Balladsandbookends

Was at FSU near the shooting, I don’t have any worlds for how devastated I feel

Mock pink magazine cover called Rome Weekly Text on front says Quiz: Which Roman Emperor Are You Married to her uncle? With arrow pointing towards image of a statue that looks like a woman Got Seneca exiled? Secret Affairs? Exclusive Messalina Tell All XOXO Juvenal

Working on a presentation for class about Messalina and the importance of evaluating sources of information. Needed some fun so I made a fake gossip magazine cover for my slides based off of the J-14 magazines of yore

#homework

Most Americans want to read more books. We just don't. When we worry about the declining rates of literacy and a lack of reading skills, it's often about children. But how often are adults reading these days? And what are we reading? A new NPR/Ipsos poll ...

When we worry about the declining rates of literacy and a lack of reading skills, it's often about children. But how often are adults reading these days? And what are we reading? A new NPR/Ipsos poll finds out.

Wait, so now Americans will suffer “temporary hardship” to “make America great,” but they wouldn’t support temporarily wearing a mask to help reduce the spread of COVID because it “violated our freedom” ? The contradictions just keep piling up.

Yesterday me and my partner spent 30 mins or so laughing about heelys and how heelys were used in the Little Mermaid Musical.

No shade to the musical- I haven’t seen it- just enjoying the fact heelys made it from school hallways to the big stage.

What’s horrifying to sit with is that this strategy of telling a big enough lie long enough and repeating it enough until people believe it was a cornerstone for Nazi propaganda, literally. It’s meant to disorient and confuse so people are thrown into survival mode versus allowing critical thinking.

I’ve always joked that a man can never out smart me, but they can out dumb me.

They say something so ludicrous and unbelievable that my rational brain reasons with it until it makes sense. And then they actually do the unbelievable thing.

Turns out it’s the president’s modus operandi.

Until last year, I never thought I would excitedly browse the non-fiction section.

Now I get giddy when I see non-fiction sections have sub sections for more precise subject heading categorization.

Do some of them leave me with existential dread? Sure, but I also learn so much!!

#booksky

Live: Speaking on Trump, Musk, and America’s Moral Moment on the Senate Floor | Senator Cory Booker YouTube video by Senator Cory Booker

I’ve taken the Senate floor and will speak for as long as I’m physically able to lift the voices of Americans who are being harmed and not being heard in this moment of crisis. Watch here:

When researchers cannot engage in legitimate scientific discourse out of fear that the government will strip away their livelihoods, we no longer live in a society that values freedom, truth, or progress.

If empathy is a sin then I’ll see you in hell 😘

Finished Careless People, and while it did leave me with a sense of dread over the reckless ignorance & arrogance of so many, I am glad it was published.

I hate that a lawsuit is being weaponized against the author,but I am so glad it’s causing so many people to want to read this.

#booksky

Early voting is taking place for the special elections in Florida for seats in the U.S. House in the 1st and 6th Congressional Districts.

Election Day is on Tuesday, April 1st.

Get out and vote for Democratic candidates Gay Valimont and Josh Weil!

I’m almost done with Careless People, and I cannot tell you what is more disturbing: hearing the methods the Trump team used to manipulate political advertising on FB during the 2016 campaign or Zuck’s reaction to the shady tactics.

“Careless” is right, also reckless, and insecure .

#booksky

What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo A searing memoir of reckoning and healing by acclaimed journalist Stephanie Foo, investigating th...

Reading “What My Bones Know” by Stephanie Foo, and have cried many times.

I was diagnosed with CPTSD in 2020, and since then have felt like I’m at war with myself to just be happy. This book is honest, vulnerable, and powerful. I am so glad this was written.

app.thestorygraph.com/books/c7f722...

Who amongst us has not been an issue for national security in the group chat

This Cincinnati Library book was returned nearly a century after its due date "Wild West" by Bertrand W. Sinclair was checked out in 1926.

Librarians in Cincinnati got a shock recently when an overdue book was returned 98 years late. "Wild West" by Bertrand W. Sinclair was due back on Nov. 23, 1926.

(via @917wvxu.bsky.social)

Trump golf trips since his inauguration have likely cost more than $18M The estimate came from a HuffPost analysis.

Snopes math on Golfing Trips: www.snopes.com/news/2025/03...

LS-256813-OLS-24 Florida’s Division of Library and Information Services will use funds to support the goals of their Five-Year Plan for FY 2023-2027, which reflect the purposes and priorities of the Library Services a...

IMLS Funding Source: www.imls.gov/grants/award...

In 2024 the IMLS provided $11,427,660 to Florida, 9 million of which was towards the five year plan to 1) Champion Lifelong Learning, 2)Advance collections access, & 3)Strengthen communities.

Trump’s golfing trips in 2025 alone have likely cost over 18 million.

Waste, abuse, and fraud indeed.

Yup, that’s why I grabbed it too! Funny how they turned off fact-checking on FB to prioritize ‘free expression’ but suddenly seemed very concerned about fact-checking this book. Maybe the company should try adding a community note instead of a lawsuit 🤨

Reading Careless People feels like finding out there was always a FB Death Star overhead, but it wasn’t part of some elaborate evil galactic takeover.

It arose from the whims of a rich, arrogant, insulated group who are just as likely to blow up the Death Star as the planets below.

#booksky

“…stop *me…!!” One day my cursed thumbs will match the the words in my brain. They are opposable only in the sense they oppose doing what I ask

A kobo ereader is being held up with the screen saver displayed. The screen saver shows a colorful silhouette drawing of Evie shelving a book on a ladder, from the 1999 Mummy movie. Above that image it says “Emily’s Kobo”, below it says “No harm ever came from reading a book!! In the background is a pattern emulating hieroglyphs

I am so stressed about work and school, but that does not stop be from procrastinating by making my very own…

Custom kobo screen saver! 🤓

#booksky #kobo

Now all I can imagine is the Burlesque movie but in Silent Hill

“In my restless dreams, I see that Burlesque”

As someone who loves libraries & academia, we have got to do better about practicing what we preach.

We should be loud about protesting book bans in school libraries , supporting public libraries, & addressing systemic power imbalances in our workplaces, or we’re complicit.

#librarysky

Was reading an article about the toxic work dynamics at academic libraries, specifically the division between staff and faculty, and the entire article was like “Communicate more!” 😒

Nothing against the paper, just frustrated that we needed an article to address this problem

#libraryschool

Democrats raise millions for Florida special elections in Trump territory Democrats Gay Valimont and Josh Weil raised a combined $15.7 million ahead of their April 1 special elections, but they still face uphill climbs in the ruby-red districts.

Two special elections for congressional seats in Florida could change the balance in the House.
Dems have raised a ton of $, but Repubs are still favored to win. Dems need to get EVERY REGISTERED DEM VOTER to the poll & every Republican voter concerned abt social Sec.
www.nbcnews.com/politics/ele...

Was rewatching Wicked last night (yes I cry during the ball room scene) and was just like “Damn, wonder what it would be like to have an authoritarian power actively erase history and oppress groups to scapegoat their own incompetence” and then I remembered I’m living in America 🙃

I’m so excited to start, but also so afraid of all the emotions I know are gonna come with it 😅