If you have any type of relationship with a child. If you are a parent, a teacher, a children’s worker in any capacity, this is an absolute must read. It’s so good. I promise you’ll be touched by its beauty. Thank you SO much, Alicia Stoller @aliciastoller.bsky.social , for sharing your insights.💞😎💞

More monarchs stopped by today. Safe travels little guys!

I didn't have time to boost last week’s note as much as I meant to, so I'm resurfacing it for the weekend crowd. It's about our obsession with debate as the be-all and end-all of free speech, why this is often ineffective at best and harmful at worst, and whose voices are silenced as a result.

I didn't have time to boost last week’s note as much as I meant to, so I'm resurfacing it for the weekend crowd. It's about our obsession with debate as the be-all and end-all of free speech, why this is often ineffective at best and harmful at worst, and whose voices are silenced as a result.

Been writing again today.

Speech isn’t only valuable in debate. Poetry, painting, and storytelling, comedy and prayer, late night conversations whispered across the dark, the cries of protestors, and the composition of a song all express our freedom. What if we held these forms up with the same reverence we do dueling words?

Once again I beg you to consider my proposal that a rotating committee of librarians and stage managers be put in charge of the US.

when you have bandaids you offer them to a kid who has fallen off his bike and walk him home. when a little girl waves at you and says hi you better fucking wave back, man. we live in the world with children and we don't get to pretend we have no duty towards them

If you ever find yourself losing faith in people, or wondering “do people even CARE anymore?!”, visit your local library. I say this without hyperbole, I am always struck by how much librarians care, every time I’m there. Always helping. Always tending. Always reaching out. We owe them so much. 💙

Just finished perusing this list on my prep time… It has absolutely stellar book recs 📚👍 Some of my absolute faves are here. #ReadAlike recs are fab too. This would be especially helpful for #TLsky & #skybrarians newer to Libraryland, wanting to know what they’ve missed. slate.com/culture/2025...

Speech isn’t only valuable in debate. Poetry, painting, and storytelling, comedy and prayer, late night conversations whispered across the dark, the cries of protestors, and the composition of a song all express our freedom. What if we held these forms up with the same reverence we do dueling words?

Grateful to @nycschools.bsky.social Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos for standing up for transgender students against the Trump Administration's bigoted threats of funding cuts. Our trans kids are not political pawns.

Listen to the experts. Listen to your doctor. Listen to your body.

Decades of research have found that acetaminophen is safe for children when administered as recommended. Misleading claims link the medicine to autism. These false claims send a dangerous message to parents and does a disservice to autistic individuals. www.aap.org/en/news-room...

Thank you @garrettbucks.bsky.social for this really poignant and heartfelt piece. I highly recommend giving this essay a read and bookmarking it to revisit on days when you're feeling extra overwhelmed and scared.

This is a beautiful and important read. I especially recommend it to parents and teachers. It offers an invaluable window into a child's perspective. I've never included an Esquire essay on my graduate child development syllabus before, but I will next time!

Tylenol does not cause autism. Autistic kids do not need to be cured. Okay thanks bye.

It's brave to try.

Frog drank the tea, and then he said, “Tell me a story while I am resting.”

Things have gotten even scarier since I wrote this. So many who should be leading keep sacrificing the most vulnerable. This means it's even more essential for us to do the opposite. Looking out for those most at risk isn't a rosy ideal. It's about survival and it takes courage. But you can do it.

Do one thing today to help. One thing tomorrow. One thing the day after. Taking a swing at every bad thing happening is just going to burn you out. Remember, if everyone does their one thing the world changes

This quote from the Dogtown series is one of my favorites! I included it a while back in this essay about why we should be turning to children's literature for inspiration on being brave when we feel powerless. Always strive to be like the mice, who were your childhood heroes!

It is incredibly difficult for domestic violence survivors to be taken seriously, despite the fact that this data has been clear for a long time. Treating domestic violence as the bright red flag that it is would make us all—and especially our children—safer.

If you don’t feel like you are a strong center yet, the work of becoming one is worth the trials. Take that step. Then another. Then another.

It’s going to break your heart how many people you know, love, and respect will turn out to be cowards. Prepare yourself as best you can. You are not alone, but you are your own center. Be a strong center.

