Welcome to Middletown Strong's first ever in-the-field interview! As Middletown Pride partners, we wanted to share the experience of being at this joyful live event. You'll feel like you're standing beside us on Main Street as you listen to Shannon and Christy talk banned books with Olivia Scully and Mary Richardson. Olivia is the Help Desk Coordinator for Bibliomation Inc. and Co-chair of the CT Library Association's Legislative Committee. Mary is the Teen Services Librarian at Simsbury Public Library and the Co-Chair for CT Library Association's Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion (JEDI). You'll also enjoy a behind-the-scenes chat between Stephanie, Shannon, Christy, and Ayanna as they talk about how Pride looks from the library worker perspective; they'll share their joys, foibles, and triumphs from the planning stages through PrideFest. Thanks for listening!
https://middletownpride.org/
https://westhartfordpride.org/
https://freehart.org/
https://www.facebook.com/freehartcloset/
Book & Podcast Recommendations
Feminine Pursuits Seriesby Olivia Waite
Going Bicoastal by Dahlia Adler
Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
You Must Remember This: Podcast Series
https://www.youmustrememberthispodcast.com/
Seeing White: Scene on Radio
https://sceneonradio.org/seeing-white/
This podcast uses music by Ashutosh, under a creative commons license:
Time by ASHUTOSH | https://soundcloud.com/grandakt
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US
Welcome to Middletown Strong's first ever in-the-field interview! As Middletown Pride partners, we wanted to share the experience of being at this joyful live event. You'll feel like you're standing beside us on Main Street as you listen to Shannon and Christy talk banned books with Olivia Scully and Mary Richardson. Olivia is the Help Desk Coordinator for Bibliomation Inc. and Co-chair of the CT Library Association's Legislative Committee. Mary is the Teen Services Librarian at Simsbury Public Library and the Co-Chair for CT Library Association's Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion (JEDI). You'll also enjoy a behind-the-scenes chat between Stephanie, Shannon, Christy, and Ayanna as they talk about how Pride looks from the library worker perspective; they'll share their joys, foibles, and triumphs from the planning stages through PrideFest. Thanks for listening!
https://middletownpride.org/
https://westhartfordpride.org/
https://freehart.org/
https://www.facebook.com/freehartcloset/
Book & Podcast Recommendations
Feminine Pursuits Seriesby Olivia Waite
Going Bicoastal by Dahlia Adler
Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe
You Must Remember This: Podcast Series
https://www.youmustrememberthispodcast.com/
Seeing White: Scene on Radio
https://sceneonradio.org/seeing-white/
This podcast uses music by Ashutosh, under a creative commons license:
Time by ASHUTOSH | https://soundcloud.com/grandakt
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US
Welcome to Middletown Strong, looking up with Russell Library. I'm Cate Tsahalis and I'm thrilled to share a unique episode with you today. As many of you know, Russell Library is a Middletown Pride partner, and back in May we recorded a pride preview episode where Ayanna and Christy interviewed the 2023 Grand Marshals. The excitement for the library, however, continued beyond that interview and extended into the June 3rd event where Middletown Strong recorded our first ever live interview. In a few moments, you'll hear a recap with a few of our team members, Ayanna, Stephanie, Christy, and Shannon. We'll share their behind the scenes experiences at Pride. This conversation will be followed by Christy and Shannon's live interview with Mary Richardson, teen librarian at Simsbury Public Library. And the Connecticut Library Association's co-chair for Justice, equity and Inclusion, along with Olivia Scully, help desk coordinator for Biblio Nation Inc. And co-chair for the Connecticut Library Association's Legislative Committee. I really hope you enjoy their conversation about band books, and a special shout out to Cinder and Salt for allowing this important conversation to happen right outside their busy storefront. As always, Thanks so much for listening. Hi. Let's talk about our experience at Pride 2023
Christy:Woo. Which started with Ayanna and I interviewing the Grand Marshals and the energy in this room Yes. Was phenomenal. Yeah. And they had not met each other before I heard this podcast, so that was very, very sweet. Very magical. Not they're like besties. They are.
Ayanna:They, oh my God. They hold hands in every single picture. It's amazing that they take, and it's the cutest thing and they big each other up. That's amazing. And they support each other in a way that is very magical, and it is. We, we brought that to life.
