Audre Lorde on Learning to Love, and Leaning into Tenderness "We have to consciously study how to be tender with each other until it becomes a habit because what was native has been stolen from us, the love of Black women for each other." - Audre Lorde, from Yo...

Came across an Audre Lorde quote today and looked it up, thought this passage worth sharing: www.silverpress.org/blogs/news/a...

To: ALL IMLS Employees From: Director of Human Resources Re: Administrative Leave for IMLS Employees This is to inform you that you are being placed on administrative leave (i.e., non-duty paid status) starting Monday, March 31, 2025, up to a period of 90-days. You will be on administrative leave with full pay and benefits. This administrative leave is not being done for any disciplinary purpose. While you are on administrative leave, you are not permitted on IMLS premises. I regret that such directions are necessary, but we must safeguard legitimate IMILS interests and systems. If you wish to enter IMLS premises for official IMLS business, you must first contact me to arrange your visit. While you are on administrative leave, OHR will handle your time and attendance. Your email will be suspended. You can reach me at my desk number, 202-653-4728, or via email: adotson@imls.gov Please understand that this action is not punitive but rather is taken to facilitate the work and operations of the agency. Your pay and benefits will not be affected and will continue during this period. Please contact me if you have any questions about this letter. Sincerely, Antoine L. Dotson Antoine L. Dotson Director of Human Resources

This is the email just received by IMLS staffers placing them on paid administrative leave for up to 90 days.

“Please understand that this action is not punitive but rather is taken to facilitate the work and operations of the agency.”

SCOOP: DOGE notified the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS) today that the entire staff is being put on administrative leave effective immediately, I’ve learned from an agency source.

They’ll be cancelling huge swaths of grants/contracts and starting a Reduction in Force (RIF).

Now is a great time to buy that Museum membership you've been thinking about. Treat yourself and/or someone you care about.

Why We Fear AI: On the Interpretation of Nightmares On the Interpretation of Nightmares

I don't have a full review of Why We Fear AI: On the Interpretation of Nightmares by @hagenblix.bsky.social and Ingeborg Glimmer, but I thought it was a thought-provoking addition to the conversation on the ethical concerns of AI. Worth checking out!
bookshop.org/a/4108/97819...

"My arrest was a direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza, which resumed in full force Monday night."
inthesetimes.com/article/mahm...

It's a common tactic of those, like him, who perpetuate fear of the "other." Ask me how I know.

Also: Accusations are often confessions with them. Pendejo Anaranjado's been held civilly liable for r**e, and he surrounds himself with people who have done similar.

Alt text added.

Redbud trees
Spring is coming through!

Cleansing the feed

First conference presentation in the books

Some other general tips from a person who has been in libraries since 2009, had an MLIS since 2011, and who fell into this field backwards. 🧵

Tyler F. on LinkedIn: Nervous, but here we go! Nervous, but here we go!

www.linkedin.com/posts/activi...

Post from Propane JaneTM (@docrocktex26): "Why not just be honest and admit that what these mostly White dudes are anxious about is having to actually compete w/POC & women for jobs?"

While posted in 2016, It's still true.

a stout low tree drenched everywhere with thick green moss, with six "spokes" of branches reaching for the sky.

Obsessed with these beseeching moss trees here in Portland.

Screenshot of the header of the Anti-Blackness in the South Asian Community survey.

South Asians for Black Lives (on IG: southasians4blacklives) and BlindianProject are jointly conducting a survey on anti-Blackness in South Asian communities. The survey is one page and should take approximately 5 minutes to complete. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... #racism #solidarity #BlackLives

An upward shot of a family of orange enoki mushrooms growing on the side of a dead elm tree under a blue winter sky, their gills are like white blades radiating out from a dark and fuzzy central stem and sunlight illuminates their tips All photos by me

Here is a nice mushroom

History is not just a random collection of stories that we learn from or try not to repeat.

History is how we got where we are. History is a series of causes and effects.

Knowing the causes of bad things helps us to fix or prevent them. Knowing the causes of good things keeps us from losing them.

Metropolitan Library System Podcast: Holiday Horror and Mystery Looking for something interesting and different to read during the upcoming holiday season? Librarians Lindsay, Maddie, Reagan, and Tyler share some recommendations from the library's collection of Ch...

Are you wondering where to get some good holiday horror and mystery book recommendations from some of your favorite librarians? You're in luck!
Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you podcast. podcast.metrolibrary.org/holiday-horr...

In honor of Nikki Giovanni passing:

Well-known Virginia Tech professor dies at 81 Virginia Tech professor and poet, Nikki Giovanni, has died at the age of 81.

Virginia Tech professor and poet, Nikki Giovanni, has died at the age of 81.

Mamushi (Remix) [feat. TWICE] Megan Thee Stallion, TWICE · MEGAN: ACT II · Song · 2024

✨ ✨ open.spotify.com/track/3TNlo9...

Front cover of The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake. The title and author’s name frames a close up picture of a young Black girl who is not smiling.

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers!
Day 1/20
💙📚👀
#BookSky
#Books
#BookChallenge

A Criminal Injustice: How a City Ignored the Rape, Murder and Terrorism of Black Women for Four Decades The most disrespected person in America is the black woman.The most unprotected person in America is the black woman.The most neglected person in America is the black woman. —El Hajj Malik El Shabazz

For 5 decades, police officer Roger Golubski sexually assaulted Black women and forced to give false testimony that he used to send Black men to prison while he ran a sex trafficking and drug cartel in Kansas City Kansas

www.theroot.com/a-criminal-i...

For five years, I have been covering what is unquestionably the biggest criminal justice scandal in American history.

Today it ended when the most corrupt cop in history took his life.

But it's not over.

A thread.

Change doesn't come from the top down.

Change comes from the bottoms up.

What's this one

🙌🏾

Facing Cuts Likely to Worsen Under Trump, Academic Librarians Urgently Organize As the war on higher education looks to heat up, academic libraries will likely be the first on the chopping block.

Facing Cuts Likely to Worsen Under Trump, Academic Librarians Urgently Organize —
As the war on higher education looks to heat up, academic libraries will likely be the first on the chopping block. by @edrabinski.bsky.social truthout.org/articles/fac...