I read at night, until three or four in the morning. The darkness around you adds greatly to the absolute passion that develops between you and the book.
Marguerite Duras
Not today Justin
I'd rather be in outer space 🛸
DEAR READER
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shark vs the universe

ellievsbear
we're not kids anymore.
Mike Driver
occasionally subtle
YOU ARE THE REASON
d e v o n
almost home
trying on a metaphor

#extradirty

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Kiana Khansmith
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@library-propaganda
I read at night, until three or four in the morning. The darkness around you adds greatly to the absolute passion that develops between you and the book.
Marguerite Duras
Reading a book that's so good that you want to read it and read it and read it but at the same time you don't want to read it because then you'll finish it and it'll be over. These are moments that are worth living for.
how do you become so well read?
by reading
There's an awful trend in reading that's this CinemaSins kind of rejection of abstract concepts and suspension of disbelief, that makes people say it's bad writing when authors use descriptions that aren't immediately one to one with physical reality.
Like it's bad when a "tattoo is undulating" (as opposed to... "drawn in a wave like pattern on the skin"?), or when hair is "wet wheat from a late Summer field" (as opposed to "sort of brownish light yellow that dries lighter, but is not actual wheat stalks growing on someone's head but kind of reminiscent of the color and texture"?), or when when ice cream tastes like midnight at the fair" (as opposed to "ice cream flavour bringing back memories of undefined ice cream flavours that are individually popular but always tied to a memory of late evening at the fair ground and probably smelling vaguely like popcorn and sugar"?).
Please. We have to get back to understanding abstract descriptions that evoke feelings and memories and mental images or things we haven't experienced yet. This hyper utilitarian way of reading and judging text is killing fiction. it's robbing you of experiencing things you haven't actually personally experienced.
it’s a beautiful day to check out a book from the library
its a beautiful day to return a book to the library unread after it auto renews 3 times
The library says thank you for boosting our circulation stats and the book will still be here later if you want it another time <3
View of a Detroit Public Library card issued to Frida Kahlo. Printed, stamped and handwritten on front: "5-3961, Apr 23, 1932. Rivera, Mrs. Diego (Frieda). I hereby apply for the right to use the Public Library of Detroit, and promise to obey all its rules. Name: Frieda K de Rivera. Residence: The Wardell. Occupation (husband's): Artist." Printed and handwritten on back: "Identification: Letter. Reference or parent. Name: Dr. Valentiner. Residence: Art Institute. Occupation: Curator. Firm name: Institute of Arts."
Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library
This blog is a safe space for transgender people.
The owner of this blog believes all libraries should be safe, accessible places for all transgender people.
Hate how much A Little Treat has infested me. Any small discomfort and I'm immediately like oooo maybe exchanging money for goods and services will fix this situation.
Sometimes
SOMETIMES
Going to the library can activate A Little Treat pleasure centers
Coming home with music and books and some movies, and paying zero dollars for it all
It’s pretty awesome
You don't even have to leave the house if you use the resources the library can provide electronically (Libby, Hoopla, etc.).
Oh fuck yeah this is a library post now!!!!
official library post
Beyond the Golem & the Dybbuk lies a forgotten world of Jewish magic and folklore myths!
After many preparation we are launching a 50-page, fully illustrated zine exploring the hidden creatures, spirits, and myths of Eastern European Ashkenazi folklore. If you love dark, whimsical lore and handmade art, check it out!
You can grab a digital copy, a premium physical zine, or limited-edition art prints.
Please reblog and support the campaign here:
Beyond the Golem and the Dybukk lies a forgotten world of jewish magic. This 50 page, fully illustrated zine unearths the lesser-known creat
Guys, queers. Specifically my fellow queers.
I work at a library. We do this thing where, every so often, we weed the collection. It hurts to see books go, but it's necessary to make sure there's room in the library for new materials.
