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2022: Reading in a Time of Crisis
Jan. 2nd, 2023 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
renay2022 was an election year and I am a community organizer, which really does a number on your reading!
More than that, it was a year when the fever pitch of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in my community spiked, led by our own Moms For Liberty-esque hate group, going under the moniker "Safe Books for Kids - Arkansas" on Facebook. It resulted in our city/county library's funding being slashed in half—2 mills to 1.
It turns out when you and people you love are being called groomers, abusers, and pedophiles, it really kills your ability to focus on much of anything else besides working as hard as you can to beat them back. I keep reminding myself that we were lucky they didn't go for all the funding and close the library completely. Based on 2022 voter turnout they could have done so—easily.
Politics like this doesn't leave a lot of time for reading. I piled on top of this a move to a new house. My best effort among all the happenings got me to 42 reads. Most of them were re-reads. I could have read more, but the other time was spent zoning out to games I was excited to play/replay for relaxation. This year more than ever I am grateful I long ago internalized "Reading is not a competition." ( Read more... )
More than that, it was a year when the fever pitch of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in my community spiked, led by our own Moms For Liberty-esque hate group, going under the moniker "Safe Books for Kids - Arkansas" on Facebook. It resulted in our city/county library's funding being slashed in half—2 mills to 1.
It turns out when you and people you love are being called groomers, abusers, and pedophiles, it really kills your ability to focus on much of anything else besides working as hard as you can to beat them back. I keep reminding myself that we were lucky they didn't go for all the funding and close the library completely. Based on 2022 voter turnout they could have done so—easily.
Politics like this doesn't leave a lot of time for reading. I piled on top of this a move to a new house. My best effort among all the happenings got me to 42 reads. Most of them were re-reads. I could have read more, but the other time was spent zoning out to games I was excited to play/replay for relaxation. This year more than ever I am grateful I long ago internalized "Reading is not a competition." ( Read more... )
