18F - Wikipedia

This weekend, the U.S. government eliminated 18F, an internal agency that existed to improve the user experience of federal websites. If you used a federal site and had a good experience, you have 18F to thank. The current administration does not care about empathy. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/18F

Stuff I’ve Googled while writing #historical #kidlit:
Did public libraries exist before 1894? What games did children play in the 1890s? What happened on the last day of the Columbian Exhibition? Chicago public transit routes in the 1890s? Halloween celebrations at Settlement Houses?

Photo is from the Chicago Historical Society archives.

Conditions in a Chicago tenement, circa 1893. The settlement house movement was the birthplace of social work. Residents lived together in a settlement house, exchanging culture and trying to improve conditions for their neighbors. #kidlit #settlementhouse #chicagocommons #hullhouse

This photo is from a personal scrapbook, which is located at the Chicago Historical Society.

Leah is second from the right, face partly hidden. Her sister Katharine is sitting to her left. I am inspired by Leah’s lifelong devotion to social work, which started here on Union Street in Chicago.

Leah Taylor and friends at Chicago commons circa 1894. For anyone who doesn’t know, I’m writing a historical novel loosely based on Leah’s experiences growing up as a settlement house resident. #kidlit #historicalfiction #chicagocommons

People like me, and like the kid I was, have a right to an education, a career, and a happy life (within reason). So think of me when you dismiss the Trump administration’s threats to close the Department of Education. #nvld #iep #disabilityrights

Special ed programs and later college disability services supported me with things like extra time, testing accommodations and tutoring. I got a master’s degree. Today, I rely on workplace accommodations mainly so that, as a neurodivergent person, I won’t burn out.

I was a kid with a learning disability, and I am now an adult with a learning disability. When I was 8, a social worker told my parents to “just buy me a calculator” because it was a waste of time teaching me anything. Cont.

Legendary folk singer Pete Seeger sings in 1964 #folk #peteseeger #civilrights #civilrightsmovement #socialism #music TikTok video by provocative_hub

www.tiktok.com/t/ZT2Bq4k2h/ listening to the folk music of my childhood today, after seeing A Complete Unknown last night. Pete Seeger, if you could see us now…

These photos are from the Leah’s personal scrapbooks in theChicago Historical society archives. The first, children in the neighborhood. Second, the Chicago Commons Settlement House. Third, Leah and friends fourth, more neighborhood kids.

When I haven’t been doing content design, I’ve been researching/writing a middle-grade historical novel about Leah Taylor, who moved to Chicago with her family in the 1890s to open a settlement house. I hope I can start to use this space to share insights and updates about this story.

Sometimes I just want to return to the optimism and silliness we felt in 2012. Obama in office, winning the marriage amendment battle in MN, Carly Rae Jepson, binders full of women, legal gay marriage on the horizon. I know we can’t go back, but man, I wish we could.

My great great grandmother lived a difficult life, full of family dysfunction and poverty, finally becoming naturalized years after my grandfather was born in 1918. Like many other people, they escaped terrible violence and trauma. My family is no different than any other American immigrant family.

When they arrived, he had literally nothing. They were jailed onboard the ship while they underwent a trial to determine whether they could stay in the U.S. Ultimately, he went back alone and left the children in Pittsburgh. He came back a few months later under an assumed name.

My grandparents were anchor babies. My 2x ggfather left Odessa with his wife and children after the 1905 pogrom of 1905. They went to Vienna for a short time, where the two youngest children got sick. They were unable to travel, so Samuel left with four other children, including my gg Sophie. Cont.

I’m going back to Highlights Summer Camp for writers and illustrators. July can’t come soon enough. www.highlightsfoundation.org/summer-camps/