Yet Another Site I Will Rarely If Ever Use

Nice Sunset at East Harbor (Jan 2023, Baltimore MD)

This is a close up? A CLOSE UP YA JERK! A CLOSEUP!

ANYONE ELSE WHO IS IN THIS SITUATION you can still go to the library! It is a public space! You might not be able to take things home, but if you take a book from the shelf and read it while you are there, the data still gets collected!!

(sorry using your ask box to spread info I wish I had a few years ago)

That is very true! Public libraries are... well, public! You don't have to show your card to get in and enjoy the AC, free wifi, and books on the shelves. Many libraries also do not require a card to attend programs.

If you're in this type of situation, you should also talk to the local librarians and see if you CAN get a free card! Here at LCPL we have what we call reciprocal agreements with all of our neighboring library districts to allow their taxpayers to get cards with us, and a similar agreement with libraries statewide. This type of card is usually limited - for us, it means reciprocal cardholders can check out physical materials only with no digital access - but it can be very useful!

People Without History Are Dust

Queer Desire in the Holocaust

Anna Hájková (Author), William Jones (Translated by)

Queerness remains one of the most stigmatized and overlooked aspects of Holocaust history, often erased due to the lingering homophobia of survivors. People Without History Are Dust challenges this silence, weaving together compelling stories of German, Dutch, Czech, and Polish Jewish Holocaust victims and survivors - including Anne Frank, Molly Applebaum, Margot Heuman, and Gad Beck - whose experiences help illuminate the hidden history of queerness in a time of genocide.

Drawing on extensive archival research, this groundbreaking book uncovers the lives of those who were doubly marginalized, not only persecuted as Jews but also as queer individuals. In doing so, it confronts the ways in which history has excluded or minimized their experiences, urging us to question normative accounts of the Holocaust.

By shedding light on these long-overlooked stories, People Without History Are Dust deepens our understanding of identity, survival, and memory, reminding us why an inclusive and complex approach to history is essential - not just for the sake of the past, but in service to the present and the future as well.

medieval pride parade!

have some medieval queer books to go with:

Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Haigiography

Hild by Nicola Griffith

Recently, a collective of LGBTQ organizations announced that the inaugural Kréyòl Pride will take place in Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe on July 25, 2026, celebrating the queer community in the French Caribbean territory. This bold new event is being put together by several local groups, including Secret’s Out, Queer Super Power, Queer Gang, and Trans’Actions Guadeloupe, in collaboration with the brand-new local LGBT+ center, the Maison des Diversités et de l’Inclusion and the Bokantaj Inclusion French West Indies, a federation of regional organizations working to promote human rights and support the most vulnerable social groups, following several years of turmoil. This new edition, organized under the umbrella of a broad platform, demonstrates an unwavering commitment to unity, following the discord of previous years.

Japan has approved a plan to roll out LGBTQ+ education resources in schools, workplaces, universities and homes across the nation for the first time. The finer details of the plan are not yet public, but reports have suggested that schools will be given the tools to provide information to students about LGBTQ+ people, at the same time giving stronger access to social workers and counsellors for students to use at their discretion. Universities are also expected to revise their curricula to adopt teachings that offer healthcare students access to LGBTQ+ education.

I say this not as "boo-hoo poor baby nadi," I say this because I know worse is already happening to kids with long covid. Despite two rounds of democratic presidents since I was undergoing this torture, we still "No Child Left Behind," and I remember how students with even minor learning issues were taught by teachers when I was in public school. Now imagine you're a 8 year old with persistent brain fog and constant fatigue and weird gastrointestinal issues and imagine how teachers (whose jobs are still tied to student's standarized test scores over 20 years later) are treating them. How many of these kids are getting the opposite of attention? How many are getting crammed into already overpopulated and under-funded/staffed special education rooms? How many are branded as lazy and stupid and "problem" when they're literally sick and getting sicker because we can't even get schools to put an air filter in the room?

I have this passion for airborne illness caution because I can see just how many kids are living worse childhoods than I had. I can see the hundreds of thousands of kids across the country, the millions across the world, who struggle to pay attention to lessons not because they're uninterested or unintelligent but because they're in constant suffering no one will comprehend or lessen or excuse. And knowing what it's like, I don't want more kids to go through that: I was lucky to live through it, and many don't. Masking keeps kids safer. Air filtration keeps kids safer. Improved ventilation keeps kids safer. Frequent testing for respiratory diseases keeps kids safer. Paid sick leave keeps kids safer. Hybrid options for education keeps kids safer.

https://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/full/v31/i31/105665.htm?