If your library doesn't have the diverse books you want and you're comfortable talking with (usually very friendly and helpful) people, you can also talk with someone on staff. In addition to the purchase recommendation form, they may have an agreement with other libraries to borrow the books from them for you. This helps two libraries! Your local library learns that more people want diverse books, so they are more likely to buy them in the future. The other library gets check-outs, so they know people are reading their diverse books.
If you don't have time to read, look for diverse audiobooks, CDs, and DVDs! If it's hard for you to get to the library, look at their website or call/email them. They may have pickup lockers in different areas of town or even a delivery service. They probably have eBooks, eAudiobooks, and/or streaming music and movies that you can check out from home.
Friendly reminder that if you talk about how representation is important and how there's not enough diverse media, I implore you to seek out the media that already exists. And if you live in an area with a public library, go to see if they're available at your public library. And then go check them out.
As a librarian, it is demoralizing to see how low the circulation statistics are on lgbt+ books and books by BIPOC authors. I include them in displays and readers advisory, but people still don't check them out as much. Libraries only have a finite amount of resources, including space. We don't get a book then keep it forever. If not enough people check it out, we have to get rid of it to make room for more books. And when James Patterson Book #69 gets checked out 30 times in one year and cool, subversive Sci fi novel with a Black trans woman main character has never been checked out once, the librarian (me) has to make a hard decision.
If you're looking for something tangible and easy to do this pride month, look for lgbt+ books (there are millions of lists online that you can find. It's easier than it's ever been to find diverse books) and check them out from your library.
No time to read? Look for a short story or poetry anthology and just read as much as you have time for. Or just check out a book cus it looks interesting and read as much as you can. We have movies too.
As cool as it would be for me to just keep the books I want and get rid of the ones I don't, I have to listen to the community on matters of collection development. And the community tells me what books they want by checking them out and leaving the ones they don't want on the shelf.
If you think this doesn't apply to you because you live in a progressive area and obviously the books are being checked out, you're wrong. I once worked in a community with a large lgbt population. Those books were not getting checked out. If you want to tell me you live in a conservative area and your library doesn't have any diverse books, you are legally obligated to check the catalog before replying to this post. I currently work in a conservative community and we have lgbt+ and bipoc books. And if you still cannot find any, you are legally obligated to see if your library has a collection request form that patrons can fill out before replying to this post.
Know your rights! Also, check your workplace's policy on sharing information about staff, customers, clients, etc.
ICE agents are complaining that the push to make sure people know their rights is making their jobs harder. Keep it up!
Eli Bosnick absolutely has the best response. That image “says it all” only if you don’t think human lives are worth more than candy.
lmao😂/smh🙄
Wow! This has expanded considerably since I saw it last.
“A house I pass on the way to work has this sculpture in its yard. Its about 8 feet tall.”
(Source)
Pride dice! They’re so pretty!!
I made some tiny pixel polyhedral die pride banners like the queer tabletop dork I am. please like or reblog if using :-) Part two here with even more pride!
bi pride
ace pride
gay pride
genderqueer pride
trans pride
pan pride
Have yourself a pretty decent little Christmas, a not-so-bad Hanukkah, a mediocre Hogswatch, and/or a reasonably happy Whatever You’re Having. Enjoy it in your own way, whether that’s glittery or gloomy. You certainly don’t need my permission, but if you want someone to say, “Yes, it’s ok if this year isn’t the best, the brightest, the most amazing ever,” I’m here for you. (And if it is the best and brightest and most amazing, that’s ok, too.)
I was looking at making a family christmas card for the first time in our eight years of being a family, and i feel. just. kinda bummed out. all these cards on shutterfly are foil-stamped and covered in glitter and say things like “merriest christmas,” “happiest holidays,” “best year ever,” “awesomest year ever.” and maybe for some people it was. but this wasn’t our glitteriest happiest merriest awesomest year. and i know it wasn’t the happiest merriest awesomest year for a lot of other people too.
for me one of the crappiest parts of commercialized christmas culture is all this pressure to make it pretty. to be the -est: the best, the merriest, the happiest. like if you go get professional photos taken at a christmas tree farm with wavy hair and coordinating outfits and put those photos on a embossed glittery card then somehow it erases the fact that your wife lost her job or your new baby spent three months in the nicu.
why isn’t it ok to just have a mediocre christmas? why isn’t it ok to have a christmas card that just says plain old “happy holidays” with a mediocre pixelated cell phone pic of your family where the toddler isn’t wearing pants and you have your glasses on and no one matches? why isn’t it ok to say this ISN’T going to be the merriest christmas? that no one is getting the shinest newest cell phone or toy because dad is in the hospital and we can’t afford it? that some families are tired and stressed to even put up a tree or hang up lights?
when you can’t do Big Best Christmas the way all those perfect families on instagram do christmas, the way all those families in commercials and sitcoms do christmas, it starts to make you feel. like. left out. like your little bit of christmas isn’t enough. like your twenty-dollar plastic tree with tinsel and two ornaments isn’t enough. like your .99 cent felt stockings with names glitter-glued on isn’t enough.
the world chants joy!! merry!! bright!! stocking stuffers!!! and you just feel alienated because the world is bellowing CHRISTMAS!! at you through a megaphone but all you want is just to whisper it quietly this year. not every year is going to be your best christmas ever. christmases aren’t an escalating crescendo of personal happiness and fulfillment. some years will be harder than others. i just want it to be a normal, good, happy thing to just have a little christmas.
This is beautiful! It reminds me a bit of @the-other-sandy‘s neighborhood when we were teenagers.
“A house I pass on the way to work has this sculpture in its yard. Its about 8 feet tall.”
(Source)
Also, Vote Your Whole Ballot in every election! The president has a huge impact on the country, but so does Congress. Your senators and representatives can support or block a president and influence the long-term effects of the president's actions. And as @neolithicsheep shows, your governor and state legislature can make a big difference on your life.
Your city's mayor, council, and other administrators have a narrower impact, but it can literally hit you where you live. Even school and library boards affect what children in your community are taught and whether books are banned. They are either elected or appointed by the mayor and/or city council.
Learn the dog whistles that hide people's agendas. Look at who is sharing advertising space. Check out the groups that support different candidates. And vote like your life depends on it, because it does for many of us.
"Don't vote to teach the Democrats a lesson!" Great thanks my Jewish disabled queer ass will just die then
The one and only time I used a voting machine (I don’t remember what brand), it didn’t actually display the votes it registered so that I could confirm them. I think the instructions said that you should be able to see your vote, but that area was blank. Ever since then, I’ve stuck with the paper forms -- at least that way I know that there was a physical record of my vote at some point, and I can confirm that the right spots are marked before I submit the ballot.
Hey there US friends! If you’re voting using these machines (Hart eSlate) or similar ones right now or in the near future, make sure that the machine has NOT changed your ballot before casting it, ‘k? It’s apparently an already known problem, and has been for years, but has never been fixed.
Additional Source: https://abc13.com/politics/straight-party-voters-reporting-their-votes-were-changed/4556377/
You gave me a gold coin that comes with a bonus dragon, and you think I’m going to spend it? Are you insane?! I’m going home to see how well it gets along with the cats.
The world’s tiniest dragon must defend his hoard, a single gold coin, from those who would steal it.
Random stuff I have collected. All opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of my employer. (Icon by Freepik: www.freepik.com)
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