A Tumblr

me: yeah i know, they’re all primary colors, it’s perfect

When you go for an MLS (Master’s of Library Science, which is a thing, and which is usually required for “professional-level” library work [which is also a weird and contentious concept that I won’t go into here]), one of the things you study is the organization of information. This deals with how to determine what a book or other material is “about"—a concept we tongue-in-cheek call “aboutness"—and how to convey that to a potential user of the item and make it easy for them to find. Things like keywords and subject headings, do I put this book about how often wild birds attack aerial drones in with books about birds or with books about technology, if its a fictional novel do I put fantasy in it’s own section or mix it in with all of the other fiction, so on and so on.

OP is organizing books by how they would look for them. OP’s partner is thinking in terms of aboutness. This is a system that works for OP because it’s their personal library: they know basically what books they own and they only own books that are relevant to them, and if they know what the book looks like, that can be a quick way to find it.

In a library that assumes the public (or people who do not own that particular collection of books) are using the collection, that doesn’t work. Books are often re-issued in multiple covers, or re-bound in new covers when they get worn out, and if the user doesn’t know what the book looks like or is expecting a different cover, they’re lost. That’s why non-personal libraries used standardized cataloging systems like the Dewey Decimal System or Library of Congress System to organize a book by what it’s “about”, and then put books about the same or similar topics together, marked with labels and signage so a person unfamiliar with the book or collection can find their way to it.

Basically, OP’s system works for their own personal library, because it’s best suited to how the primary user—OP themselves—looks for books. OP’s librarian partner is coming from a background of thinking in terms of a public-facing collection, where aboutness is the key criteria and communicating it to a user unfamiliar with the collection is the priority.

Until my wife hard vetoed it when we merged our libraries, I arranged my non-fiction by Biblical day of creation. I went back to Genesis 1 and sorted everything into nine broad categories, presented below in roughly the order they were catalogued in within each day.

Pre-Creation: Things which either textually or self evidently existed In the Beginning, ie before the seven days of creation. This is primarily mathematics, but in early versions of the system it included geology, hydrology, and weather. In later versions I included anything abstractly about gender as a topic, for C.S. Lewis related reasons.

Day 1: Physics.

Day 2: Oceanography, weather.

Day 3: Geography, botany.

Day 4: Astronomy

Day 5: Marine Biology, ornithology.

Day 6: All other zoology, general biology, anthropology.

Day 7: Religion

Post-Creation: History, art, so on.

I enjoyed this system which has been called ‘stunningly off-putting, even for you’ by some good friends and ‘I just brought you to church because I wanted you to have a healthy moral grounding, I don’t know where you got all this’ by my mom.

I wish they would realize that universal healthcare doesn’t mean they HAVE to get healthcare through the state, just that it is there. You can still pay millions of dollars out of pocket for your own treatment at a private hospital.

America actually has terrible healthcare compared to a lot of nations with socialized medicine:

is wanting to be a wife and mother a requirement for being a woman?

why might OP be annoyed with replies assuming that this post is about being aroace or transmasc if a woman doesn’t want to be a wife or mother?

are there reasons unrelated to sexuality and romantic interest that might make a woman not want to be a wife or mother?

are there reasons unrelated to gender identity and expression that might make a woman not want to be a wife and mother?

core concept: what is gender essentialism?

is it gender essentialism to imply that all women inherently want to be wives and mothers? could this be what OP is critiquing?

look at the notes OP responds to. is it gender essentialism to imply that being a wife and mother is so affixed to womanhood that to not want to be those things means you’re incapable of sexual/romantic feelings, or not a woman?

my worst relatives try to sneak meat or meat products into my food despite the fact that I'm a vegetarian

my ex's brother gave his mother an edible without her knowledge and when she got freaked out and paranoid they laughed, and people I've told that go "yeah that's shitty but it's just weed"

when I go to the doctor and ask them to describe what they are going to do before touching me they get frustrated

when I ask a friends of a friend who is a small influencer to keep me out of frame in videos they film for social media in public they look at me like I've pissed in their cereal

I know lots of people with food restrictions, some for ethical, some for religious, some for medical, and some for sheer preference reasons and I don’t know anyone who would fuck with their food by trying to sneak something in they didn’t want to eat. I know one or two people who won’t fuss about cross contamination and they make sure that’s known - some people with non-trace sensitivities are okay with that (a little soy isn’t going to kill me, just don’t feed me tofu) and some aren’t. But no one would meaningfully add something on someone.

I don’t know anyone who would drug someone against their will. Some of my friends let it be known they’re willing to be dosed by surprise, but no one would ever drug someone without their general consent. I don’t know what we’d do if we knew someone did that. Maybe call the police? Certainly no one I know would speak to them again. It’s a fully shocking thought that someone would do that (let alone to their mother). And I don’t live in a drug free context, but folks are careful. If you told me that story I wouldn’t say ‘yeah that’s shitty but it’s just weed,’ I’d say, ‘it doesn’t sound like she’s safe there. We need to think about safeguarding procedures and getting her psychological assistance and maybe a new place to stay.’

And you definitely need a new doctor. I’ve never had a doctor lay hands on me without telling me why ahead of time. They don’t get affirmative consent for every thing they do, it’s a presumed consent situation, but they’ve never failed to warn me or give me an opportunity to say ‘no’ to a particular thing or ask for clarification.

And I’ve also asked someone to keep me out of a shot when they were recording a thing. They kept me out of the shot. Obviously. It’s basic courtesy.

reblog it twice and force it

down everyone’s throats

The drivers of all states suck, of course, this is a given. HOWEVER. There are some very special places that stand out among these. In order of how in fear for my life I was.

3. Houston. Drivers in Texas in general treat speed limits as a lower limit for how fast you should be going and the drivers in Houston show no regard for life or limb.

2. Atlanta. The drivers of Atlanta do not fear death for themselves and would rather you both die than let you merge.

Fucking. New Jersey. If I never drive I-95 or the Turnpike again I will die happy. You've never known fear until you see someone neglect to use turn signals and Jersey Slide through 4 lanes of near bumper to bumper 80 MPH traffic and cut in front of you to make their exit as you slam the brakes on and miss rear ending them by about half an inch.

We found it without him leading us there but like, great city, great people, and the food was in fact fantastic. Some of the best biscuits I've ever eaten.

So, I’m sorry that took so long, but I had to travel to the White City and look long through the archives of Minis Tirith, but I found not all I was seeking and so I rode for Isengard to take council with the leader of my order where I learned what I sought and also that Saruman the White has been turned after gazing too long and too deeply into the Palantir and has thrown in with the forces of the Dark Lord and he imprisoned me atop his fastness of Orthanc until I gained rescue by the aid of Gwaihir, the Lord of the Eagles, gaining me both my freedom and that critical information I needed to make here my reply.

and i've never loved a comment section more. some of my faves: