This is my first week as the only full-time librarian in my department for the foreseeable future. My plan so far is to take it one week at a time & to go to meditation as much as possible. Plus, I’m getting married in three weeks, what?

Meanwhile, here’s some stuff I’ve been reading:

1. The Wrong Way to Save Your Life, Megan Stielstra. This book of essays has drawn me in even as I’m struggling to find time to read this week. Especially caught by her specifics and instinct for the right details to reveal.
2. Translating Borges into Trees: An Interview with Book Artist Katie Holten. This artist created an alphabet-then-typeface using drawings of trees, then translated (more specifically, transliterated) poems and other writings into Tree! It’s such a cool concept, I requested the book through Interlibrary Loan. 
3. Captain Awkward: “I’m scared of spending money and everybody in my life pressures me not to.” On this great podcast interview, Jennifer Peepas aka Captain Awkward talks about how she’d love to do a series on money-related questions, and I really hope she does it, because she comes at this question with characteristic common sense and compassion for all the factors at play. Money – the having (or not having) and spending of it – is such a fraught topic, and her thoughts on “competitive thriftiness” are valuable.
4. White Female Aggression, Fobazi Ettarh. This is a librarian-oriented blog post, but it talks about white women and how we reinforce white supremacy with smiles and tone-policing and not-so-passive aggression. It talks about our responsibility to do better, and to interrogate ourselves about our privilege and bias.
5. Interactive Foliage Map So this isn’t a read, but bear with me – it’s been such an enormous week! This is a lovely look at where you can see fall foliage in the country, and when.