MommySJ (she/her)

Good morning! AI is being force-fed to you by a handful of billionaires who will lose a bunch of money if they fail to convince you that you need it. You do not need it 🫶

If you are in line to be ruined by us, stay in line. We will get to you.

I’m fine with my tax dollars being used to feed hungry people.

The future being pushed by both AI boosters and educational censors is one where access to information is tightly controlled. Children will not be allowed to read certain books or learn certain narratives. “Research” will be performed only through one of a select few artificial intelligence tools owned by AI giants which are uniformly aligned behind the Trump administration and which have gone to the ends of the earth to prevent their black box machines from spitting out “woke” answers lest they catch the ire of the administration. School boards and library boards, forced to comply with increasingly restrictive laws, funding cuts, and the threat of being defunded entirely, leap at the chance to be considered forward looking by embracing AI tools, or apply for grants from government groups like the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which is increasingly giving out grants specifically to AI projects.

Once you start thinking of AI as a war on humanity, on human thought, on human inquiry, on human labor, on nuance and critical thinking, it slots in pretty seamlessly with the right wing ideological project, oligarchical political projects, big tech's political projects, etc

Dear U.S. Senators on both sides of the aisle, pull your sh*t together and GO BACK TO WORK. Do your bloody jobs, either that, or forgo your pay, because not a single one of you should get paid to sit on your thumb and do nothing.

#ShutDown #GetToWork

That's good info to have. I was just taking it with all my other meds. I'll give it a go with dinner instead and see if that helps.

Oh yeah! I use it every morning. And I'm on the vitamin D train as well.

Why is it Dark 5:30? Why? My SAD is sucking the life out of me. I just want to go to bed.

Libraries are so wild, man. Rooms filled with thousands of books, and you can read any one of them. For free! One of humanity’s greatest inventions.

text reading "Buy a set of 5 zine-related postcards for $15 to support BIPOC zine librarians!" surrounded by five very cute and brightly colored postcards. They show a cat sitting on a stack of zines with text reading "Welcome to the zine zone"; two birds exchanging zines and text reading "zines are for everyone"; a meander-fold zines with instructions and drawings of various zoo animals; a person reading in a room with a cat, dog, and many zines; and cute possum making zines.

If you're a zine fan who likes to send snail mail, we've got a treat for you—5 zine-themed postcards! We're raising funds for the BIPOC Travel Fund for future Zine Librarians unConferences @zineluc and you can help by ordering a set of 5 zines for just $15 (shipping within the U.S. included).

It’s okay to be glad that restaurants are doing stuff like this AND absolutely furious about the utter failure of the United States government.

A vertically oriented graphic shows a photo of a smiling woman in glasses and a blue RBS apron with her hands lifted high as she claps in celebration. A blue bar extending horizontally below her reads, in white text, “The M. C. Lang Fellowship in Book History, Bibliography & Humanities Teaching with Historical Sources.” This is flanked by white text against black reading: “Apply Now! Learn more about this and other RBS funding opportunities at rarebookschool.org.” The right third of the graphic has black and red text against a white background, reading, “A two-year program for faculty, librarians & curators at U.S. liberal arts colleges & small universities. Equips instructors with bibliographically informed teaching methods using original historical sources. Includes two Rare Book School courses, an annual stipend for travel & housing & matching funds for book-historical projects at fellows’ home institutions. Application Deadline: 7 December 2025.”

Do you work at a small U.S. liberal arts college or at a university with 5,000 or fewer undergrads? If so, check out Rare Book School’s 𝗠. 𝗖. 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆, 𝗕𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀!

Application deadline: 𝟳 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱

rarebookschool.org

simple snowflake graphic with text reading "Applications for the 2026 Twin Cities Zine Fest now open! Apply at tczinefest.org by November 15th."

Applications for the 2026 Twin Cities Zine Fest are now open! If you'd like to join us as a tabler on Saturday February 7th at the Minneapolis Central Library @hclib.bsky.social, submit your application by Saturday November 15th. Find the application form at tczinefest.org. #zines

Three carved pumpkins sitting on the three steps up to a white front door. One jack'o'lantern is carved with a cat's paw print, one is carved with the symbol for pi, and the third has a smiling cyclops face.

And then there were jack-o'-lanterns. It's been A Day, so I am trying to stay positive and remember that my favorite holiday only comes once a year.

#HappyHalloween #Samhain

A cartoon showing a man between a white construction worker and a black man. He points to the black man and says "Careful mate ... that foreigner wants your cookie" The man in the middle has a plate full of cookies; the construction worker has one cookie; the black man has no cookies.

I'm pro-union because I think workers should organize to balance the power that business owners have in various negotiations. It's true that unions have been weakened, but it's not because of multiculturalism. I would argue, it's because people seek to exploit divisions for their material interests.

Move over for AI - DRB Katja Bruisch writes: I recently completed a scholarly monograph – an environmental, economic and energy history of peat in imperial and Soviet Russia. After years of thinking and writing, I approache...

We need a critique of AI in academic publishing. Following my decision not to sign an AI addendum to my contract with Cambridge University Press, I wrote this short essay which is now out in the Dublin Review of Books.
👇
drb.ie/move-over-fo...

Please say something nice to someone today

Day 2 in a row of going to work!
Today I have all the meetings and will also get to do more systems stuff. I might even get down to the archives for a bit!

#LibraryLife #Love 📚

Troubleshooting all the library tech problems today. So far, so good.

#HappyPlace #LibraryLife

I GET TO GO TO WORK TODAY!

HUZZAH!

#LibraryLife

I want to go to work.

I do not want to spend another day at home with 9.

I understand that I am privileged to be able to stay home when they're sick. I love my child endlessly. I just want to go and see adults who don't live in my house.

If this continues tomorrow it's gonna be spouse's turn.

9 is home today, again. This head cold is doing them in but they REFUSE to take cold medicine. I am getting to my wits' end being cooped up in this house as the primary caretaker. I miss my office and my work people.

#internalScreaming #MomLife

Today is the day I realized how strong I am. I am apparently the ONLY one in our home who has the physical strength and wherewithal to put dirty dishes in the dishwasher.

Who knew?

#PassiveAggressivePost #MomLife #ConstantlyCleaning

Just a thought: How about we stop shaming the poor for buying things that may not be essential, and start shaming the rich for making a profit off things that are essential?

I want more people to care that SNAP benefits are being cut off on November 1. 40% of SNAP beneficiaries are children. This is callous and vile.

Aldi, Mike's Discount Foods, CostCo for the things we use A LOT of or that are shelf stable for a while, and then Cub.
Those are my go-tos in the northern 'burbs.

Many people are outraged that Trump is demolishing part of the White House. But of course Trump can't do it without help. It's ACECO LLC of Silver Spring MD ("full-service demolition") that is tearing down the People's House. You can call them and let them know how you feel. 1/

Pillows and blankets in the foreground with a fire burning merrily in a wood stove/fireplace in the background. image credit: MommySJ

Yesterday I woke up and enjoyed a fire by my bedside. I finished my book, I had coffee, talked with friends, and enjoyed the brisk fall day.

Today I woke up in my own bed as my alarm went off. I'm back to work and already dreaming of when I can get away for another weekend of nature and quiet.

I would adventure to your church to worship. Might not be able to come regularly as I live elsewhere in the country, but I would visit.

Question. If you set up an altar to cats and hold regular "worship services" (wherein people come to pet the cats and play with them), can you continue to claim religious exemption from property taxes?