Bear Biographies-A Library of Lived Experiences: 2023 Catalog

1. Diary of a Physicist Farmgal
Available for Checkout: 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Sometimes it takes a “hard reset” to come to terms with who you are, to peel back the layers of society’s expectations and embrace who you are. Even at 50 I hadn’t truly shed that onion skin, but during the pandemic I had to face up to my truth and learn to either shut down for good or live out loud.

2. Finding Where the Light Is
Available for Checkout: 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm
For most of my life, I have felt mostly dark. Not because of my skin color, but because of me functioning as a human being. This is a story of how it took a long time for me to find out that I have Asperger’s and trying to do whatever it takes to find the good through the pitch black night.

3. Playing the Spoons: Living with Invisible Illness
Available for Checkout: 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Learning how to deal with your and others’ assumptions about what illness looks and acts like.

4. A Day in the Life of a Mogul
Available for Checkout: 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Many people ask, how do you do it all? This book explains the importance of mental health and setting boundaries and how to balance multiple tasks.

5. A Person of Science and a Person of Faith
Available for Checkout: 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm
A Christian, who is also a proponent of science, discusses reconciling the two and how he maintains faith despite seeing the damage inflicted in its name.

6. The Gun was Heavy: Protecting My Family from the Klan as a Five-Year-Old
Available for Checkout: 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Growing up in south Arkansas in 1950 everyone was expected to know their place. My brother crossed an invisible line and put our whole family in danger. We prepared for the worst.

7. Everyday with the Oppressor
Available for Checkout: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Racial hardships make me wonder where God is. Being Black allows me the opportunity to choose compassion for my oppressors, daily, with the realization that unforgiveness is a distraction. Being Black for me is operating, with joy, in a state of misery. Being Black is living in a perpetual cycle of compounded grief, unwilling to accept the assurance of invalidated loss. Being Black is looking past disenfranchisement and smiling at the future. Being Black is being rewarded with resilience, an invaluable asset. Being Black is acknowledging that only God can fix broken people I encounter.

8. On the Run in the Blue Nile
Available for Checkout: 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
My book documents how I was hunted by the Communist/Military Government of Ethiopia in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and how I escaped arrest and death a number of times during those years. 

9. Living Past Loss
Available for Checkout: 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm
How to move forward after loss.

10. A Stranger in a Strange Land: Being a Jewish Arkansan
Available for Checkout: 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Judaism is a 4,000 year old religion and spirituality of the Jewish People.  What is Judaism?  What does it mean to be Jewish in a state that is predominantly Christian?  Ask questions and discover exciting answers to these questions from someone who is Jewish and a native Arkansan.

11. My Journey as an Immigrant
Available for Checkout: 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Stories define us. This is my story as an immigrant in the USA. 

12. Multiple Sclerosis
Available for Checkout: 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Learn about the impact of invisible disability on identity and how to be more intentional with language surrounding health.

13. A Banned Book Resists
Available for Checkout: 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm
As an academic and social justice activist, this book won a controversial award, The Rachel Corrie Award, given to non tenured Writing teachers committed to peace, justice, and human dignity who exhibit pedagogical courage and risk taking in their teaching. Check out this book to learn more about the courageous Rachel Corrie and what made her controversial; how to live your convictions and how to take risks to advocate for social change and civic discourse in the face of managerial conservatism determined to silence you; and to discover what the book chose when given two alternatives—academic freedom outside the academy or permanent censor within.

14. Growing up in the South
Available for Checkout: 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Selected aspects of my story, including but not limited to: Growing up in the south; sustained, long term recovery; marriages; divorces; single parenthood. 

15. Laughing in the Face of Neurodivergence
Available for Checkout: 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Though a spectrum disorder, many have a tendency to put autism in a small box of specific traits. When one autistic person does not show those few specific traits that people identify autism as, they have a tendency to minimize others' experiences with autism; they laugh because the autistic's traits do not align with their personal perceptions of autism. Having a holistic view of autism and the different ways it can present in various individuals can help one develop a more inclusive world-view.

16. Unlearning
Available for Checkout: 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Growing up Christian in a small Arkansas town, gay was a dirty word and there was no concept for transgender. This is the road of self-discovery from crying in prayer to embracing myself as a queer transman. With a winding past and an uncertain future, every day is a new chance to unlearn bias and grow into a kinder human.

17. Professionalism, It’s time to Throw it out the Window
Available for Checkout: 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
I am a woman earning a master's degree that has an adult diagnosis of ADHD, even though I presented symptoms as a child! Check me out to talk about how the societal implications of professionalism can be deemed inaccessible for someone with ADHD.

18. Passing for Straight: A Bisexual Woman Married to a Man
Available for Checkout: 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm
If someone just looked at me walking through the store with my husband, hand in hand, most people would not think "I wonder if she's bi...". I simply pass for straight. But I'm not; I'm a proud bisexual woman, delighted to be a part of LGBTQ+ community. This can often mean I have to come out multiple times throughout my life as otherwise, people just assume I'm heterosexual. I'm happy to answer any questions about my story, being bisexual, and what that means to me.

19. A Black Man Encountering Microaggressions
Available for Checkout: 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Being a black law enforcement officer and a veteran.

20. ADHD and Me
Available for Checkout: 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm
ADHD is a mental anomaly that many have, but very few understand. This book takes a look at basic symptoms and experiences that people with ADHD have. It also looks at how neurotypical people can better understand and help those with ADHD. Warning: This book reads at 2x speed, so be on your toes!