Using Our Words, Reading, Playing Games
All good for mental health; plus the library and book ban news
Hi Friends,
I realize this is posting on the day of the Super Bowl, but it’s landing many hours prior, so I hope you read and enjoy! If you’re busy making chili and snacks, there’s always the listening option! The audio is not AI—it’s me, a human being. 😊
A friend pointed out that I had an article up on BuzzFeed this week. I didn’t know about it as they didn’t notify me. They pulled it from HuffPost, where it was published in June. (BuzzFeed owns HuffPost). If you happened to have read that article about the hypocrisy of purity culture and subscribed here because of it, welcome!🤗
I know it’s been another insane week, but the courts are (at least in part) pushing back on the firing chaos and privacy invasions. Being where we are, I want to mention many comforting things this week before looking at the library and book news (which is a rough go right now. Ugh.)
Good stuff
The world may be on fire, but I have a novel coming out!
I’m a bit stressed about my upcoming novel Keep Sweet because it was pointed out to me that a novel by the same name about a teen in a polygamist cult was published fifteen years ago. (Note: Titles are often repeated. Keep Sweet is the title of lots of romance genre books.) I looked at the publisher’s description of the older book and it appears to have a romantic element and a girl who is forced to marry an old man, neither of which are plot points in my novel.
I very purposefully didn’t include a romance because I’m tired of boyfriends being the answer to problems. The guy my protagonist likes has already been kicked out of the cult for disobedience. So, yeah, he’s a good guy—but he isn’t going to save her. (Plus something to drive the book banners crazy: not all the women like men.)
Speaking of plot points I don’t enjoy, let’s remember that Liz Shipton has the funniest short videos about dystopian and romantasy genres. It’s another way to laugh out loud in stressful times. Here’s a favorite:
Women Writing Women in YA Dystopian
(Let’s also remember that, as a librarian, I think you should read whatever genres make you happy.)
Games are good for you
I found the link to this article on
’s “Audacious Roundup”: Cozy comfortNew research backs up what gamers have thought for years: video games can be an antidote to stress and anxiety.
I’ve never been one to play games, but last weekend I played a few simple card games with my sisters. Not being a competitive person, I’d never had much interest in card games. My sister pointed out to me that the object is social time. The games (Kings’ Corner and Golf) were mostly about chance, but I did need to be reminded to check the cards in play to see if I could put my stack onto an existing stack and therefore continue with my turn. And, yeah, it was fun.
I know this might seem a bit compulsive, and I’m wondering if any of you have the same issue: if I spend time playing games, I think about how I could be reading instead. When this happens, I’m generally in the middle of a book. If I weren’t, maybe I would spend more time gaming.
I’ve found the Substack
to be fun to read. At one time, I tried to play D&D with my sons, but I was terrible. I was afraid to take any action that might endanger the group or the campaign. So I enjoyed Robin’s discussion of D&D and her suggestion that I try again. If you enjoy role-playing games, you should subscribe.
Words are good for you
Merriam-Webster will deliver a ‘word of the day’ to your inbox daily. Honestly, I know all the words I’ve gotten over the years. However, there’s a little quiz (with a hint) that asks you to name a specific synonym or antonym. I’m only so-so at that. It’s fun.
Here’s a word from this week: malapropism (A malapropism is an amusing error that occurs when a person mistakenly uses a word that sounds like another word but that has a very different meaning.) The synonym was eggcorn. Now I have a word to describe “for all intensive purposes” (all intents and purposes).
Words are also good when you send them on their way to your friends. I just finished sending some valentines. About a month ago, I also saw that Merriam-Webster had ‘galentines’ for sale, so I bought a pack to send. Once I started addressing them, I wished I had bought two sets because I wanted to send them to lots of women. But they are POD, in addition to a slowish delivery time, so it was too late. But more excuses to send cards to friends are on the way!
Laughing is good for you
Dave Barry has a Substack and this was shared on Substack Reads: The Haggis Menace
I used to read Barry regularly including in the Funny Times. During Trump Round 1, nothing felt funny anymore and I stopped my subscription. I’m glad Barry is able to make me chuckle again. I find him hilarious.
Good news is good for you
I’m pretty sure everyone loves David Byrne, and I now have another reason to do so: Reasons to be Cheerful Magazine. This is a project of his that a friend alerted me to. It’s been around since 2018, but I somehow missed it. It covers all sorts of topics: Climate and Environment, Health, Culture, What We’re Reading, Science/Tech, Economy, Civic Engagement. I read an article about how they are working to save hedgehogs in the UK through ‘hedgehog highways’ (linked garden passages) and a rescue called Prickles in a Pickle. (I am terrible at titles, so I just love that clever one.)
Giving blood is good all around
Last week I included in my post the idea that we can give blood as a way of doing good and feeling good. So I found this article in the New Yorker interesting. While the quest for artificial blood is advancing, it still appears to be many years out (both completely artificial blood and blood grown from cells in a lab).