I have seen so much support for the library in text, and I've seen folks pass around those beautiful "queer your library" flyers. Keep doing that. That's great. Nothing wrong with that. But you HAVE to turn your words into action. We MUST remember to actually go to our local organizations and libraries and actually, with our own fucking hands, interact with these materials we want to see more of.
My branch is medium-sized for a library, maybe a little small. We don't have as many materials as I'd like, but we have fundamentals. Tell me why, even with all the verbal support I've gotten from my local community for the library as a resource for our LGBT+ community, every single trans biography and a good chunk of our vaguely queer theory books were on the list. This isn't a scheme to take the books off the shelves, it isn't another bigoted American governmental push. The only thing we look at when we weed is how long it's been since the last time the item was checked out.
Three years.
No one in my community interacted in any meaningful way with the few books on trans life and history we physically had on the shelves for three fucking years.
I promise you the materials you want and need are there, but this isn't a horde. This isn't a static safety net. You have to use them. You MUST use them or, in the future, maybe in three years, they *won't* be there anymore.
This isn't a vague post, there's no one person I'm hinting at or calling out. I'm not even talking directly to anyone who's directly in my line of sight. I just want everyone to hear this. Big library, small library, whatever. Doesn't matter. Please, we cannot be losing our shelf visibility like this.
I work in a different library and can confirm, it's a decision based on popularity not censorship
we're big enough to have lots of shelf space but still have the problem on a different scale. We do have a back storage room rather than completely getting rid of some things, but having to ask for that might be a barrier for sensitive subject matter and prevent people from casually stumbling across something of interest
Yep. Different library worker here, we weeded adult non-fiction recently bc it's most rarely used and we needed to clear a bookshelf of space, and there were a decent number of queer books on the list. Thankfully not all of them, but some (we had a lot lol). Our criteria is also no borrows in 3yrs. I can't borrow the whole list by myself. I do try to get these books in, and the local authority are happy to buy them, but we need space for new books every so often and we can't keep everything forever! If you want them, you have to use them!
(incidentally, the whole list was 35 pages long, which... please borrow the books you want people)
I didn't have time to comment the first time I reblogged, but I can add now:
I'm also a librarian and queer books are almost always cut first when we have to weed for space or prioritize new releases over old items because no one reads them
I will say, when I worked at a large downtown location, we had a "browsing card" that we would check out items we found taken off the shelf and left on a table, as an example of a book that had clearly been read, just not checked out by anyone
it's possible queer books do actually get a bit of unfair treatment in this regard because people may be nervous or outright scared to check them out onto an account with their name on it. so they get browsed at a much higher rate, but if a library doesn't have a specific system in place (or need for it) to count browsed items, then it looks like they aren't being used and they get weeded
for other librarians, a browsing card is a great idea if you have enough staff for the extra work / enough items left out to justify it
for patrons, check out queer books even if you don't read them! you're not lying or committing any type of fraud. you're keeping books on the shelf long enough for pride season when people are interested in checking them out again and for people scared to use their own accounts or who don't have library cards
for anyone nervous about using their library card, libraries do not keep search histories of what you check out!! this means even if the government does come back with a warrant, *wet farting noise* too bad! it doesn't exist!
so please check out queer books!
I have to wonder how often they aren't checked out because those in an exploratory period may not feel safe enough for them to go home with them, too. Kids, for example, or folks who have ended up in a het marriage that... Doesn't feel like it's quite right (or may be physically abusive).
This is most definitely one of the causes of this. That's why it's so important for folks who *can* to *do*.
It feels like such a small thing, but all movements are made up of small things! We have this mindset that in order to get everything done, everyone must be doing their (or *the*) absolute best at all times. But not everyone can do the same things, to the same degree, with the same amount of productivity or success. Not everyone can; sometimes, they're the ones that need help. Sometimes people just need help.
This post is very much so intended for the people who can. I've seen a lot of replies from folks who say they don't have to (or don't think about) checking out or requesting queer books from the library specifically because they *can* buy them, can pirate them, or already have them in their house or on their computers or phones. But in instances like that, keeping these books in circulation is less for you and more for the people who can't. The folks who come to the library, who don't have access to internet--or even electricity--at home and would never--have never--been able to interact with this "ubiquitous queer community" we have here online who has made so many of these. materials so avaliable to the rest of us.
