there’s being nice to yourself and then there’s being so nice to yourself that you have an absolute abundance of enthusiasm for life that fuels your every step
This is a really common question, probably because the library/author relationship can seem pretty opaque from the outside. But libraries do benefit authors! A lot! Here’s how-
There's something reassuring about reading a book written centuries ago and seeing your own feelings put into words. In the words of James Baldwin, “You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read.”
I don't think enough men realize how they enable abusers every time they laugh at a rape joke, every time they say nothing when a woman is objectified in male conversations.
Student activism is never perfect. You’ll always find some protestors who are ignorant or overzealous or narcissistic. They’re like 19 years old. But you also can’t wait for the perfect protest. It will never come.
I really do empathize with the difficult position of leftwing Jews who support the ceasefire but are also wounded by protestors saying ignorant or antisemitic shit like “Israelis go back to Europe.” The average US college student is probably not aware that most Israeli Jews are Mizrahi or Sephardi and not in any sense from Europe. They’re probably not aware of a lot of things, and sometimes their rhetoric is tonedeaf or worse. Those protestors should be educated and corrected.
But the central purpose of the protests is to address an urgent humanitarian crisis. Many students are bravely risking police violence to speak out. So obsessing over the occasional broken window or offensive slogan seems to me like a warped sense of priorities.