The Long Quest for Artificial Blood
Between my last post and this one, I got good news from the Red Cross: I still have CMV negative blood, which means my blood can be donated to babies, people battling cancer, etc. This is true of only 15% of adults over 40. I knew I was CMV negative for a long time, but hadn’t been notified in years, so I figured I’d caught CMV (symptoms in adults are mild, so it’s easy not to know).
What is CMV Negative Blood? Why Is It Important
CMV (cytomegalovirus) is a common flu-like virus that up to 85% of U.S. adults have been exposed to by the age of 40. … CMV can be quite serious, even fatal, for babies and people with weakened immune systems. … For this reason, babies needing transfusions as part of their medical care should only receive CMV negative blood from donors who have not been exposed to CMV. …If you are CMV negative, please consider donating blood as often as possible throughout the year.
What I’m reading and other book ideas
Print
This week, I started reading The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk (Nobel Prize winner, 2019). I bought five books in November at Warwick's in San Diego and this is one of them. So far, it dives into the thoughts of a tuberculous patient seeking a cure in a rural town in the Silesian mountains around 1913. Someone in the Sanitorium dies, supposed by suicide, but it could have been murder. I’m all in. The misogyny of particular characters is pretty crazy. That seems to be a theme. (Erasing women is a theme in our own lives—the Musk/Trump 2 administration required NASA to remove mention of them, as well as indigenous people, from its website.)
Audio
I’m listening to The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez because it's a book club read in our local library. It’s about a writer who, as her career comes to an end, is unable to make her stories work. She decides to create a story graveyard on inherited property in the Dominican Republic (her homeland). It’s a lot of fun. Those stories demand to be told, even from the grave!
Recommendations for Kids
In a educational forum, I found teacher librarians recommending these children’s books for speaking to youth about possible ICE raids, Inclusion, Justice and Equity. If you’ve been a subscriber for a while, you know I generally discuss adult and YA (teen) books and was a high school teacher librarian, so I want to lean on others for picture/younger kids’ books.
I am Ruby Bridges by Ruby Bridges
All are welcome by Penfold
Mixed by Chung Arree
Dreamer by Yuyu Morales
I am Human by Peter Reynolds
Your Name is a Song by Jamilah Tompkins-Bigelow
I promise by Lebron James
Change Sings by Amanda Gorman
Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Pena
Free to Learn: How Alfred Lopez Fought for the Right to Go to School by Cynthia Levinson
I am an American: The Wong Kim Ark Story (about birthright citizenship)
Ari is a Dreamer: A True Story by Ari Morales
Dreamers/Sonadores by Yuyi Morales & Bright Star
My Shoes and I- Crossing 3 Borders/ Mis Zapatos y Yo Cruzando 3 Fronteras by Rene Colato Lainez
Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonitiuh
Pancho Conejo y el Coyote/ Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote by Duncan Tonitiuh
Undocumented: A Worker’s Fight by Duncan Tonitiuh
Facing Fear: An Immigration Story by Karen Lynn Williams
Two White Rabbits by Javier Buitrago
The Notebook Keeper by Stephen Briseno
Efren Divided (middle grade)
The Crossroads (middle grade)
Enrique’s Journey (middle grade)
Frontera por Julio Anita
Ali and Sylvia ( true story about their friendship amid the 1940’s CA lawsuit on education)
Still Dreaming / Seguimos Soñando por Claudia Guadalupe Martínez
Part 2: Libraries and Book bans
Trump fired National Archivist Colleen Shogan on Friday.
It was leaders of her agency, the National Archives and Records Administration, who raised concerns about Mr. Trump possessing boxes of classified documents that he had taken after he left office in 2021, setting off a criminal case against him.
Kelly Jenson moved off Substack but still has her newsletter. She reports on library and book ban legislation (exclusively as far as I know). From this week’s post:
It will be the states who also protect students, library workers, and educators from what will come following the Mahmoud v. Taylor decision from the Supreme Court (you can read about that here but in short, it’s about whether or not people can opt out of LGBTQ+ books and curriculum in public schools due to religious beliefs).* There are states seeking to criminalize library workers for as much as having LGBTQ+ books, while there are others writing into their laws that library workers are protected from such prosecution.
She goes on to report on book banning/librarian criminalizing legislative bills under consideration in 21 states!
A South Carolina rabbi’s Holocaust memorial speech was pulled from public TV for being too ‘political’ from the Forward
Rabbi Sam Rose had used his speech to inveigh against refugee, LGBTQ and book-ban policies.
A rabbi in South Carolina used the occasion of a Holocaust memorial ceremony to draw parallels to modern-day federal and state policies on refugees, LGBTQ issues and book bans — only to have his speech cut out of the state public television station’s archived video of the event.
