This revelation, along with photos of this and the actual cherry blossom trees near me, will be shared in this week’s letters to people in prison.

Tree whose thin branches are covered in tiny purple blossoms

Late night #bloomscrolling has informed me that, contrary to what I believed for years, this is an eastern redbud, not a cherry blossom

Saturday the 25th through Saturday May 2nd, all books bought for us from our wishlist or partner bookstores will be matched in a cash donation. This is one of the best times of the year to buy books for us!
Check out our wishlist here; bookshop.org/wishlists/60...

Screenshot from Mastodon, white text on black background: Erik Uden @ErikUden@mastodon.de Once libraries are nonexistent any modern fascist movement wouldn't even have to burn books, but flick one switch and they'd be remotely deleted from your Amazon Kindle or similar digital "library". Capitalists are already building the infrastructure to do this through DRM, so stop believing tech is apolitical - the defunding of libraries and paywalling of information are all part of this.

A reminder during #NationalLibraryWeek, libraries are our best and last defense against the fascist monopoly on knowledge and information

“ Not every sibling is a sibling,” [Romero] said. “Just because someone shares an identity doesn't mean that they will go to bat for that community and their priorities and their needs.”

👀 Boy, if that ain't the truth. 💯

Next time, run a gay candidate who's a solid ally to folks of modest means. 💁🏼

Infographic with text: Since 2017, funding for immigration policing & detention has increased by 171% while funding for libraries has increased only by 22%. Not adjusted for inflation.

Happy National Library Week.

In less than 10 years, U.S. spending on immigration policing & detention increased by 171% while funding for libraries didn't even keep up with inflation.

Some priorities. 🤔

Mamdani pick for Council seat draws the ire of LGBTQ+ leaders The mayor is backing Lindsey Boylan in a district represented for decades by gay lawmakers.

This is a lazy story, trying to stoke a fight between Mamdani & LGBT NYers.

@lindseyboylan.bsky.social will be a GREAT legislator for LGBTQ NYers.

Former speakers Corey Johnson & Christine Quinn were tools of the ruling class & not v good for most LGBTQ NYers.

gothamist.com/news/mamdani...

true crime brain has fucked people up so bad and they get really mad when you point that out. and also that the entire true crime industry is predatory and exploitative

Very colorful painting/print of Black woman wearing colorful headband & colorful top surrounded by equally colorful background

Oh no! Sending a Women in Afro Futurism image (from SFO) to balance the nonsense

A vertical screen print style poster in red, yellow and black, featuring the quote by Dom Helder Camara: "When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist." The edges of the poster show a packed village with small houses, and a road leading to skyscrapers in the far background. A red sun in the upper right shines its long yellow rays across the image.

“When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.”

Originally made as a screen print in 1990, we now offer this thought-provoking poster digitally printed on heavy cover stock.

City Council, we demand half a percent of the overall city budget for libraries! In response to the NYC FY2026 Budget, adopted this June, the Brooklyn Public Library, the New York Public Library, and the Queens Public Library released a joint statement thanking City Leaders for in...

Please send a letter to the city council to allocate 0.5% of the city expense budget to our public libraries. This takes 30 seconds.
actionnetwork.org/letters/city...

Flower with red petals outlined in white and very long pistils (also dead with yellow tips)

flower with black lines marking white petals. Every other white petal g has a yellow line in its center. There’s a lavender pistil(?) in the center of the flower.

Anyone know what these Bay Area flowers are? #bloomsvrolling #flowers

Thanks for the reminder!

I voted for projects in my district yesterday.

The number of people I have had stop in their tracks when I ask them that simple question of:

Is he “uncontrollably” angry when he smashes your things? Or does he magically never manage to smash *his own* or his boss’s things?

How the New York State Budget Is Made We answer your questions on the state’s notoriously opaque budget process.

What is the state budget? Where does the money come from?

New York Focus answers your questions on the state’s notoriously opaque budget process.

nysfocus.com/2025/03/12/h...

20 new 287(g) agreements added just today! Public trust in the agency may have tanked, but local police are still very eager to partner with ICE.

bsky.app/profile/titu...

I learned today that April is International Black Women's History Month.

I’m excited to READ those 4 new zines!

Garden with Pink blossomed trees (cherry blossoms? Redbuds?), tulips & an overturned log

Afternoon writing office

Collage: Top L: painted Chinese fan, Top R: black & gold lion dance on a sidewalk; Bottom R: purple & yellow lion dancer on a platform; bottom L: black, gold & red oil painting entitled "Night" by Wifredo Lam (which looks like a lion dance to me)

Sent photos from MOMA's Wifredo Lam exhibit & Chinatown lion dances to woman in PA prison. She wrote, "[at work] everyone descended on the pictures. I summarized the wikipedia article [about Lam, which I included] & everyone seemed pretty happy to see something different. Spread the art!"

re-upping this, re: phone therapy services for people in prison

Hochul Proposes Tax on N.Y.C. Second Homes That Are Worth $5 Million

BREAKING: Hochul will formally propose a yearly tax surcharge on second homes in NYC that are worth $5 million or more, she said on Tuesday.

The exact cost of the surcharge has not yet been ironed out, but the governor hopes to raise $500M annually that would be used to address the city's deficit.

A group of protesters line the stairs to the Beaufort County Courthouse. One in the foreground holds a sign reading, “REALITY. JOANN MUST BE SET FREE.” Others in the background are holding signs and/or raising their fists in the air.

50 Winston-Salem Black Panther Party members travelled to the Beaufort County Courthouse in April 1975, rallying to free Joan Little. Ms. Little escaped the Beaufort County jail in 1974 after killing White prison guard Clarence Alligood, who was sexually assaulting her.

A map of the U.S. shows state-by-state numbers of public library visits per capita in 2023. States are shaded green according to visit rates. Source: USAFacts.

Public library visits by state. Visits reflect an estimated annual in-library use.

🏣 highest DC 4.46
🏣 KS 3.79
🏣 OK 2.80
🏣 NM 2.62
🏣 AR 2.35
🏣 TX 1.59
🏣 lowest HI 0.93

from Institute of Library and Museum Services, 2023

He recorded 10,000 concerts on tape, now they’re streaming for free The music collection of a 59-year-old Chicago man who attended more than 10,000 concerts and recorded them on cassette tapes is slowly being digitized and released online for free. Like many GenX k…

ktla.com/entertainmen...

I am looking forward to my CM @harveyepstein.bsky.social signing on as a supporter soon.

Library Funding Stances by City Council Members NYC PLAN is asking all City Council members in NYC to commit to fighting for increasing public library funding to at least half of 1% of the annual city expense budget in each financial plan released while they are in office.

You can see the others on record here: nycplan.org/scorecards/l...

District 46 New York City Council

@nycplan.org is up to 8 City Council members on the record supporting 0.5% of the city expense budget to be allocated to public libraries. The newest member is District 46's Mercedes Narcisse. Thank you CM Narcisse for being a library champion!

council.nyc.gov/district-46/

Never Caught, the Story of Ona Judge - Social Justice Books Reviewed by Anndee Hochman Review Source: Broad Street Review Book Author: The summer I was 12, I spent weekday mornings on the tennis courts at Friends Central School in Wynnewood, swinging a clumsy ...

This book should be mandatory reading for every child in the US. socialjusticebooks.org/never-caught...