I have a lot of toys. Some are older than I am, some are very new, most are TMNT-related and the rest are dolls of all sizes. They inspire strange amounts of creativity in me.
Readers: what’s the longest original fiction book you’d casually pick up if you weren’t required to read it? (If there are rare cases where you’d choose to read something longer, ex. a classic, favorite author, part of a series, etc. just go for an average)
The fascists hate you too and they just will pretend otherwise until after they’ve killed the rest of us, before they turn on you.
Thanks to whoever tried, but I knew they’d never allow it.
Let’s do it the old fashioned way. Spread it far and wide.
Reminder: you can’t be the whole wall against stopping fascism by yourself. Nobody can. But you damn sure can be a brick.
There’s a lot of good comments and tags in the notes, but this one is very important, I feel like it deserves some emphasis.
Part of how authoritarianism works is telling you that you can’t stop it. And you can’t stop it by yourself. But it wants to stop the train of thought there and let you fall into despair.
You need to remember the next part: you don’t have to stop it by yourself.
You’re not alone. Take care of your community and let your community take care of you. Supporting each other is so vital.
I’ve never seen anyone talk about this like this. Most people I know laugh at the idea that you can be traumatized into hating reading.
“You can’t brute force your way through a trauma response” really hit me. I went to the library recently because I wanted to finally get better at reading. As I attempted, I couldn’t process any of the words and I struggled a lot to not break down into tears. I can’t remember if I eventually told anyone, but I was too ashamed to say anything to the people I went with.
I decided to time myself when reading this. And just the screenshotted stuff. It took me 40 minutes to read it. And it will take me another 40 minutes to fully understand it, because when I read I have to reread times (and make notes) to remember even just pieces of what was said (you dont understand, a lot of people need to reread to fully understand. When I am done reading, my mind it blank and I don’t remember any of what was written - not the facts, not the jokes, not anything.) I usually have to reread twice. Taking two and a half out hours of my day to do something that exhausts me and brings me no joy when existence in general is exhausting - I just never did it because I was always burnt out anyways from getting up, from breathing, from being around people or from being alone. And I assumed it was just something wrong with me. But knowing the system is designed like this on purpose, I feel relieved and also even more deafeated. Because I think this genuinely confirms that I will need some kind of accommodation if I’m going to want to read and actually remember/learn what I read.
This was really good to read because even though I am burnt out, it was worth it. It validated that there really is a system that made reading traumatizing on purpose, and it wasn’t just my fault for hating reading as a child. It also made me feel kind of powerless, and a lot of shame for feeling that powetlessness bc I assume people are going to think my lack of reading is just some excuse, but thats more for me to deal with and not an issue with the author.
it’s nice to have someone validate that reading is hard, and to explain that it is hard because it is exercise. if you do it more, you’ll get stronger.
April 6th - 12th marks National Library Week and if we don’t defend our libraries, it could be out last. I can not imagine a world without libraries, so here are some action items you can take this week:
Easy action items you can take this week– -Make sure EVERY member of your household has a library card; make sure all your friends and family have one, too -Sign up anyone you know who doesn’t have a library card -Check out a book or two from your libraries -Find your local Friends of the Library and find out how you can get involved -Donate to your local library if you can
If you have more time–
-Check out who is on your Library Board: are there empty seats that need to be filled? -Call your local, state and federal officials and tell them to PROTECT OUR LIBRARIES –Go to SaveIMLS.org and take action –Write an editorial for your local newspaper highlighting your library’s importance in community and community building, supporting intellectual freedom and the grave threat to libraries.
ALT
