, 1978. This book provides detailed lists of stars, clusters, and other celestial objects. Can see page 1651 for the listing, and there is a narrative description of the Scorpio Constellation starting on page 1655.
   

Booknote: My Bloody Life

I am trying out a new format for my book notes and reviews. We'll see how it works.
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Title: My Bloody Life: The Making of a Latin King
Author: Reymundo Sanchez (pseudonym)
Published in 2000 by Chicago Review Press
Genre: Nonfiction
Subgenre: Memoir
299 pages
Similar authors or titles: Sanyika Shakur's Monster (1994), Piri Thomas's Down These Mean Streets (1967).

This is the harrowing and moving account of Reymundo Sanchez, a man who at the age of 14 became a member of the feared Latin Kings gang. Born in Puerto Rico, Sanchez moves to Chicago. His childhood is lost as his father dies, then his mother discards him, and his stepbrother rapes him. These events fuel the downward spiral that leads to his gang membership. Sanchez's book is written in an engaging and graphic style. Drugs, sex, and violence are common ocurrences, a fact of life. Known in the gang as King Lil Loco, Sanchez's reputation increases on the basis of his violent actions.

Sanchez writes about the need young people feel to belong to something. He writes how he was lost without parents in an inner city where if you were not a member of a gang you would not survive. The gang provided him with love, a place to belong, and other benefits. However, the irony for Sanchez is the fact that he did not want to join but did so anyways. As he describes his initiation ritual, he writes that "I stood there like an idiot with no desire to be a King but no courage to say so. The one chance I had to prove that I was not a coward by speaking up and saying so passed me by. Because of my cowardice I was about to be initiated into the biggest and most violent Latino gang in Chicago" (139). And he was initiated after a three minute beating at the hands of his own brothers.

At times, some readers may think gang life is glamorous, but Sanchez soon dispels this. Sanchez had women, alcohol, drugs, and guns as well as the love of his brothers. However, he finds out that women usually want him because he was violent; they were more aroused the more violent he was. There are a couple of female figures who try to help him, but he rejects them, only to see later they were trying to help him. Drugs and alcohol destroy his life, especially drugs. His addiction eventually makes him too dangerous even for his Latin King brothers. As for guns, he shots people and gets shot at. And he comes to see that "Amor de Rey" ("King Love") is fickle and far from loyal. Sanchez had to fear his fellow gang members just as much, if not more at times, than members of rival gangs. To make matters worse, police corruption was ever present, and the adults in these youths lives often facilitated their gang banging lifestyle.

This book is a strong cautionary tale. Readers who may pick it up due to fascination with gangs, not unlike fascination with true crime tales or mob stories, may soon lose some of the fascination as Sanchez reveals his path of self destruction. This is a moving tale of what really happens inside a gang. I highly recommend this book.

Some lessons from a job search

Meredith Farkas did at her blog one of the things that I have been meaning to do for a while, and that is to write a reflection on the job hunt experience. My overall experience was mixed, and it was gruesome at times. I think the fact that I had a very bad experience at one place has kept me from writing it up because I don't want to rant (as much as they may deserve it). I have mentioned bits and pieces, but I have not sat down to make a nice little post of the whole ordeal. Maybe someday. I will rush to say it was not the place where I now work. I remember going home after the interview from the place I now work at and telling my wife, "these are the nicest people I have met, and everything just fell into place. I am going to be very sad if I don't get this one." Thanks the powers that be, I am here touching lives a student at a time (ok, faculty too). But I did learn some useful things from the job hunting experience, some of which Ms. Farkas discusses very well in her piece. She has created a very nice list of tips that job hunters may want to keep in mind. A lot of it is common courtesy, which maybe things that employers may want to read too. So until I get around to my reflection, I urge readers to go over to Ms. Farkas blog. The post is well written, and the lessons are ones we can all learn from. I also hope that more people out there will write their experiences up as well. If for no other reason than to show others that things are not as rosy as ALA and library schools would have us believe. I wrote a bit about that here for those interested.

Bloggers Beware When Applying for Jobs

You would think that with various stories of people losing jobs over their blogs and other such events, that bloggers would learn to watch what they say on their blogs. I always said that if I ever got the urge of posting something less than flattering, I would make sure I would do it anonymously on some other service. No sense shooting myself in the foot over a moment of ranting by putting my name on it. Notice I say if I ever get the urge. I am not a believer in airing anyone's dirty laundry (online or otherwise), and I am not about to start now. Besides, I also keep an "old fashioned" personal journal, you know the paper and ink type, where you actually have to write by hand? Yes, one of those, which I don't use as often, but often enough. Plus I carry it for when I am not online. Easier to write about places visited quick in a small notebook than dragging a laptop, well, for me anyhow.

