Re-orientations, Mal-functions, Reading Tech Labor and Affect in Libraries with Audre Lorde

by Drey Jo

“...I feel, therefore I can be free…”Audre Lorde, Poetry is Not a Luxury (1977)

manifest, Drey Jonathan

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At the beginning of this project when it was still something “nameless and formless, about to be birthed but already felt..” (Lorde 1977),.  I had all of these ideas of what it might become (and being honest maybe what I might become in the writing of it). 

Throughout May of 2024, I had the pleasure of sharing space with a cohort of Queer BIPOC young library profcessionals, like myself. We shared our experiences and worries concerning our current and future positions in the field; a major throughline being what does it mean to show up fully, for myself as a Queer Black person, in our work today? How do I show up fully and honestly in my work in a way that honors those who came before me, who in their living made space for me here now and the communities to which I hold myself accountable?