I think people would be surprised how many people they know at some time had to couch surf, sleep in a car, have someone pay bills for them... It's so easy to become homeless. It isn't only living on the street, that's just what we see when the last option is gone. Ask around, and be surprised.

I want our young people to know that there is a path forward, that a better world is possible. I don't want them to give up, to become cynical. They deserve to be young and full of optimism. They are owed a world that supports and sustains optimism.

Stocking up the Little Free Libraries in your town is a great way to make sure they circulate AND a fun way to explore your neighborhood! Find some near you here:

Reading June Jordan yesterday and this made me think of your post. "It's on you, whoever you are... It's your responsibility to make yourself knowledgeable about where you are in this very complicated world right now, to the best of your knowledge and capacity to understand things. Then, to act."

We all watched a new Confederate monument be constructed in real time last week. Then we were threatened to not only tolerate that monument, but worship it. When things are this scary, the most important thing we can do is look for those who are vulnerable and offer them rest and shelter and care.

Please read this entire thread from beginning to end and follow the links.

Fear will try to convince us to isolate, to hoard resources, to avoid community, to build the least threatening campaigns making little impact. A grounded risk assessment will move us closer to each other, it’ll remind us of that we are millions, it’ll make our work more bold and more brave.

We all watched a new Confederate monument be constructed in real time last week. Then we were threatened to not only tolerate that monument, but worship it. When things are this scary, the most important thing we can do is look for those who are vulnerable and offer them rest and shelter and care.

This is What's Helping Today

It's in no way a solution to our current problems, but try to do something nice for someone you don't know today or this week. It'll make you feel better. Just try it.

I wrote this before the whirlwind of the past few days. I wish it were less relevant. As with so many things that could be different if we took children's rights seriously, there would surely be fewer guns. And I think we would also take more care not to lash out at the most vulnerable among us.

Take care of each other out there. ❤️

"We must remember and affirm what we often tell our students: that we can become the people we would like to be, that it is necessary to live with hope, and that it is possible to create a decent life and a decent world.” ~Herbert R. Kohl

In my experience, courage is usually the product of love and/or solidarity. When we are deeply invested in each other, we are more likely to take risks that we wouldn't take out of mere principle, or for the sake of people we feel disconnected from. Our alienation mass produces cowardice.

Spread calm. Tell the truth. Defend vulnerable people who are under attack. Getting stuck in a reactive mode is exhausting, and exhaustion can make us weak.

Still thinking about these children tonight. And about all the children who routinely practice barricading doors and hiding in closets, because their terror has been deemed an unavoidable political "cost."

Last night I re-shared a piece I wrote last year, which is sadly relevant again now. In everything we say and do—and in those we choose to valorize—we are building the future for children. Gun violence remains the leading cause of death for children.

Whatever you’re feeling now, remember that in everything we say and do we’re modeling and building the future we want for children. Try to be mindful of whether you’re reacting in ways you would want a child to imitate. Then consider the steps you can take to help make their future less fearful.

Mahmoud Darwish trans. by Mohammed Shaheen

The problem with allowing guns everywhere is that no one is safe anywhere.

"Write about the untouchable. Something out of arm’s reach, like freedom, the stars, or you..." This poem by Joaquín Zihuatanejo is so beautiful.

Recommended piece. When I saw "parents' rights" as a chosen dog whistle all over the transphobic pro-GOP signs in my own region last fall I felt so ... furious and heartbroken. As a childhood domestic abuse survivor ... And as a trans person who'd like a future in this country ...

Cynicism doesn't make you better than other people btw. I would much rather know and relate to people who are willing to experience disappointment because they tried, than people who shield themselves from disappointment by always assuming the worst, and therefore do NOTHING.

Every best-case scenario is a long shot right now, not just for the US, but for the human race. I am an organizer. I look for windows of possibility, and I aim at them. I don't settle into what seems likely or inevitable, and if everyone did, there wouldn't be any hope of getting out of any of this.

As a country, we talk a lot about protecting children. But our record when it comes to children’s rights is…well…terrible. To truly protect and care for children, we need to get much better at listening to them. And we need an honest reckoning with the dark history of “parents’ rights.”