Those behind the broadcast said the decision to pull the segment actually came from the South Carolina Council on the Holocaust, a state-operated Holocaust education initiative, which had hosted the event and hired the TV station to make the recording.
“We do not believe the political statements made during the benediction were appropriate for a standard-aligned educational resource and therefore requested that portion be removed from the final production,” the state council said in a statement.
ACLU files lawsuit on behalf of Arkansas librarian fired after opposing book censorship effort from WTOP News (Associated Press)
Hector was fired after a group called the Saline County Republican Women began a campaign urging the censorship of books that touched on themes involving race or LGBTQ+ themes. Hector spoke out against a resolution the quorum court, the county’s governing board, passed calling for such books to be moved to areas not accessible by children.
The quorum court later passed an ordinance taking away the library board’s authority to hire and fire library staff, instead giving that power to the county judge. Brumley fired Hector less than two months later.
The lawsuit accuses Brumley and the county of violating Hector’s First Amendment rights and asks that the ordinance taking away the library board’s hiring and firing authority be struck down as unconstitutional.
Publishers, Authors Sue Idaho Over Book Removal Provisions in Law from School Library Journal
Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers, Simon & Schuster, and Sourcebooks, along with authors Malinda Lo, David Levithan, and Dashka Slater, the Donnelly Public Library District, a teacher, students, and parents have filed a lawsuit challenging the book removal provisions of Idaho's HB 710, a law that restricts books in school and public libraries. …
“Idaho 710 goes even further than previous laws by removing classic books from public libraries in addition to schools,” Dan Novack, vice president and associate general counsel at Penguin Random House said in a statement announcing the suit. …
HB 710, which became law on July 1, 2024, forbids anyone under the age of 18 from accessing library books that contain “sexual content,” regardless of the work's literary or educational merit. The definition of "sexual content" is broad, vague, and overtly discriminatory, according to the suit.
“Libraries should be for everyone. We foster learning, provide resources, inspire creativity, and support our patrons,” Donnelly Public Library director Sherry Scheline said in a statement. “As a result of HB 710, our programming—which includes the only option for after-school care in Donnelly—has been severely impacted, with children unable to step inside the building to use the bathroom or keep warm without a complex waiver. Our circulation has also declined significantly. In essence, it has become impossible to fulfill our purpose of serving the Donnelly community.”
Utah bans a 16th book from public schools. Here’s what it’s about. From The Salt Lake Tribune
“Like a Love Story” by Abdi Nazemian joins 15 other titles banned from Utah’s public schools.
Another book has been added to Utah’s growing list of titles banned from all public schools in the state.
The new entry is “Like a Love Story,” by Iranian-American author Abdi Nazemian. The historical, young adult queer novel follows Reza, an Iranian boy, as he grapples with his homosexuality in 1989, amid the AIDS crisis in New York City.
The novel was among Time Magazine’s ″100 Best YA Books of All Time” in 2021.
SC board of education removes handful of books from public schools for sexual content From WIS News 10
The … books that were removed for violating the regulation were:
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky
“All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson
“Flamer” by Mike Curato
“Push” by Sapphire
The two books the state decided to retain were:
“Bronx Masquerade” by Nikki Grimes
“House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros
The South Carolina Board of Education posts the excerpts that the board was shown Tuesday on their website.
These are not the first books to be challenged by South Carolinians or removed the State Board of Education. In 2024, seven books were banned from South Carolina schools:
“A Court of Frost and Starlight” by Sarah J. Maas
“A Court of Mist and Fury” by Sarah J. Maas
“A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas
“A Court of Wings and Ruin” by Sarah J. Maas
“Damsel” by Elana Arnold
“Ugly Love” by Colleen Hoover
“Normal People” by Sally Rooney
Three classics had also been brought before IMRC due to potentially objectionable or challenging material: “1984″ by George Orwell, “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee and “Romeo & Juliet” by William Shakespeare.
The classics were allowed to stay on school shelves.
Bill aims to stop [public] libraries from banning books based on politics, ideology From New Mexico Political Report
A bill aimed at protecting public libraries from politically charged book ban attempts is making its way through the Roundhouse.
HB 27, the Librarian Protection Act, sponsored by Rep. Kathleen Cates, D-Rio Rancho, seeks to prohibit public libraries from getting state funding unless they adopt a policy prohibiting the removal of books or other materials based on partisan or doctrinal disapproval.
So much going on this week, this is a long one!—thanks for reading to the end!
I tried to work out the ‘donate once’ issue with PayPal, but I ended up with a chat bot that answers nothing (but has a lot to say!). I was too busy to go back and work on winding my way to a human being. I will try again next week.
So many good things here. And I want a copy of your book :-)
Thank you for the shout out! I love giving advice on DND and other RPG. Or just games in general! 🥰🥰🥰