Welcome to this week’s Sunday Post. This feature is brought to you by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, so swing by after you are done here and get the full list of participants!
- Hopelessly Teavoted by Audrey Goldberg Ruoff
- The Ever Queen by LJ Andrews
- Texts from my Exes by Rachel Van Dyken
eARCs thanks to the authors and publishers:
Audio ARCs thanks to the authors and publishers:
Well its been a week. Another school shooting. Another week where I had to go to a staff meeting and review the protocols for what to do if there is something suspicious, off, or unusual. All to prepare to minimize loss should that happen in my school. As a psychologist, the toll this takes on the staff and students is acute. And, its long term at this point. Students have been doing this since they started kindergarten and it hasn’t gotten any better.
I was also very shocked to see some of the reactions to Charlie Kirk’s death. No one should die by gun violence. However, he said some really hateful things about minorities, LGBT, immigrants, and women. My students are diverse and to hear someone speak those hateful things about them further crushes their spirits. They already feel different, and here is someone telling others that they are not as a good as a cis white man. So, to see people I work with changing their FB picture to Charlie Kirk and ignoring the harm he caused so many was difficult to take. I felt like I couldn’t post any opposing views because I would be attacked (I reposted a few things and several “friends” unfriended me). My job is to make my classroom and school a safe place for ALL students. Supporting him goes against everything I know. I hope that we solve gun violence in this country and I send my thoughts to his family who is undoubtedly suffering. But the parents of the students killed in the school shooting are also suffering and no one changed their profile picture to their face.
All that being said, my anxiety is through the roof. Political unrest, division, fear of school violence…it has made my anxiety so bad that even with medication my heart rate was high and my panic was acute. Sigh. I want to live in a different timeline.
It has had a big impact on my reading as well. I’m usually too exhausted to anything at night except fall asleep. I also tend to doom scroll, so I actually deleted the FB app from my phone. I couldn’t delete my account because I realized how many things I have that use it, but not being able to doom scroll from my phone is a good thing. IG, Threads, and TT all use a much better algorithm, so what I see is only what I have curated to want to see. Much less stressful.
So, whats new with you this week? Did you read any of the same books I did? Did you find any great book deals I need to grab ASAP? Let me know in the comments!
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I’m with you. I don’t think violence is the answer. How are we failing young white men because they seem to be the source of most of the shootings? One possibility is they are too isolated and need to be part of communities instead of on their phones or video games all the time. Helping others is a great way to build community. We are staying home more than ever in this life. COVID, violence all make us stay home more.
I agree, murder and gun violence isn’t the answer at all. However, dying doesn’t automatically make you a saint either. I’m sorry you’re having to deal with so much turmoil! I hope you have a better week!
Point out the irony of CK being shot on a school campus, given his comments, and suddenly the right doesn’t care for free speech after all. I find no satisfaction in yet another senseless death to gun violence, but I won’t mourn a man who espoused his hate filled views.
Treat yourself with kindness and stay safe x
I agree, the people who put him as their picture are another mind than me. But I also don’t agree with those celebrating his death either. It’s a rough world right now that we live in. Hoping this week will be a better one.
I hope this week is better for you!