I Guess I Can Do This Again

Hey gang!

So.

It’s a lot, isn’t it?

Like, everything.

Just…a lot.

I have spent the time since my last post 2.5 months ago just absolutely swamped at work with giant, stressful projects that left me with little brain power to do any extra curricular projects like this. The fact that the world is absolutely going through some things right now did not help.

There were some people - and let’s call them what they are, which is “assholes” - who were like “you’re home during the pandemic, so get productive!” Listen, Linda, I can’t get it together to finally watch all the MCU movies, I’m definitely not using my pandemic time to write a book or get a side hustle or keep up with a newsletter. Trying to keep my family alive, thanks.

I don’t know if you ever played jump rope when you were a kid, but you have to sort of stare at the rope to gauge when a good time to jump in is. I’ve felt like that lately - everything is happening all at once and I’m trying to decide when (or if) my voice needs to be added to the conversation.

Professional issues, political issues, life issues…and the older I get, the more likely I am to just sit back and let people talk and not fight to get my voice heard. I don’t know if it’s “being comfortable in my place in life and don’t feel the need for attention and also understanding that some stories are not mine to tell” or “not in the mood to deal with the blow back that comes with being a Woman on the Internet With An Opinion.”

So much space in the discourse is taken up by people who have no idea what they’re talking about and it’s just depressing to watch them get treated as an expert because they say their bad information and opinions authoritatively. I also absolutely do not care to read or engage with people who like “being proactive” or “contrarian”. To me it’s absolutely clear for whom this is all a game and the way you win is by RTs, comments and speaking engagements and those who actually care and have skin in the game.

Shorter last two paragraphs:

Seriously, especially with regards to professional discussions, so so over hearing people be “against” things without offering alternatives solutions to change the status quo.

PUT. 👏 UP. 👏 OR. 👏 SHUT. 👏 UP.👏

ANYWAY

I DO want to take the time to state unequivocally and for the record that Black Lives Matter.

BLACK LIVES MATTER.

“…but but but All Lives Matter…” No, we’re not doing that. The phrase is not ONLY Black Lives Matter. What we’re doing is affirming the fact that Black people should have the same privileges, freedoms and opportunities that people of other races do and that Black people are worthy of love and respect from a society that hasn’t seemed to do that yet. What part of that do you have a problem with?

Before answering, google redlining. And sundown towns. And Black maternal health statistics. And covid death/infection rates broken down by race. And the Tuskegee Experiment. And read some Slave Narratives from the Library of Congress. And Red Summer. Look at pictures of 14 year old Emmet Till in his casket and sit with the fact that to this day the memorial plaque in Mississippi gets shot up. The MOVE bombing in Philadelphia. The Fred Hampton assassination. And the fact that his grave also still gets shot up. Homan Square. There’s so much more out there - this list is just off the top of my head - and you should really take the time educate yourself about things before spouting off. But for the love of God don’t ask your Black friend or colleague to recount their personal traumas so that you can understand and don’t expect a cookie when you do acknowledge systemic racism.

A few weeks ago when the protests started I was going to write more about the history of race laws in the U.S. (which used to be my academic research area of interest back when I was an academic and before I fell into this technology stuff) and my personal reasons for being interested in diversity and equality in all things, not just my profession, but I decided that now wasn’t the time for a white lady from Southern Ohio to jam up the content streams.

So instead, this would be a good time to mention the 1619 Project and the educational materials surrounding it. I don’t know why people get so mad about acknowledging that slavery existed and that it wasn’t Mammy and Big Sam happily working for white folks but actually genocide and terrorism. (I mean, I do, but…) I don’t know everything, but I was in therapy for several years, and one thing I learned is that you have to confront trauma in your past and work though it and not just pretend like it never happened. Slavery and Jim Crow were hugely traumatic for our nation. Still traumatic, because we’re still seeing unequal policing and health care and education and loads of other things. We can’t continue to gloss over it and expect it to get better.

(Although, pretending everything is fine and we should just continue on doing what we’ve always done does seem to be the prevailing attitude towards lots of things for some people lately.)

Okay, that’s enough of out of me. Here’s some quick bites and links. Hopefully I can get back to doing this more regularly now that I’m not finishing each day with my brain leaking out of my ears.

#GoodTrouble

Absolutely gutted by death of John Lewis. Pancreatic Cancer is what killed my mom, so as soon as I heard his diagnosis last year, I’ve been mentally preparing, but it still sucks. I wish we were in a different place as nation so that he could have had the large state funeral and public viewing in the Capitol that he deserved. Some interesting tweets:

That’s a thread..click to read all.

#KeepLawOpen

A group of interested people have worked to create tools to help people involved in the legal system transition to the post-pandemic world.

• Toolkit #1 

• Toolkit #2 - Remote Lawyering

The Job Market Sucks

I am simultaneously not looking for a job and always looking for a new job. Schrödinger's job search, if you will. I actually like my job except for the commute, which…isn’t a issue at present moment. But still, I am always up for a new challenge and I like to see what’s happening and changing and who’s moving on. Keeping abreast of the job market is good competitive intelligence for both your employer as well as yourself.

Although I think the window to me returning to traditional librarianship has closed, I still like to look at the American Association of Law Libraries career center listings. This is a really good time of year to do it because most academic postings happen in June/July to coincide with AALL Annual and they can do meet/greet interviews. So, I looked a week or so ago, and…nothing.

Nothing.

Okay, 9 listings, most over 30 days ago and only one a native posting. I think I knew intellectually on some level that things were bad, but that really made it hit home. I feel so bad for new graduates. Typically there’s around a dozen (at least) job postings for AALL.

In related news, I came across this twitter account (I think I met her once?) and WOW things with bar exams across the country seem bad. By this time in my bar prep I had lost the ability to eat solid food and lived off of UDF milkshakes. I can’t imagine dealing with the uncertainty of if and when and how it’s going to be held.

Indigenous People Have Also Been Totally Screwed

It will be interesting to see the effects of the Oklahoma case and what happens if the United States is forced to honor its treaty obligations with Native Americans.

It’s Happening Here

Plain clothes federal officers are sweeping people up into unmarked vans but somehow Gretchen Whitmer enacting public health rules in Michigan is the real fascist. I almost wouldn’t mind stupid opinions if they were consistent or had a semblance of intellectual honesty.

I Miss Travel…

I don’t know if you know this about me, but I love to travel. I come from road trip people and “travel agent” is absolutely in my list of back up careers. Obviously, nothing is happening any time soon. In the meantime, I can soothe my travel bug by going through these.

…But where I live ain’t bad

(This is another thread, so click to read all)

Twitter is a Cesspool but Things Like This Make It Worth It

A thread.

I guess that’s probably more than enough for a first time back.

So, wear a mask, wash your hands, eliminate unnecessary trips and, oh yeah, the supply chain is probably going to collapse again so now would be a good time to start slowly stocking up on shelf stable food and toilet paper. Seriously. Agriculture- especially the part that does the transition from farm to table like vegetable picking and animal processing - is still very dependent on human labor.

Speaking of agriculture, life goes on at my families farm…

(picture sent by my brother at the end of June)