Glow Baby Glow

[glitterglowgirl]

fault doesn’t share a bed with us

i’m sorry for not giving you the solace i wanted you to need from me

your past plagues you, and i wanted to be the antidote

accusations of not trying, of blame

all useless, baseless, hopeless

displacing your emotions yet they leave a chemtrail

i cannot carry these for you

your burden is not too heavy

but it is not mine to transport

[glitterglowgirl]

I learned to compartmentalize

My thoughts folded neatly

Stacked into drawers

Until they are shaken out

Unused, unacknowledged,

They detiorate

And drift away

[glitterglowgirl]

I give unto you because

I am not enough

The consistent ache

A doubt that constricts

A deceiving warmth

Coiled within myself

I mourn an end that hasn’t come.

[glitterglowgirl]

I sip the cool night air as I think of

What my life will look like in retrospect

After I find you.

[glitterglowgirl]

Your boa love is an inexorable pressure. Warm and fulfilling. I am overfull yet stifled. Gasping for control. Afraid to free myself from your slick embrace. Your honest love wraps itself around my heart and courses through my being as freely as my blood. I am afraid to break the skin and lose one drop. Your limitless love proved too much for one person to carry. I clutch your iridescent scales to my chest as your boa love embraces another. Though I am still wrapped tight I shed thick tears that leave salt tracks on my swollen cheeks.

[glitterglowgirl]

[iwriteaboutfeminism]

If this many white people *really* believed that "violence is never the answer," there would be a lot more people advocating for defunding the police.

[dis-cor-se]

this legit has nothing to do with defunding the police. this is black on black crime. and a lot of people disagree with both sides of the story. i swear to you, if that was a white man slapping a black man, you’d be shouting “RACISM RACISM RACISM” to the top of your lungs. but no, you’re out here, screaming about defunding the police.

classic clown right here. put on your makeup, clown nose, and wig, because you’re late for your act.

[iwriteaboutfeminism]

Would we be saying it was racist if a white man slapped a Black man? Yeah, probably.

Because race IS extremely relevant to what happened. It's relevant that this was a Black man with a Black wife slapping another Black man in a white space.

All of that is relevant to what happened, the context it happened in, and the reaction to it.

Changing any of those factors changed what happened.

That's not being hypocritical, that's acknowledging context.

What IS hypocritical is saying that "violence is never the answer" while continuing to increase funding for extremely violent police departments.

[dispatchesfromtheclasswar]

[runnin-out-oftime]

[cooltastrophe]

Ok I reblogged this with a long talk in tags recently but this is for all you fuckers in the notes, as a librarian whose library has gone fine-free since the last time I reblogged this post:

YES, going fine-free encourages returns. I can tell you that from my own experience at the check-in desk. In the weeks after we went fine-free, we got SO MANY returns on books that were hella overdue.

YES, library fines disproportionately impact poor people. Here's how it works: you're a single mom who checks out 10 picture books for your kid. For whatever reason, you're unable to return those 10 books on time. In fact, you're unable to return them for a long time. Each of those books hits the maximum fine. In my system, this was $5. When you return the books, you owe $50. If you can pay off the $50, fine. If you can't, then you feel like you're fucked. Maybe you've had a bad experience with owing money before. Maybe you've had a bad experience with an incompetent or bigoted librarian. Either way, you don't feel like you can deal with the cost of returning the books. But eventually the books go into billing, and now you're on the hook for the full price of each book. Even if you return them, you still owe $50. An account with $50 or more in fines/fees is considered delinquent, meaning you can't even use the computer or printing services, let alone check out books. So now you're stuck with these books and these fines and no library access and you're fucked. It doesn't matter how you got here. Rich and poor people alike wind up here. What matters is that for rich people it's not a big deal, and for poor people it's a REALLY big deal.

YES, libraries do everything we can to avoid this situation. We send reminder emails. We offer payment plans. We cap fines at $50. This prevents MANY people from ending up in this situation, but it doesn't prevent EVERYONE from winding up here. Libraries serve a LOT of people!

NO, fine free doesn't look the same everywhere. In my library system, we've eliminated late fines on every type of item, but we still charge replacement fees for books that are very long overdue (60 days I think). The replacement fee is cleared if the book is returned. But if you look at the notes, you'll see other libraries using different fine-free systems. This is because every library is different and has to work within its own context. Which brings me to..

YES, libraries need the money they get from late fines. HOWEVER! Fine free IS possible for every library, if their parent organization chooses to fund it! Libraries are government entities. They exist to provide services, not to make money. The last time I reblogged this post, I didn't believe my library would be able to go fine free for a very long time. Then, we made a proposal to the government we work for to use a special fund to replace what we typically collect in late fines. We were able to go fine free because we got the funding from our parent organization - you know, the guys who collect taxes and fund social services with the taxes they collect (at least in theory).

THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE MEAN WHEN THEY SAY DEFUND THE POLICE.

(That's right motherfucker this was an anti-cop rant all along!)

City and county budgets are finite, but they CAN fund fine-free libraries. The question is always, what funds are going to be used? What might they have funded instead?

When people call to defund the police, it is in part because police are funded by public money. (It's mostly because the police are an inherently oppressive and racist institution, but bear with me here.) The exact same money that arms and empowers police officers is money that could be used for fine-free libraries, fare-free buses, or better supplied classrooms. It's money that could go to health departments or senior centers or parks. NONE OF THESE ENTITIES EXIST TO MAKE MONEY, but some of us have to because we're underfunded by our municipality's budget.

UNDER-FUNDING SOCIAL SERVICES IS A GRIFT. It directly displaces the cost of living in a society from rich people (homeowners and landlords who pay property taxes) onto poor people (the single mom in our thought experiment above, or someone who can't afford a car so they pay but fare, or the kids whose classroom doesn't have pencils).

If you're unhappy with social services where you live, look at your city and county budgets. Find out how much money your local governments have and where it's going. If you want to agitate, agitate. If you want to run for office, run for office. If you want to take direct action, then I would certainly never advocate for anything illegal hahahaha

TL;DR Fine free is great, it's in line with libraries' mission of public service, and it is doable, but only if governments choose to fund it. If they say they can't, look at where their money is coming from and where it's going.

[itsnotjustpms]

Spongebob is educated

[glitterglowgirl]

[glitterglowgirl]

[glitterglowgirl]

Look at those crossed paws! I just can’t. He’s too cute. 🐈❤️😭☺️😍😺 https://www.instagram.com/p/B0owbWnBdvE/?igshid=1a6yxdb2ddn8c

[glitterglowgirl]

12 years old 😂👍🏻 https://www.instagram.com/p/B0owVIyBxB4/?igshid=1xc464uv59vrx

[glitterglowgirl]

Hello friend! 😍❤️☺️ https://www.instagram.com/p/B0owNYbh3q9/?igshid=15azbrv3gp5hw

[glitterglowgirl]

[glitterglowgirl]

[glitterglowgirl]