Ally Dowds

public services librarian, mama, and mountaintops

[John Pavlovitz @johnpavlovitz]

Kamala Harris didn't lose, America did.

As a nation, we collectively failed her—and in doing so we failed girls and women, the LGBTQ community, people of color, Muslims, Jewish people, immigrants, the sick, the poor, the elderly, the people of Ukraine, and Gaza, and the planet.

It's unthinkable, that instead of being able to celebrate a beautiful, hopeful new chapter in the story of this nation with a leader who appealed to the best of our natures—we will instead be holding a postmortem for democracy as we enter our 250th year, stewarded by a malevolent sociopath who despises empathy and shuns the law.

I truly thought we were better than this, that our shared humanity would show up. I thought we would reject this hatred and ugliness once and for all.

I hate being wrong about the majority of the people of this nation.

I don't know what's ahead. All I know is that good-hearted human beings are more necessary now than ever.

We did all that we could to avoid this moment, but now that it's here we'll just have to decide who we will be.

There is no way to comprehend or measure how grievous an error this is, but the only thing the decent people of this nation can do is wake up tomorrow and fight like hell for what we still believe is worth the fight, and we will.

I'll be doing that with whoever has the strength to join me.

I'm mourning the country we could have been and the one we apparently are—but I refuse to give up believing that compassion is the right path, that diversity makes us better, and that love is greater than fear.

[Dianne Gallagher @DianneG]

“Men are 100% responsible for pregnancies,” says SC Sen. Katrina Shealy, R- Lexington, “Men are fertile 100% of the time. So it is time for men in this chamber- and the ones across that hall and all across the state of South Carolina- to take some ejaculation responsibility.”

[The Boston Globe @BostonGlobe]

‘It’s now come to our doorstep’: Librarians find themselves at the center of increasingly bitter culture wars https://t.co/hOhYqe5NSo

[Ally Dowds @allydowds]

Library programming protecting your rights and #privacy #ReproductiveRights #ReproductiveFreedom #reproductivehealth #LibrariesTransform

[David Hogg 🟧 @davidhogg111]

I just spent 20 minutes in a waiting room for an appointment and watched a mom lead her entire team through a work call while literally taking care of her sick 2 year old who was trying to crawl all over the place. Moms are amazing.

[The Boston Globe @BostonGlobe]

From @GlobeAbraham: Perla, the woman migrants say enticed them onto planes, reflects an ugliness we must contend with https://t.co/hl4LBMYIs3

[Be A King @BerniceKing]

It is terribly inhumane to block pathways out of poverty and oppressive debt because you didn’t need or have those pathways.

[MI Right to Read @MIRighttoRead]

Did you know that 40 years ago..in 1982, the Supreme Court determined that content-based removal of certain books based on subject matter from a school library was a violation of student’s first amendment rights. (Island Tree vs Pico) Not sure why this is being discussed today?!

[Lindy Li @lindyli]

The Catholic Church spent over $3,000,000 trying to ban abortion in Kansas

They could’ve spent those 3 MILLION in tax-exempt dollars on alleviating poverty

Or on helping the disadvantaged

But nope they spent those millions trying to shove their religion down everyone’s throats

[Marlena Stell @MarlenaStell]

I wanted my baby. My husband and I have tried for years. I got pregnant in august 2021 and then miscarried. My body doesn’t naturally expel so I needed a D&C. I was denied one because my doctor was worried about the laws here in Texas. I waited for 2 WEEKS carrying my loss while

[Jo @JoJoFromJerz]

So, you’re telling me that teachers can’t talk about race, sexual orientation or gender, they can’t teach certain kinds of math or talk about slavery and they can’t even say the word “gay”… but they can lead their students in prayer?

Are you f*cking kidding me?

[George Takei @GeorgeTakei]

Why are we so bound to an “originalist” reading of the Constitution when women and minorities had no part in writing it? If they had been there at the table with an equal voice, don’t you think it would have been “originally” very different?

[Amanda Gorman @TheAmandaGorman]

Pregnancy is a private and personal decision.
It should never require the permission of any politician.

[Shannon Watts @shannonrwatts]

The same SCOTUS that said yesterday that states don’t have the ability to regulate guns today gave states the power to regulate women’s bodies.

[Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones]

We knew it was coming and yet it still took my breath away. I have no words.

[The Boston Globe @BostonGlobe]

Women are climbing the corporate ladder, remotely https://t.co/C6acEWrePK

[Bess Kalb @bessbell]

This is exactly what happens in a nation where politicians think Critical Race Theory is more dangerous than guns.