Shannon:They're adorable. I didn't wanna leave the room. I was there, of course, doing my content, take off photos. But I wanted to stay and be in the podcast too. Oh, I just creep on Instagram now. No, that, yeah. Completely. Stop. No. Well, Middletown Pride, Instagram Shadow. Awesome job. Yeah. They have just so much cute photos with the two of'em. And great photos that they took as well.
Christy:Absolutely. So definitely check that out. But also check out the Middletown Strong Instagram. Oh yeah. I've done by Han over here. Great. We, you know, we, it's kind of weird sometimes doing photos, but it's like, then people can see what's going on behind the scenes. Yeah, exactly. So thanks Shan. That's pretty awesome. Oh, anytime I have, I love sharing those photos.
Ayanna:Yeah, I know. Now we've upgraded, we're doing teasers now. Yeah. We're like, Letting folks know what the upcoming, uh, episodes are about. Mm-hmm. Um, and so all that stuff like layered is important to communicate with the folks. Otherwise we're leaving it up to them to, to figure us out, you know, and, and decide if they wanna figure us out instead of like, coming to them and just be like, Hey, this is, this is who we are. So, so listen, a hundred, right? So a hundred percent shout out to you, Shannon.
Shannon:Oh, thanks guys. Appreciate it. That's a lift.
Christy:So, for folks that didn't know we did our first ever live, Recording Bam, bam. At pride.
Shannon:So it was successful. Weirdly enough, it had its bumps. It did, it had its foibles and something that you're doing new. This always happens and it's always a good learning experience.
Christy:So, um, we, we sort of, Didn't have a stage to perform on, which was a little bit unfortunate, but also it kind of worked out, I think in the end. It did. And, um, we ended up recording in front of cider and salt, cider and salt and, um, that, thank you. Shout out to cinder and SA for being so, so kind. Letting us sit on their tables and in front of those little truffle of trees or of trees that they have in the window is really cool. And, uh, we interviewed, um, Olivia and Mary Richards. Um, A little, uh, little bit of background that you guys will hear. Um, Mary is a librarian in Simsbury and Olivia is, um, the Connecticut Library Association, um, authority sort of, uh, on band books and challenge books. And she's, um, part of the legislative committee. She's the co-chair. Um, so we interviewed them. Yeah. Live. Um, we have some great photos. Thanks to Shannon at first. Oh, thanks guys. It was just like, oh my goodness. This is so different. Yeah. Um, than being in the studio. Mm-hmm. And with the headphones on, you could hear like the baby six blocks down, screaming and wailing. It wasn't fun. The headphones came off immediately. Headphones came up quick. Had to Yeah. But, um, the, the vibe of having like pride going on around us while we were talking about these banned and challenge books was. Fantastic. Um, and, uh, Ayanna, your daughter was there. I love, I'm looking at some of the photos.
Stephanie:She's literally in every photo.
Shannon:Ah, you have to, she's amazing.
Christy:You have to talk about what happened in this photo.
Ayanna:Oh my goodness. Yeah. Just, uh, to take a step back, just paint the picture of the morning, um, for, for us, uh, as a library. Yes, please. I paint the picture for us. Just let's just paint the picture real quick for the folks cuz it attending pride. Um, and helping coordinate to whatever extent you're coordinating is a whole different, um, ballgame, right? And so we were, we've been planning, this is a year round situation. We sit and we plan and we collaborate all year. Um, and so the big day comes and you're already anxious and you already have butterflies and whatever else. Um, and you still gotta do the thing cuz the train's moving. So, um, what is it we get down there, however, we get down there with our wagons and cars full of stuff.
Shannon:Shout out to John. No, seriously. Yeah, definitely we can get his truck truck for us.
