I know this will bother unhealed adults, but the real world, more often than not, does give you second chances and do overs. Very rarely are things set in stone. And people, especially young people, deserve to know that. Because lording the idea that they can never mess up, even once, does a lot more damage than good.
How I find new shows to watch:
- Recommendations from friends ❌
- Adverts ❌
- Netflix recommendations ❌
- Tumblr gifsets ✅
exploring museums, old bookshops and libraries together type of love
This took place in Monterey Park, CA and it feels like a hate crime. Please be safe out there while celebrating the Lunar New Year.
I would like to wish everyone an uneventful new year
May we live in very uninteresting times
may you experience very precedented events
flowerais-deactivated20211031
this year will be wonderful. you will meet new people who will feel like sunlight. someone out there will be lucky enough to meet you. you will see breathtaking views. you will learn so much knowledge from your studies and gain so much wisdom. there will be bad days but you will heal and start again in the morning. you will discover what makes you happy. you will fill up journals with scribbles and messy drawings. you will feel low and make mistakes but they will help you become a stronger person. you will pick up new things that give your life meaning and you will pour your heart into it. you will find songs that speak to you more than anything else in the world. you will grow. this year is waiting for you and it’s beautiful.
la-laborista-republiko
what if public libraries were open late every night so that:
- children and teens who cant get home until a later time have a safe, warm, well lit, populated area to socialize, charge devices, rest, etc
- children and teens have a safe place to go to stay away from danger
- people who have jobs that take up most of the day would still have time ANY DAY OF THE WEEK to go use the libraries facilities (printing, computers, etc)
This is exactly what public libraries are trying to achieve - public libraries as a third place is a whole thing - it’s just that the funding isn’t there (yet).
Libraries need and deserve so much funding
I’m going to apologize if this post comes off as sounding very aggressive, but having just been through one of the most stressful experiences of my entire career in libraries:
if you want this, you need to be at your local community government meetings. you need to be talking to your representatives. you need to be out there Lobbying.
Just a few weeks ago, my library, me, my coworkers, we had to write letters, send emails, make phone calls, speak at council meetings, just to beg our aldermen to give us our usual funding. Which they didn’t even give to us last year. Losing last year’s funding forced us to cut staff, hours, and all of our databases. If we’d lost this year’s funding? two positions would have been gone and we would have likely had to close on Saturdays. On Saturdays. The day of the week most of y’all working M-F jobs actually have time to go to the fucking library.
And do you want to know how much money we were asking? We were asking for an increase of approximately 13 cents a person.
13.
Fucking.
Cents.
ACROSS AN ENTIRE YEAR.
No one seems to understand how libraries are funded. It’s not just Free Stuff. It’s your tax dollars being paid back into your community. It’s crowdfunding. The highest cost anyone in my community pays for the library a year is approximately $250. Divide that up. That’s just $4 a week. That’s less than a coffee. It’s the equivalent of purchasing about 10 hardcover books a year. For that price, you could have access to every book that has ever been written, a place to go that’s not a bar, programs for kids, teens, and adults, educated staff that can help you find the answers to your questions, and so much more.
You want these late-night libraries? You want all this stuff? Start fighting for it. Start showing up. Start making phone calls. It’s not going to come out of thin air. Start fighting to erase the idea that taxes = evil. Start fighting to spread the understanding that taxes are what help us build a better society.
Make sure the people who represent you know that you want this. That this is where you want your tax dollars to go. That this is what you want them to support. That you are willing to see your tax bill go up a few more dollars for this.
Because otherwise? None of this is going to happen. Libraries are going to keep cutting their opening hours. Keep cutting staff. Keep cutting programs and databases and collections.
We NEED your support, and we need more than just a post on Tumblr. We need to see people show up and speak out.
Ever wondered how libraries are funded? Here’s a very informative post, along with a plea for our help.
In Colorado this year, people voted to lower their income tax. It was about a .05% difference in what they pay for taxes which for most people is less than $75 per year. But for the uber wealthy, that was a HUGE break, and it meant that those funds will be directed away from programs like libraries first.
I wish people didn’t think silence was awkward, just enjoy it. Not every space has to be filled with words.
when i was a child my dad made up a fake holiday called big sandwich night the weekend after thanksgiving, during which we got the longest bread we could find and built a big sandwich together and then cut it up and ate it. we got really fancy ingredients and each built our own section of sandwich before cutting it. building the sandwich together represents community or teamwork or something. and then we would put our christmas tree up and the holiday season was officially kicked off with big sandwich night.
i grew up believing this was a real holiday that americans everywhere celebrated until when i was like 8 i asked a friend if they were excited for big sandwich night and they were like what the hell are you talking about riley. kind of shattered my worldview. but we still celebrate it and ive spread the tradition to friends and partners.
big sandwiches of years past:
as weve included more people weve started having to graft loaves together to make a sandwich big enough for everyone. but it still communicates the core idea of everyone eating the same sandwich together in fellowship.