And... if I can be a little frank. Sometimes the hyperaccessibility of these materials online (through pirating, cheap e-book copies, etc) gives people a false sense of security. It implies that these things are an infinate resource, good for "When I get around to it".
And often, you won't. There's so much to read and so much to do. So much to download and so much to sit down and stare at for hours. That kind of mental scope puts books in people's hands (or phones), but never in their heads.
But the moment your favorite document archival site gets knocked offline for breaching copyright or your go-to mega corporate audiobook distributor decides it doesn't want "those" materials anymore, what's left? What did you download? What information did you internalize? Did you ever get around to it? If you did, great, but what good does that do for the person who didn't? Are you going to be the one to redistribute that information? Are you going to communicate it in the place of the author whose words are no longer publically accesible or, mostly avaliable, but only behind hefty paywalls and financial gatekeeping? How would someone else get a hold of it? How could they, if they wanted?
This is excellent info.
What are some good books to check out for those who can?
Gosh... there's so many options. I wouldn't know where to start without knowing who I'm talking to and what they're looking for. What I can recommend is for folks to check out creators like @makingqueerhistory who have spent just a ridiculously beautiful amount of time collecting queer history and book lists! You'll find something in seconds reading their page.
Personal pitch: I liked the books Tar Hollow Trans and Gay Poems for Red States. Both great.
I'm glad I was tagged in this because it means I can cosign (and also add a little nugget of info).
I live in a province that is currently trying to ban queer books from libraries, and as a library patron, this is terrifying. 95% of the books I read are from the library and a lot of them are way out of my budget to buy personally.
Making Queer History would not exist without the school library I skipped class in to write articles. It would not exist without my friends with library cards for their universities sharing them and getting me access to rare texts. I would not be able to read as much as I do without Libby and Hoopla. If I have ever given you a book recommendation, know that I likely got it from the library first.
I cannot overstate the importance of protecting libraries and checking out queer books. And I want to say thank you to everyone above for being as passionate as I am about queer books in libraries.
Love y'all <3
@official-library-posts
official library post
making out with my local library rn what do you mean i have ELEVEN young fresh innocent happy juicy books awaiting me and blinking their little eyes at me as they nap under my bed waiting to be picked up and lovingly read? what do you MEAN disability library accommodations means i can have six weeks to read them? what do you MEAN i didn't pay a penny to order in yet another book i want to reread (disability library accommodations)? what do you MEAN i have twelve books in my room. for free.
I suggest using your local library!
Would you be willing to tell a little bit more about what blind spots authors of kids' books have in their work? (You mentioned it in your reply to the author asking how to get their book into their local library, which I found very kind and informative).
For me, I would say the most common blind spot I run into from would-be children's authors is if the book is written from a place of authority, correction/dogma towards children rather than joy, genuine help/compassion, or curiosity.
For me, the author whose works most exemplify this is Julia Cook. Not only are her book's illustrations ugly as hell, but they heavily focus on correcting bad behavior in kids, usually with an overarching theme of "You're having a hard time making friends because you're loud/annoying,/unable to take responsibility/any number of things that it's perfectly natural for a kid to be because they barely have a concept of self yet, let alone awareness of other peoples' experiences and needs." I feel these books ultimately operate from a place of shame towards their audience and it's baffling to me that so many parents are like "Yes! That's exactly the book my kid needs!" On top of all that I feel like Julia Cook's books are also overly-texty. I think the blind spot here is that a lot of would-be kid's authors think they've figured out an approach to correcting kids' behavior, but they actually haven't been able to separate their own frustrations from communicating more constructive ways for kids to build social and emotional skills, which is how you end up with a book from at first glance makes me (a librarian) ask, "Do you hate kids, or something?"
