Friday Reflections // Happy Juneteenth! + Many Thoughts on the Bookish Community

Happy Friday, everyone - and most importantly, Happy Juneteenth! Like many white Americans, I really had no idea that Juneteenth was a holiday that was celebrated until a couple of years ago, and even then I did not really understand what it was. This isn't something we're taught in schools, thanks to the systems that are put in place to continue to oppress Black folks in our country. That's why it is so important to educate ourselves and continue to strive to do better each and every day. I highly recommend checking out one of the links below to learn more about the history of Juneteenth. It is my hope that it can one day be recognized a federally observed holiday!

What is Juneteenth? 
A brief overview of the history of Juneteenth and why it is celebrated.

Juneteenth Syllabus 
A collection of resources including articles, music, podcasts, and more about Juneteenth.

Enjoying my Backyard Paradise™ after work yesterday!

This week was the first week that I've been able to feel somewhat productive over the last month or so. I've been able to put a lot of my activism energy into collaborating with colleagues in order to create more educational opportunities at our institution, which has been so motivating and energizing. I've been able to feel like I'm checking off more items on my to do list, and adding less to it which feels *fantastic* (but I'm sure will be short lived lol). And I feel like I've gotten into a good groove of how I'm managing my time for the first time in a while. Now that I've put that out into the universe, how much you want to bet that I'm going to get called back to work at the office? 🙃

Read Your Face Off Discord Server

I've been trying to think of ways to engage better with the Read Your Face Off community. I gotta be real with myself and say that I haven't done a great job of maintaining the community since I took a little bit of a break in early 2019, but I'm itching to get back to it and find a better way to engage with the folks who have been loyally following RYFO since its founding. Enter our Discord Server! I don't know too much about Discord but after watching a few tutorials I feel like I've been able to put together a space for us to chat about our 24 hour readathons, buddy reads, and other non-bookish related topics. I'm looking forward to seeing how this community grows! If you'd like to join us, you can follow this link!

*reminder that we have a 24 hour readathon tomorrow, June 20th from 9AM in your time zone to 9AM on June 21st! I hope you'll join us!*

J.K. Rowling's Blatant Transphobia & TERFs in the BookTube Community

I feel like this has been pretty public, but in case you missed it, J.K. Rowling has chosen *yet again* to be overtly transphobic on Twitter. Obviously her extremely harmful rhetoric has been met with much-deserved backlash and it is honestly so heartbreaking to see the creator of such a beloved story which has shaped the lives of millions (including myself) use her platform to reinforce such hateful ideas. Additionally, one of BookTube's own - Hannah Tay - has decided to "stand with J.K." and post an extensive video discussing how much she agrees with everything that J.K. Rowling has recently said regarding the Trans community. Absolutely disgusting.

I am going to leave two excellent response videos below. The first from G from The Book Roast (who hosts the Magical Readathon) discussing her feelings on the situation as an avid Harry Potter fan, all sentiments that I relate to so much in this time. The second is from Rhiannon from Crescent Moon Reads discussing their reaction and thoughts as a non-binary individual on BookTube. It breaks my heart that they felt the need to make a video to educate the masses (it is NOT their responsibility to have to explain why transphobia is bad) but if any voice needs to be heard on this subject, it's theirs.

While all of this is so, so horrible, a piece of positivity comes from this response written by Daniel Radcliffe, and the condemnation of JKR's words by all three actors who played our beloved trio in the Harry Potter films. At least we have the knowledge that not every public figure tied to the HP franchise share's JKR's damaging opinions, and that these individuals with major platforms are using them to speak out against her.

Reading Rush 2020 Dates Announced!

Literally 5 minutes before I started this blogpost, Ariel and Raeleen announced the dates for the 2020 Reading Rush! Due to having an extremely tough mental health year, I really didn't do that great on the Reading Rush in 2019. I'm hoping to redeem myself in 2020 and participate in as much as I can! I'm also thinking about doing daily vlogs, but I'm going to think on that a little bit more before making a final decision. Anywho, I'm looking forward to joining everyone on July 20-26 for The Reading Rush, and I can't wait to see what the challenges are for this year! 😊 Find more information about the 2020 Reading Rush over on the announcement video!