Links to Click: December 1, 2023
A ballet strike, Snoopy goes viral (again), and Wrapped in Burlington, Vermont.
Finding a realistic cadence to links and long form posts is a struggle, and I just want to express appreciation for y’all who are here and flexible with me. It’s December, marking the final month of the life rhythm I have figured out this year. I begin to see real counseling clients in the new year, and my schedule is kind of in the air. It’s both terrifying–I need some control–and liberating–what happens is what happens!
Let’s get into the links.
My Work These Last Few Weeks:
Over on , I’m talking about the latest survey results from the Book Riot x EveryLibrary Institute on parental perceptions of public librarians. Guess what? Despite the loud, angry rhetoric from a small group of right-wing bigots, most parents trust and respect their librarians. More from the survey, as well as the roundup of book censorship news.
I covered the story on SkyTree Book Fairs, aka the new iteration of Brave Books. This right-wing, nonprofit book fair is aiming to get propaganda into public schools and the hands of children.
Even though America had a holiday last week, there was plenty of book censorship news.
I asked everyone at Book Riot to share their favorite book covers of 2023, and here’s what we all said.
It was my week last week for All The Backlist, so you can hear me talk about oversized books, including one about x-rated plants.
What I’ve Consumed These Last Few Weeks:
Once a week, I take an adult ballet class. It’s truly a highlight of my week. My teacher shared this story this week and y’all, this is huge and I’m surprised it has not gotten a mega NPR story yet. Syracuse’s ballet had several corps members go on strike this week in response to years of physical and psychological abuse–yes, we “know” what happens in the ballet world and this strike aims to bring even more attention to how awful it is. But in response to the strike, the ballet fired several of the dancers…and the ballet still thinks that they’ll have The Nutcracker this weekend. Read this. I’m really hoping this gets bigger attention and helps create true change in the industry.
New research out of Cambridge on perimenopause and severe mental health is going to be a game changer. I am not yet here in this stage of life, but I know so many folks who are and passing along this story has made them feel seen.
Have you heard of YouTube obituary pirates? Absolutely bananas.
The chokehold that Snoopy has on Gen Z, y’all–now the poor CVS employees are dealing with a TikTok must-have.
I have not been reading much because of school, so I granted myself permission to just not until December. That said, I did finish Class by Stephanie Land. If you liked Maid, you’ll like this one, and she’s better at articulating some of the privileges she’s had even living as poorly as she did. This was the first book I’ve listened through Spotify’s new audiobooks program for premium accounts; because we have a family account, only the holder of the account gets access to audiobooks and only 10 hours. This is fine–I’ll get through a shorter one each month. But I will say regarding Class that the production was not good. Land performs and does great. It’s the editing that left a lot to be desired. This may have been the third audiobook in recent memory where I’ve had that experience. Is it me and my small sample or is production kind of lacking now?
The latest episode of History of the 90s is all about Anna Nicole Smith and if you, like me, like her in any capacity or are fascinated by her, it’s worth a listen.
And yes, my Spotify Wrapped landed me in Burlington, which either means I am extremely online or am gay or maybe both.
If you use Spotify and got your wrapped, how wonky was the math they offered you? Because 1. I think I listened to Noah Kahan more than 24 times and 2. I am pretty sure I listened to other artists more than 24 times, too (hi, yes, I got my first DSM 5-TR this year, why do you ask?)). Also a fun little thing: if you, like me, were slotted as a completionist–you listen to an album front to back–then of course the first songs on an album will be more popular than later ones (“New Perspective” is my fav Kahan song, but “Northern Attitude” is the first on the album, so the math here is complicated by the way I listen!).
Also: in the event you didn’t figure it out, you can go to your Wrapped landing page and you might have messages from more than one of your top artists, too. I had three!
All righty. Long form post on Sunday is set. See you then!