Notices by Anne Deschaine (aehdeschaine@zirk.us)

It has been raining for hours. The local water crew has been out clearing leaves from drains along our hilly, curving, sidewalk-less street.

Guess what the landscape crew across the street is desperately trying to blow around and off their property?

🤬

I think I need to reach out to someone. The building owner? The water crew? The city?

The complicated part is that most of the landscaping crews around here are Hispanic/Latino, and I obviously don't know anyone's personal status. I want them to stop clogging drains and making our street shoulder unsafe to walk. I don't want them to be in trouble.

I've never tried to thread a needle like this. May need to do some research.

Maybe just asking the building owner to ask them to bag the leaves would be sufficient...

Completely internalized the wrong week for my Plants & Colour lecture, but got up in time anyway. Difficult to attend properly when I have to get my kid ready and off to school during the first hour. But despite feeling discombobulated, it's very grounding* to think about something as connective and embodied as pigment gathering and processing.

*literally, but also today's speaker makes pigments/colors from urban manmade things, not just natural ochres

My gods, I wish these lecturers, teachers, participants, and all artist/creative types would find a way to LET GO OF INSTAGRAM.

Every recommendation in chat is an IG screen name. I'm desperately trying to add library bib records and website URLs but I'm completely overwhelmed by the @@@ everywhere.

PLEASE.

@PhoenixSerenity It's wild how we (collectively) just handed ourselves over to platforms, totally out of our control. And now nobody knows how to handle their own website, and if the platform goes down, they're floundering. In these times, it's frankly worse than ever, and I hope we can all find ways past it.

That Stevie Nicks article is going to be my new guiding star.

My husband manages digital collections for the state historical society, and he's just had to rush in to honor a takedown request. One of the families in the immigrant stories oral history collection is receiving death threats, so they need their story to be removed from public access.

He's busy putting out fires and ensuring safety, so I'll say it:

This is horrifying. Fearmongering is middle-school bully nonsense. Stop being shitty to immigrants. Stand up for immigrants.

Linked post includes screenshots of tweets being shared or retweeted by official Republican lawmakers. All spread a false story about Haitian immigrants in a show of blatant disinformation and racist fearmongering.

https://ioc.exchange/@jgreig/113109151523969649

#USpol

TIL that there is a conspiracy theory that the city of Portland, Oregon (as in, as it stands now, though I'm sure there are variations of the theory to which I am not privy), was built by local tribes and that white people simply came in and took over the buildings.

#PDX #PNW

You know, I spent my entire institutional library career more or less reluctantly in front-facing customer service. It did not come naturally to me, and it was not always easy. But sometimes I miss it, because people are continually, charmingly surprising.

#libraries #librarians

You've most likely read at least two major quotes from this speech. I wouldn't mind if the video took on a Holland's-Umbrella-esque life and became required watching when it crossed your feed.

To that end, here you go:

https://www.ursulakleguin.com/nbf-medal

#UrsulaKLeGuin #capitalism #writing #art #hope

(h/t this post and discussion https://social.vivaldi.net/@RustyBertrand/112337874159876044)

My friend and former colleague, Katherine D. Morgan, is running a GoFundMe to bring her Black woman-owned online romance bookshop to brick-and-mortar reality. Katherine is talented and experienced and savvy and an all-around lovely person. Help her add another wonderful indie bookstore to Portland's community!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/bring-grand-gesture-books-home-to-portland-oregon

#PDX #indieBookstores #BlackOwnedBusiness

While I fully understand the sentiment I see that Biden "deserves" to lose because of his handling of Gaza and the police handling of protests, I just can't see it in isolation. Yes, he might lose the election. But that punishes him and stops, a backward-looking move.

There are many, many people in this country who do not deserve to have Trump as president and will be punished for years if he is. This truly shitty choice still has repercussions.

(Please learn about Project 2025.)

#USpol

@hugo @tokyo_0 Sounds like several schools and offices I've spent time in.

That's a truly obscene number, btw. Worse than the worst I've ever had on mine. I really hope they listen to you in some positive way.

Does anyone's spiritual practice incorporate an eternal or long-burning flame at home? How do you handle that? Candle? Oil lamp? Electric? Pictorial or sculptural representation? Viewing a pilot light or similar as a stand-in?

What drew you to that choice? Apartments? Pets? Kids? General concern about fire risk?

#altar #shrine #judaism #zoroastrianism #hinduism #buddhism #taoism #Brigid #paganism #polytheism #ancestorVeneration #ritual

Great. Now the abstract problem is real. The kid is also positive (of course) but symptom-free.

Per his school, he's totally fine to come in! Guidance doesn't even mention, let alone encourage, masking!

Per every value his dad and I hold, he will stay home until he tests negative.

Per his school, there is no accommodation, no special homework arrangement, for a kid out for COVID. He will just fall behind as we try to keep him from spreading illness.

I am so angry and tired.

#CovidIsNotOver

@BlackAzizAnansi Poorly, in some ways. It's driven a wedge between me and some family. They're convinced I'm out of my mind, and, in the face of their absolutely illogical nonchalance, I'm starting to fear I'll get to that.

Mastodon/the Fediverse are great, though, because whenever I'm getting despondent IRL, I see people on here who are looking at COVID with clear eyes and masked faces. 😷 ✊

I really hate seeing that article going around about the grift of planting trees as carbon offsets. Yes, the grift is real and planting trees with that intention is disingenuous.

But KEEP PLANTING TREES ANYWAY. So many trees in my area have been cut down for often very little reason. We're losing shade, root structures, ecosystems.

I worry that these types of headlines enforce a belief that there is only one perfect solution and nothing else is worth doing.

#ClimateDiary