A better example of a book focusing on social skills and emotional regulation in kids would be the "Big Bright Feelings" series. These books actually center the kids' emotions and experiences and are really compassionate with regard to where these feelings come from. Also, in my opinion, the illustrations are cuter.
Like, Ravi's Roar is focused on anger and emotional regulation, but it takes time to build up all of Ravi's frustrations throughout the day and actually gives Ravi some credit with how much he's tamped down/swallowed up before his anger finally gets the better of him because guess what! Kids are dealing with a lot! So much is new to them! They don't have an emotional baseline for so many of their experiences! It takes time to tell kids that it's okay to be angry, to show the adults reading how to support kids and steer their anger in a constructive way, and the metaphor of Ravi turning into a tiger makes the story feel both more accessible and more broadly applicable.
Another blind spot which I think is tricky is adults like and agree with this book, therefore they think it is up to children's standards. You see this a lot with a lot of well-meaning independently published liberal books (about community gardens, voting, recycling, etc.), and to be fair, how much a kid relates to or values a book can vary wildly depending on the kid and their state of development, but like the above point about dogmatism in children's books, you can tell when an author is assuming a lot about their audience's priorities. And again, with a lot of independently published titles, you often get this combo of too much text and mediocre illustrations,
I love a community garden. I love indigenous ethnobotany. But if you're going to go this high-concept for a young audience, I mean this with all kindness, but you're going to want to get an illustrator with enough of a professional background to be able to tell when their illustration's background is a busy mess.
Sometimes the enthusiasm of the adult reading the book to a child can bridge the gap, but speaking as someone who's done her fair share of story times, kids can absolutely tell the difference between something they want to do, and something adults are trying to convince them they want to do. Again, this is definitely a more subjective blind spot, and some books can make up for text content that doesn't quite land with their intended audience by having illustrations that capture the imagination and bridge that gap--like, I loved the book Weslandia as a kid even though the concept of "This kid created his own staple crop-based civilization" kind of flew over my little head at the time because I was so enchanted by the illustrations and I think there was also the factor of Wesley, the main character, operating a lot on his own curiosity and drive. It's a book of solitude and curiosity and discovery and invention eventually blossoming into something you can share with others. As a kid so frequently distracted by my own imagination that I had trouble connecting with peers, that emotional honesty landed with me even though other parts of it were a little high-concept.
I think the takeaway there is, you don't always know how a kid might connect with a book, if they connect at all, but kids are way more emotionally perceptive than we give them credit for. They know the difference between when something is being shared and something is being taught, and if the ultimate goal of a book is connecting with a kid, you want to share more than you want to teach.
Okay just to add on to this because I feel like in terms of content, Weslandia doesn't quite hit the mark in terms of looking at the ways that "No Place for Plants" falls short (and also it's an older title) but anyway--if we're going to talk about a well-executed children's book that features a pretty context-dense concept like indigenous ethnobotany, we can look no further than the Caldecott Winner Berry Song.
Berry Song basically has the reader join a little girl and her grandmother on a foraging trip in the Pacific Northwest. The book expresses gratitude and responsibility towards the land through joy and wonder. It doesn't feel the need to whack kids over the head with "Pollution bad! Forest good!" Again, it's about sharing more than teaching, giving kids the space to make their own connections and judgments with the material. It makes you feel safe while simultaneously making you feel like you're a part of something much bigger-- I think that's also another mistake a lot of would-be children's authors make: trying to jam too much into their book's overall thesis. Kids are capable of grasping nuance, but if a book starts jamming in too many "Yes but's" and "yes, however's" and "Yes, but on the condition of--'s" it muddies up the impact and fucks up the book's overall execution fast. Walk your book's thesis back to its original "yes" and you'd be surprised at how much content you get out of that core concept alone.