So, what prompts this? Rochelle at Random Access Mazar has a reflective post about bloggers in the job hunt. In her post, she refers to an article posted in The Chronicle of Higher Education about some small liberal arts college that looked at blogs of job candidates. I have to say that I also cringed at some of the behavior described about the bloggers, but more importantly, I was very concerned over the attitudes of the college when it came to bloggers. The one example about the candidate with the humanities Ph.D. who is also a computer science expert, as reflected in his blog, raises a flag (based on the article, I think this is the gentleman in question. If not, I am apologizing in advance. I did the same thing the school did, which was use Google). So, they basically rejected the guy because they were afraid of his technological prowess? I have to admit I went over and looked at the blog, and while it is a bit too technical for me, I don't think that makes it a reason to disqualify the candidate. Rochelle makes a good point that the school seems to have a very negative (shall we label it acid or toxic?) overall in terms of people who blog or who even express an opinion for that matter. Rochelle writes,

"Apparently, when it comes to getting a job, it would be best if candidates appear meek, mild, and without opinions, ready to be inoffensive to everyone she meets. Again, I realize full well that there are inappropriate rants that get published on blogs, and I'm the first to cringe at them and work on writing up the blogging policy, but doesn't it seems odd to disqualify a candidate because s/he is prepared to express opinions in any forum? It would be nice if the concept of academic freedom actually meant that academics generally respected and supported the idea of free thought and expression for everyone, but apparently this doesn't work everywhere."

Apparently not. Personally, I did not start blogging until after I got my job; this was initially an experiment, and it still is. I express some opinions about professional issues, reflect on topics of academic and librarianship interest, and react to events and news. However, I keep a second blog for things that fall a little outside that. I am an educator, an academic, a librarian. I am not a machine in a vacuum, and writing is one of the ways I use to learn more about the world around me. It allows me at times to explore ideas I may develop later for more formal writing. It allows me to reflect on various things. It allows me to explore opinions, weigh arguments, try out concepts. That is part of what being in an academic profession is about, expanding knowledge as well as making meaning. And, here comes my moment of rant: if an employer cannot see that because they are too worried about possible image problems, maybe they are someone I should not be working for. Maybe they do need to clean up their laundry so it does not get aired.

Having said that, bloggers out there: you should know better by now. I am not saying you should censor yourselves or limit your expression, but some sense of professionalism is in order. And if you need to rant, or you just want more of a therapeutic diary or journal, at least use an anonymous blog. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has an excellent guide on how to blog safely here. I know that one can never be fully anonymous on the web, but at least make an effort if need be. The way I see it, don't give a potential employer an excuse to disqualify you. You have worked hard to get to where you are at, you likely have excellent credentials. Don't let a personal blog cancel all that out. On the other hand, if you have an excellent professional blog you are proud of, definitely show them that. If they dismiss it, maybe you should be looking elsewhere. It's a matter of balance.

Update Note (7/11/05): Leave for the weekend, and this thing explodes. Caveat Lector (always a good place to read) takes a deep breath and posts on the subject and also provides links to various other bloggers speaking on the topic. Looking over the links will give a nice overall summary of the responses to the Chronicle article. From her post, I got the link to Matthew G. Kirschenbaum's post on why he blogs under his name. I have to say I found it encouraging, and it gave me some hope to keep blogging under my name. I hope he gets enough comments and trackbacks to send back to the Chronicle. As for myself, I don't have the big networks other folks have, but I am in no rush either. I say it because Professor Kirschenbaum mentions that networking is a good reason to blog. I know I just try to make a good impression; we'll see from there. In the meantime, I can only hope to live another day to fight ignorance and intolerance out there. Is that not what every educator wants? Just an idea.

TLS article on Ismail Kadare, winner of International Man Booker Prize

TLS: The Times Literary Supplement for June 24, 2005 has an article written by Robert Elsie on Albanian writer Ismail Kadare. The article, "Subtle Dissent of a Balkan Bard" provides a good overview of the author's works and life. The article may be of interest to readers of literary fiction who may want to learn more about this writer. I made a note previously that he is listed in The Guardian's list of ten overseas writers to read.