Valerie Hawkins

FKA @ALALibraryVal. Founding Team @Skilltype. Proud Info/Social Media Pro:

[Valerie Hawkins @librariesval]

Still seeking a #NonMLS library and/or social media job opportunity.

See my Libraries by LibrariesVal website
https://t.co/ZtRHDTqSAN

See my Social Media Portfolio https://t.co/RFceESbXO1

[𓆩♡𓆪 GODS FAVORITE 𓆩♡𓆪 @soulaaangel]

CHICAGO — SOLO BEAUTY SUPPLY— BLACK OWNED

[Barry Butler Photography @barrybutler9]

Today is the 134th anniversary of the beginning of the CTA Elevated Trains. On this day in 1892, the first "L" train ran from Pershing & State to Congress & Wabash. Chicago is the only city with elevated trains in its downtown area. #history #chicago

[SAVE A SEAT FOR ME (Simon & Schuster, 2026) @NewBlackMan]

'On May 31, 1921, a two-day massacre erupted in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as white mobs began looting and burning the affluent Black district of Greenwood over reports a Black man had assaulted a white woman in an elevator; though the exact number remains unknown, as many as 300 Black Tulsans were killed during the riot.'
https://t.co/zsilrDigh6 | @AP

[Lori Lightfoot @LoriLightfoot]

Amy and I send our sincere condolences to the family of Spencer Leak, Jr. on his passing.

Spencer was a devoted family man, who revered his parents, his wife and immediate family and his siblings and their families. He stepped into a leadership role in the family business, recently running point on the homegoing ceremony for the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

He was always personally kind to me, which I appreciate and will always remember. This is a big loss for our whole community.

May his memory be a blessing in this difficult time of grief.

[The Hillman Files @thehillmanfiles]

39 years later.
Same Date.
Same OGs.
New Class.
September 24th - Class is back in session!

@strongblacklead
@netflix
@feliciapride

[Eshan @eshanbuilds]

Joan Cusack has spent the last eleven years running a gift shop in Chicago. The red carpet she stepped onto this week for Toy Story 5 was a day pass to leave the shop and come back to Jessie for one afternoon.

The shop is called Judy Maxwell Home. She opened it in 2014 and named it after a character from What's Up, Doc?, the 1972 Barbra Streisand comedy. It sells curated home goods, small art, weird knickknacks she picks out herself. She works the floor. She picks the stock. She has been telling interviewers for over a decade that retail is the thing she actually wants to be doing.

In her words from this week: being a celebrity actress isn't that fun, over and over. Not that great of a world, except for being exposed to cool sets and talented, interesting people.

The Toy Story premiere was her first red carpet since September 2015. She did not attend Toy Story 4 in 2019, even though she was in the film. Her last on-screen acting role was a TV guest spot in 2020. The interviews where she talks about Hollywood with the most affection are the ones where she is also explaining why she left.

What I keep coming back to is the math of her career. Two Oscar nominations by 1997. School of Rock in 2003. Shameless from 2011 to 2018. She earned the right to keep working at the level she was working at, and she chose a gift shop in her hometown instead.

The line she gave reporters this week, about why the shop matters: if you're a woman now, it's so fun to have a shop of your own. You hone your instincts in the world, versus at home. This is a little lab of my own instincts about being in the world.

She made an exception for Jessie because Toy Story 5 finally makes the yodeling cowgirl the lead. Twenty-seven years after she first voiced the character. The carpet was for that, and only that.

The framing that she came back is the part worth correcting. She has been gone on purpose, doing the thing she actually likes, and a six-day press tour for a Pixar movie does not change that. The shop will still be there on Monday. She will be in it.

[Valerie Hawkins @librariesval]

@TheCinesthetic From the directors cut - not in any USA theatrical cut

[Martin Luther King III @OfficialMLK3]

On Mother’s Day in 1968, less than 2 months after Dad's assassination, the Poor People’s Campaign began in Washington, D.C. My mother, Coretta Scott King, stood with thousands demanding dignity, jobs, and justice. She advanced my father’s vision that the fight for freedom must also confront poverty.

[Web Design Museum @WebDesignMuseum]

Happy 28th Birthday CSS2!

On May 12, 1998, the W3C released the official recommendations for the CSS 2 specification. CSS 2 included a number of new features such as absolute, relative and fixed positioning of elements, etc.

#WebDesignHistory

[GEN @GEN80]

Before Detroit Techno, Chicago House Music landed in Detroit and it’s foundation was laid by these Detroit women

#BlackAmericanCulture #BlackAmericanMusicGenres
#Midwest

[Block Club Chicago @BlockClubCHI]

Chicago’s only pinball museum is moving from Pilsen to the Loop this summer. https://t.co/53PhSGiH8A

[Web Design Museum @WebDesignMuseum]

Happy 30th Birthday Internet Archive!

On May 10, 1996, Brewster Kahle founded a non-profit organization called the Internet Archive.

#InternetHistory

[Internet Archive @internetarchive]

News organizations are increasingly blocking the Wayback Machine even as their reporters still depend on it 📰

In PRESERVING THE WEB IN THE AGE OF AI, Mark Graham, Director of the Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive, explains how major newsroom staff rely on archived web history because their internal archives often miss the deeper public record.

That contradiction sits at the heart of the preservation crisis unfolding online.

🎧 Listen on the Future Knowledge #podcast ⤵️
https://t.co/XPy6OQNL4Y
📚 Read VANISHING CULTURE free from the Internet Archive ⤵️
https://t.co/BrawXOwMBr

#WaybackMachine #AI #WebArchive #FutureKnowledge @MarkGraham

[Mayor Brandon Johnson @ChicagosMayor]

Herbie Hancock is a genre-defying jazz icon and a Chicago legend. Throughout his six-decade career, he has pushed boundaries and his work has spanned jazz, R&B, pop, and more. It was my honor to present @herbiehancock with a Key to the City of @Chicago on International Jazz Day for his contributions to music, music education, and our city.

[Internet Archive @internetarchive]

Nothing is "meant to be thrown away." Not the MTV News archive. Not Gawker. Not the penny press of the 1800s. 🕳️

Maria Bustillos argues that keeping the receipts is about more than nostalgia. It's about the raw material of history.

📚 Read Maria’s essay & more in VANISHING CULTURE from the #InternetArchive

📖 Download & read, FREE: https://t.co/8mgQ1ZSsQ7
🛒 Purchase in print: https://t.co/EB58IliqDm

#VanishingCulture #DigitalMemory #OpenAccess #Preservation

[Shelton Boyd-Griffith @flyrebel]

Angela Bassett paying homage to iconic Harlem Renaissance artist, Laura Wheeler Waring!

[Laura Wheeler Waring, Girl in Pink Dress, 1927]

[Craig Shimala @cshimala]

The Chicago skyline, but put a double rainbow on it. #ilwx

[Internet Archive @internetarchive]

RIP Ask Jeeves. The natural-language search engine founded in 1996 was rebranded as Ask in 2006, and officially shut down on May 1.

Here are the Wayback Machine’s first and last captures of the site.

When websites disappear, the historical record can disappear with them. The @WaybackMachine preserves that history – capturing the web so its past remains accessible.

Explore 30 years of web history: https://t.co/26v2OOgRbq

#90s #90sNostalgia #WebHistory #WebDesign

[Barry Butler Photography @barrybutler9]

Intense Double Rainbow over Sears Tower on Monday evening in Chicago.

[Valerie Hawkins @librariesval]

Wow, Daniel Kraus wins Pulitzer (former ALA coworker). Well done!