HEY HEY LISTEN THE VOICE OF THE MTA TRANSIT SYSTEM, ALL THE ANNOUNCEMENTS ON THE NYC SUBWAY LINE??

They really are some of the most beautiful people I’ve ever seen

Good Lord these new promo pics from the NYCC announcement are gorgeous

Put a podcast quote in the tags, zero context

LOVE.

At the gate for my flight home from visiting friends and there's a woman here with a service Shiba Inu. No pics because he has a Do Not Disturb vest and taking pics of strangers is illegal but I need to stress how ON DUTY this animal is. Ears up. Eyes doing Lazer scans of everything. Examining everyone who passes within 10ft like a security guard. Ass planted on her feet. I have never seen a dog with such intense chivalric guardian energy before. He has tiny eyebrows and they are FURROWED with concentration.

Eleven different flavors of coffee syrups (hazelnut, french vanilla, red velvet, almond, etc.) all mixed together. Just cause.

what is THE worst thing you've ever drank. all liquids acceptable. please tell me what it was, bonus points for why

i love you, media that turn into psychological deep dive about life, death, love, grief and mental health, i love you, "mortality is what makes life meaningful", i love you, choosing love no matter how cruel the world gets, i love you, finding kindness within yourself even when the world feels unearning of it, i love you, embracing grief because it means what's lost meant something, but still learning to move on, i love you, moving forward even after everything is lost and the worst possible scenario happened, i love you, absurdism,

To everyone in red states where book bans are likely to take place soon, here’s some lists for you <3

As a history student going into library science, people way under hype how crazy book banning is

Multiple lists of books already banned in schools/libraries or ones that likely will be:

Banned Books Week 2024: 100 of the Most Challenged Books

Banned Books: Top 100

Banned Book List

Colorado Banned Book List

The Complete List of Banned & Challenged Books by State

Banned Books from the University of Pennsylvia Online Books Page

Top 10 Most Challenged Books in 2023

PEN America Index Of School Book Bans – 2023-2024

Challenged and Banned Books

Places to order books other than Amazon:

Internet Archive (free)

Libby (free with library card)

Thrift Books

Book Outlet

BookBub

Abe Books

Half Price Books

Barnes & Noble

Better World Books

PangoBooks

Book Finder

Goodwillbooks

Alibris

Places to support that fight against book banning:

American Library Association

Unite Against Banned Books

National Coalition Against Censorship

PEN America

There’s a reason politicians fight so hard to limit knowledge and it should scare you.

Some recs below based on reviews I’ve seen

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sing by Maya Angelou

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson

Melissa by Alex Gino

Looking for Alaska by John Green

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

All Boys Aren't Blue by George Matthew Johnson

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Flamer by Mike Curato

Let's Talk About It: The Teen's Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan

Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison

This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds

Sex is a Funny Word by Cory Silverberg

Prince & Knight by Daniel Haack

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Drama by Raina Telgemeier

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Beloved by Toni Morrison

USA folks, here's a little trick I used for times when I didn't have a therapist but needed to have a short confidential talk about something that was bothering me:

- Message the Crisis Text Line at 741-741. Give them a short one-word message like GO.

- When the counselor comes on the line: the magic words are "I feel like I'm keeping too many secrets" and "I want to practice talking through something with you before I talk about it with other people"

- At some point they will ask if you're having thoughts about taking your own life. In my past experience they were pretty non-carceral when I said yes, but DO NOT TAKE MY WORD FOR IT. Do your own research, and make your own risk-informed decisions about whether to disclose or not.

- When you are done talking through the thing, they will ask you what your next steps are. I would typically say "I'm gonna talk about this with a friend" or "I'm gonna journal about it".

- Then they'll typically give you links to some websites for more support. In my experience the websites would be kind of useless, but feel free to check them out and make your own mind. One person's "useless" can be another person's "life-changing".

You might be wondering "but what if I'm taking resources away from someone who needs them" to which I assure that if you have something so difficult to talk about that you can only imagine yourself revealing it to a trained counselor, then you are the Crisis Text Line's intended audience. You probably shouldn't be using it weekly as an alternative to therapy, but once every few months as a PRN? Go wild.