WELCOME TO DEAR ABYSS
AN ADVICE COLUMN FEATURED IN OCCASIONAL NEWSLETTERS HERE FOR ALL OF LIFE’S PRESSING QUESTIONS YOU WERE TOO AFRAID TO ASK A MERE MORTAL. SCROLL DOWN FOR LIBRARY NEWS. NOW, WHAT IS YOUR QUESTION, MY CHILD?
Dear Abyss,
How do I manage my day to day responsibilities when the whole world seems to be on fire? I want to be out in the streets yelling, but I have to join a Teams meeting instead. I didn’t think the cruelty of the world and the simultaneous rise of an authoritarian regime would involve so much “going to work like nothing is wrong” and “paying the bills” and “laundry”. Help me make sense of it.
Sincerely,
Folding Laundry at the End of the World
DEAR FOLDING,
THERE IS NO MAKING SENSE OF IT. THE UNIVERSE IS A COLD HAND THAT RARELY DEALS OUT MERCY. WE MUST BE THAT MERCY INSTEAD. EVERYTHING IS ON FIRE, SO BE WATER. FIND A WAY TO LEAK THROUGH THE CRACKS. KEEP SEEING THE WRONGNESS, THE INJUSTICE, THE WEIGHT OF IT ALL. WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T FOLD.
YOURS,
THE ABYSS
Dear Abyss,
What is your favorite salad, here at the end of all things?
Sincerely,
Feeling Green
DEAR FEELING IN THE KEY OF G,
WHEN I WAS A YOUNG ABYSS, I WOULD FROLICK IN MANY AN UNDULATING FIELD OF FRESH DAISIES. THERE MY FAVORITE DIETY, THE GREEN GODDESS, SPENT HER DAYS, AND SO THE TWO OF US WOULD JOIN HANDS TO DANCE AND WHIRL ABOUT THE COSMOS (BOTH THE INFINITE GALAXY KIND AND THE FLORAL KIND), LEAVING TIME AND SPACE BEHIND TO WATCH FLOWERS GROW AT BREAKNECK SPEED, AND SPIDERS WEAVE THEIR DEWDROP-CLAD WEBS SO CLOSE, WE COULD SEE THE FUTURE REFLECTED IN EACH WATERY GLOBE. WE KNEW SOMEDAY THAT, LIKE ALL FLOWERS, WE WOULD FADE, BUT TIME WAS OF NO IMPORTANCE THEN, AS WE REVELED IN THE HUMMING THRUMMING GREEN.
ANYWAY HERE’S MY FAVORITE GREEN GODDESS SALAD ENJOY!!
INGREDIENTS:
-ROTISSERIE CHICKEN OR UKROPS CHICKEN SALAD (REGIONAL DELICACY, IYKYK)
-GREENS OF YOUR CHOICE (COLLARDS ARE REALLY GOOD FOR CRUNCH, SPRING MIX ALSO GOOD)
-GREEN GODDESS DRESSING THAT I WILL NOT NAME-DROP BECAUSE THEY HAVEN’T PAID ME TO DO SO, AND I DON’T ADVERTISE FOR FREE, BUT IT’S LIKE, REALLY GOOD IDK DM ME AND I’LL SPILL
-CHERRY TOMS
-SHARP WHITE CHEDDAR OR MOZZARELLA SHAVINGS/BALLS (…SHUT UP)
-CRUNCHUMS (EDAMAME/CASHEW/SUNFLOWER SEED/CRAISIN IS MY GO-TO)
-CROOTS (BUTTER-FLAVORED IF POSSIBLE)
-ROBUST OLIVE OIL
PULL ROTISSERIE CHICKEN APART WITH HANDS WHILE STANDING IN KITCHEN, PUT ON JAZZ MUSIC, MUNCH ON PIECES AS YOU SHRED. MIX REST OF INGREDIENTS. DEVOUR LIKE A TASTY SOUL.
XOXO,
THE ABYSS
Got a question for THE ABYSS? COMMENTS AND DMS ARE OPEN. YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD ABYSS IS STANDING BY.
Libraries in the news
Austin, TX: “A 5th Circuit ruling denies Texas library patrons First Amendment right of access to information: Seventeen books addressing racism and transgender topics were removed from Llano County libraries in 2021 after residents deemed them “obscene” and “pornographic.” At the risk of beating a dead horse, this is how this works; you label whatever you don’t like as pornographic, and you get your way. It is why having this fascist authoritarian regime wrestle control of the Library of Congress so dangerous; the Library of Congress controls, among many things, the standards libraries use to catalog information.
“Plaintiffs cannot invoke a right to receive information to challenge a library’s removal of books. Yes, Supreme Court precedent sometimes protects one’s right to receive someone else’s speech,” the ruling on Friday states. “But plaintiffs would transform that precedent into a brave new right to receive information from the government in the form of taxpayer-funded library books. The First Amendment acknowledges no such right.” The court added that a person cannot use the First Amendment to challenge a library’s choices about acquiring, keeping or discarding books.”
What can libraries say about this? Well, the American Library Association’s FREEDOM TO READ declaration essentially already said it, back in 1953:
The freedom to read is essential to our democracy. It is continuously under attack. Private groups and public authorities in various parts of the country are working to remove or limit access to reading materials, to censor content in schools, to label "controversial" views, to distribute lists of "objectionable" books or authors, and to purge libraries. These actions apparently rise from a view that our national tradition of free expression is no longer valid; that censorship and suppression are needed to counter threats to safety or national security, as well as to avoid the subversion of politics and the corruption of morals. We, as individuals devoted to reading and as librarians and publishers responsible for disseminating ideas, wish to assert the public interest in the preservation of the freedom to read.
Rye Public Library’s Board forced a cancellation of an LGBTQ+ Allyship 101 program, and I wanna to give a clap for the residents who wrote Letters to the Editor condemning the action, and just a few hours ago it was announced that it would be rescheduled. Being loud for your library WORKS, y’all. Keep shouting.
What I’m reading this week
Murderbot book 3! I can’t afford Apple TV so hopefully the library buys the series when it’s on DVD. It better be on DVD. Or come to Kanopy. I need my snarky cozy murder robot fix.
New paid subscriber shoutouts (crow calls)
All new paid subscribers get a personal shoutout/link to their Substack here! I love everyone equally, but I love you most 🥰 Thanks to Randolph who is a very funny standup comedian, and Lisa Maguire who writes: “My Substack is called ancestory and I write about family history with a focus on Canadian history. I have a series about a true story about a family expelled from their Acadian village of Beaubassin in 1688. It includes a massive earthworks, a rotten lord, a village sex pest and a witch trial - so something for everyone.” Hah!
Sort of a weird mashup today. I cannot be contained!
Yee haw y’all,
hayley
Thanks for the shout out! Fellow library lovers might also enjoy this tour of my faves. https://open.substack.com/pub/ancestory/p/my-library-loves?r=hhkn6&utm_medium=ios