Kimberly Hirsh

Sharing more resources to help you defend libraries. Kelly Jensen works so hard on the Book Riot Literary Activism newsletter. It is the best place I know of to get news about censorship. Sign up here.

Stepping away from timelines and replies for a little while, but still planning to share resources and blog. If you want to be sure I see what you have to say, every post on my website has a Reply by email button.

In the coming days, I’ll be sharing resources for defending libraries in the United States. Today, I wanted to share the American Library Association’s form to tell Congress to show up for libraries.

According to ALA, personalizing messages increases the likelihood that congress members will respond to and act on them. Sometimes, I don’t have the brain power to do a good job of this, so I thought I’d share what I did today.

First, in the first paragraph I made sure to refer to myself as a supporter of the Durham County Library, rather than just saying “my local library.”

Then, I added a paragraph about specific library programs DCL offers that I think will resonate with my congresspeople. I focused on business and Maker/STEAM services.

In the last paragraph, I change “libraries” to “libraries in general and the Durham County Library specifically.”

I hope this is helpful. Maybe the institution you’re going to defend is something other than libraries. If so, see if organizations related to it have similar ways to help you take action.

Take care and stay safe, y’all.

Information is my love language!

GLSEN is my go-to resource for LGBTQ+ issues in K-12 education.

The Trevor Project is a suicide prevention and crisis intervention program for LGBTQ+ young people.

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

♥️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤🤎🩷🤍🩵

📚💬 “Kill the protestors, arrest the leaders, gaol the journalists. It’s what they do. It’s what tyrants do.” K. J. Charles, A Fashionable Indulgence

Just… In case you were wondering whether romance tackles serious issues.

🔖 Read Please Don’t Use Generative AI To Mimic Historical Figures.

This is all kinds of a bad idea. The BlueSky thread linked in the post shares a conversation that makes me think the LLM wasn’t trained on Anne Frank’s writing, given its ignorance of the ethnic part of Jewish identity.

Your mind is valuable.

Your attention is an important part of your mind.

Stop treating it like slop.

- Simon Woods

1. Do not obey in advance.

2. Defend institutions.

choose an institution you care about and take its side.

Mine is libraries. I’ll be posting resources on defending libraries soon.

3. Beware the one party state.

Any future elections will be a test of American traditions.

I fear we’ve lost this already. What can we do? In the face of the challenge to the NC State Supreme Court election especially?

4. Take responsibility for the face of the world.

5. Remember professional ethics.

For me, this is about protecting library patrons' privacy.

6. Be wary of paramilitaries.

7. Be reflective if you must be armed.

8. Stand out.

9. Be kind to our language.

Make an effort to separate yourself from the internet. Read books.

The effort to define the shape and significance of events requires words and concepts that elude us when we are entranced by visual stimuli.

10. Believe in truth.

Post-truth is pre-fascism.

11. Investigate.

The individual who investigates is also the citizen who builds.

Once we subliminally accept that we are watching a reality show rather than thinking about real life, no image can actually hurt the president politically.

12. Make eye contact and small talk.

You might not be sure today or tomorrow, who feels threatened in the United States. But if you affirm everyone, you can be sure that certain people will feel better.

Having old friends is the politics of last resort. And making new ones is the first step toward change.

13. Practice corporeal politics.

14. Establish a private life.

15. Contribute to good causes.

…one element of freedom is the choice of associates, and one defense of freedom is the activity of groups to sustain their members.

16. Learn from peers in other countries.

17. Listen for dangerous words.

People who assure you that you can only gain security at the price of liberty usually want to deny you both.

The feeling of submission to authority might be comforting, but it is not the same thing as actual safety.

It is the government’s job to increase both freedom and security.

18. Be calm when the unthinkable arrives.

For tyrants, the lesson of the Reichstag fire is that one moment of shock enables an eternity of submission.

19. Be a patriot.

The point is not that Russia and America must be enemies. The point is that patriotism involves serving your own country.

nationalist ≠ patriot

A patriot… wants the nation to live up to its ideals, which means asking us to be our best selves.

A patriot says that it could happen here, but that we will stop it.

20. Be as courageous as you can.

EPILOGUE

We will have to repair our own sense of time if we wish to renew our commitment to liberty.

The whole notion of disruption is adolescent: it assumes that after the teenagers make a mess, the adults will come and clean it up. But there are no adults. We own this mess.

In the politics of eternity, the seduction by a mythological past prevents us from thinking about possible futures. The habit of dwelling on victimhood dulls the impulse of self-correction.

The danger we now face is of a passage from the politics of inevitability to the politics of eternity, from a naive and flawed sort of democratic republic to a confused and cynical sort of fascist oligarchy.

To understand one moment is to see the possibility of being the cocreator of another. History permits us to be responsible: not for everything, but for something.

History gives us the company of those who have done and suffered more than we have.

I’ll say that those of us who are neurodivergent and disabled may need to modify #s 12 and 13. But the sense of them is to interact in meat-space with other people. Get to know your community. Show up in more ways than posting online. And even if we struggle to make eye contact or can’t move our bodies in ways that facilitate protest, we can find ways to meet people and show up for them.

🔖 Read Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr.

I first read this in high school and was long overdue for a re-read. If you’ve never read it, I urge you to read it today and let it prompt you to consider what is just and what work remains.

Not everything I post on my personal site is getting pushed through to social media. If you want to learn how you can see all of it, I have a /follow page.

Finished reading: On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder 📚

This was a good book to read today, full of helpful ideas. Reading notes coming soon. Highly recommend.

Finished reading: The Ruin of Gabriel Ashleigh by KJ Charles 📚

A fun short story. A hot 🔥🔥🔥.

Bit of venting (no advice needed): it’s frustrating to have multi chronic illnesses because a good day for one condition can be a bad day for another.

Finished reading: Priest by Sierra Simone 📚

Y’all, this is both explicit and taboo. Content warning for suicide (one of the MC’s siblings, before the book takes place but the MC finding her is mentioned). A VERY hot 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥.

💬📚📝 “The core, ethical concepts in which you most passionately believe are the language in which you are writing.” Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

💬📚📝 “…a moral position is not a message. A moral position is a passionate caring inside you.” Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

💬📚📝 “…we no longer need Chicken Little to tell us the sky is falling, because it already has. The issue now is how to take care of one another.” Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

💬📚📝 “For some of us, good books and beautiful writing are the ultimate solace, even more comforting than exquisite food.” Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

I really needed my past self’s advice to stop trying to optimize myself.

Thanks, me.

Finished reading: Dark Lover by J.R. Ward 📚

Listened to the audiobook. This one is very much of its time (2005).