Kimberly Hirsh

Thread. This is one of the reasons I haven’t spent my time in school worrying about doing everything right. If doing things right doesn’t get me the prize it’s supposed to, I might as well instead focus on doing what’s interesting.

Librarians and teachers looking to squeeze three more weeks of PD into their summer might want to check out Greg McVerry’s #EDU522: “three weeks to figure out the web and how to use it to teach.”

Let’s teach students how to own their data, manage their online identity, and build the web.

Drew Zandonella-Stannard perfectly captures the reality of early parenthood in the latest issue of her newsletter.

I have been really digging newsletters for the past several months. I’m planning to do a write up of my faves soon. But for now, think about these questions:

Are we BFFs? Should we be BFFs? Do you like to imagine we’re BFFs?

If the answer to any of these is yes, my new newsletter is for you. (Sorry, the two people who signed up for my old secret newsletter… This is a whole different thing. But it’s still for you.)

A really common exercise to help people decide how to spend their time is to ask them to imagine their funeral. What do they want to be remembered for?

The only answer I consistently come up with is that I want the people gathered to all feel, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that I cared about them.

My brother-in-law got married this past weekend. My mother-in-law had to give a speech at the rehearsal dinner. She was self-conscious going into it. At the reception, she told me that as she stood there, she thought, “Well, Kimberly would tell me I can do this, so I can.” And thinking of that helped her get through it, and of course she did a beautiful job.

I want as many people as possible to feel that way. I don’t know what kind of reach this newsletter will have or where it will go. But I hope each person who reads it will feel like they’re not alone, like someone believes in them, like someone has their back.

I’m describing it as

Like a high five in your inbox. Platonic love notes and things that made me think of you.

If that sounds like something you would like to have in your life, you can sign up here.

My new newsletter: Like a high five in your inbox. Platonic love notes and things that made me think of you. khirsh.us/b/1Rs

It’s that thing of when other people are working on your area of research interest but they haven’t published their stuff yet so you can’t include it in your lit review…

(Also on Twitter.)

🔖📚 No Romance Required 30 Books About Girl – Boy Friendships

Me: “Okay but everyone wants to marry Dickon so they must mean the friendship between Mary and Colin right? I think even Colin wants to marry Dickon.” (Reader: I married Dickon.)

Me to my advisor today: Okay but what if my dissertation is about makerspaces AND gaming AND fandom?

Her: Yes

Me: This is only mostly a sneaky way to make my comps reading more fun.

[Note: This is a paraphrase.]

Just browsed the cooking section of the Durham County Library Hoopla Collection and I’m blown away by how comprehensive it is. I want to cook all the things!

I wrote 279 words about definitions of “makerspace” today. Tomorrow: reviewing all 26ish pages I’ve written so far and making a plan for the conclusion.