The illustrations are huge. I was just at a service planning workshop where Indigenous libraries and community members looking to start libraries were being asked what their dreams were - what would be different if libraries were suddenly perfect? A lot of the room worked in education in some capacity, and they all talked about how difficult it was to get kids interested in reading when the only relatable books all immediately advertise via Indie Book Illustration that they are mid. One teacher expressed it as, if everything were perfect, she could buy Indigenous books that felt mainstream. And I think this goes for anything you want to write a book about to express to kids. Even apart from helping connect with the content, having a professional illustrator and presentation can make kids feel more connected to society at large, because it makes them feel like that subject that's relevant to them isn't just a single person's passion project.
Like. Look. Listen. I have taught introductory quantum physics at a university level, and I need you all to incorporate this into your trans advocacy: There are situations where you need to make a decision to prioritize being comprehensible to your target audience above being The Most Unassailably Correct.
You can try to teach a toddler about germ theory or you can get them to wash their hands because "yucky"
Teaching a toddler to wash hands because yucky when the Ethics Understander crashes through the roof. "STOP RIGHT THERE," the Ethics Understander shouts at me. "The disgust response is not a legitimate substitute for a considered value judgment, and in fact, weaponizing disgust instead of grounding those judgments in a more rigorous framework is fundamental to reactionary rhetoric!"
The toddler looks at me. "You are a fascist, auntie. I have seen the light and will now go eat chewing gum from the pavement, unless you can educate me on a rigorous framework on the microbiology of pavement chewing gum this very instant."
But I’m not a toddler, and I would never want someone to tell me the “for toddlers” version of their beliefs. If I found out they weren’t telling me their actual beliefs, I’d get mad and stop trusting them. So I don’t want to treat other adults like they’re toddlers.
This is something I had to struggle with a lot in my job. I know at least a few of my colleagues have had similar journeys, so I'm going to put mine here as an example.
I spend a lot of time explaining things like technology and legislation as someone with a Master's degree speaking to farmwives. One of my personal sparks-to-tinder rage triggers is being condescended to, and so I at first spent a lot of energy not adapting my communication much at all because I feared making everyone hate me.
Finally, a coworker I really looked up to, an absolutely brilliant high-powered former kindergarten teacher, took me aside and told me, as one teacher to another, that I needed to slow down. It helped a lot that she'd vented to me before about resenting becoming the "little old lady" everyone talked down to as soon as she walked into a phone store; she wouldn't be telling me this if I were in danger of condescending. It felt a little like permission. She was insanely good at her job.
Over the next 5 years, I gradually figured out that I could turn what felt like condescension into a much more natural-feeling curiosity towards other people's mental models and skill sets. In fearing condescension, I'd taken things too far in the other direction and started assuming everyone had my background knowledge... But both of those problems have the same root cause, which is skipping the step of taking the time to figure out where someone is at before you launch into explanation.
I developed scripts for it, as I got better, and it's certainly easier to develop those scripts as a response to someone asking you for an explanation, rather than trying to change someone's beliefs on the fly. But leading with genuine and genuinely curious questions, I find, rarely leads me astray. What does this person already know? What's the story they tell about it, if asked to explain it themself? What do they find practical and applicable about this information - what parts of this subject do they think they'll use?
I'm going to be working on these skills my whole life; to teach well, you have to decenter yourself, and for me that kind of progress comes in fits and starts. But this is what's worked for me to get a start on it!
Google AI Overview court loss in Germany could spell doom for AI search industry.
"Google AI Overview court loss in Germany could spell doom for AI search industry."
It fucking better.
Like to charge, reblog to cast?
Would you have any contemporary wlw romance book recommendations with MCs dealing with compulsory heterosexuality?
yes! here are two adult fiction titles:
Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail by Ashley Herring Blake (second book in Bright Falls triology; can be read as standalone but context from the first book helps)
Here for the Wrong Reasons by Annabel Paulsen
and four ya fiction titles:
Cool for the Summer by Dahlia Adler (got it in e-, audio-, & spanish!)
Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli
The No-Girlfriend Rule by Christen Randall
Forget Me Not by Alyson Derrick (not currently in collection)
thanks for writing in!
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