Ayanna:So we, we get there, we're, we're setting up. Um, and the vibe is so cool at Pride that people were showing up before the event started. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, and so we were talking and engaging and, and you know, librarians and community go hand in hand. So we love to talk and we love to engage. And time was flying by, um, and. So now we are trying to figure out, um, where we're gonna interview people cuz the stage that we booked is being built in real time at, at that time, right? Literally being built 20 minutes before the interviews. Mind you did not have that on the Bingo card. And so we're pivoting and if you, uh, record podcasts or work in tv, work in media, uh, do anything that has deadlines to it, you're, you're freaking out because your plan is like derailing. Um, and so like, really. Uh, we gotta give Rachel, um, and Cinder and salt their flowers for jumping in and being like, Hey, you can have this conversation in front of our, um, in front of our business. Our establishment was great. Mm-hmm. Yeah, we would love to and we, we partnered with them all the time, so it was just a really great display of community and, um, I would have loved to, got to be a part and see the conversation, but we were so, um, like inundated at one point with, with folks who just were asking great questions and who just really wanted to be, uh, involved with the library and our work. Um, that I completely missed it. So, um, so yeah, there were, we, we took plenty of great pictures. Um, and I'm so glad that the, the audio worked it did for folks who weren't able to hear it like myself. So you guys are in for a really good treat. Um, Chrissy always holds down the fort as far as hosting. Um, and in talking to, to our collaborators, um, Shannon always holds down the text. So like we all put our, put our, uh, rolled our sleeves up and like, Went to work. Went to work in the middle of the street, in the middle of Pride Fest, and Stephanie was holding us down on the other side of Main Street. Go stab. Solo. Solo. Might we add, um, holding down the drag story hour, which. When I, when you see the pictures of that amazing packed the house. Mm-hmm. And we didn't even know, so we're down the street running around in circles. You would not have known
Shannon:Stephanie just being a rockstar, just holding it down.
Stephanie:There were over a hundred people packed into RJ Julia. It was such a lovely crowd. And the line to take photos with the artists before and after. I was not expecting. It was, it was beautiful. It was a great turnout. And then I came downtown and was like in a completely different world, cuz I was in a bubble up at RJ Julio's. Um, and I walked downtown just to like check in and be like, it went well, hi. And then I got like completely wrapped up in tabling. Yeah. Because our booth involved, you were wrapped. Had to be. Uh, I wanna give a shout out to Kristy, who, I believe it was Kristy's idea to make the booth about band books this year, and the engagement with that topic at this time was incredible. Yeah, it was critical. People just wanted to walk up and talk about it with us, the poster. Which, uh, I, Christine and I lot done work, but I put a lot of work into it and uh, yeah, we gotta post that on the Instagram. We do. I got a picture of it, so Nice. Good. Cuz I only got parts of it. I got a whole thing up here because I was like, oh, this cools angle. This is a cool angle. And I got parts of the picture, but not the, well, people were coming up and being like, Why is that book banned? Why is that book banned? And I'm like, lift the flap and you'll see. Cause that's how we set it up. And they did. They did. And then they wanted to have a conversation about it because they were either enraged or confused, uh, and they just, they just wanted to have a discussion. And we had these beautiful conversations with these beautiful community members. People were taking the buttons that I made, people were entering the raffle, like people were shot at the library. It was just like a lovely community coming together. And over this topic that is so polarizing, but to our community is so important. Right. And it wasn't polarizing to them. Everybody who came to the table was like, no, this is wrong, is wrong. Let's talk about it. Yeah. It was lovely to be in community with people who, um, are really feeling the same things that we're feeling in our work. It was really lovely to see. The power, you know, cuz people are like, this is not right and this is not be happening. Yeah. So we appreciated that. Yeah. That support from the community so much.
Christy:Yeah. I just wanna say cuz Ayanna won't say how much work you put into this. Yes. And uh, you coordinated all of us. And then we did have a small contention in the parade. Mm-hmm. So after we finished the podcast and wrapped it up and oh my God, we ran into the street, we literally ran into the street, into the parade.
Shannon:We found Russell library and we're like, let's go
Stephanie:Christy. You were already marching, right?
Christy:I went down. Right. So I hooked it to the other end of town. And then, so Christy was marching with, um, the library board, and then as you came around about halfway down the street, the rest of us just, just jumped, jumped, jumped in.
Stephanie:It was so we did the rest of the walkway. It ended up being really cool and the amount of community engagement just for shouting out the library. Awesome. As we walked was also so fun. People were like, yeah, library. Yeah. No banning books. It was just so sweet. It great. Every day we were rock stars day.
Christy:Right. That we get to be rock stars. Yeah. Yeah. Usually we're like the sidekick in a movie for like five seconds to further the plot. Mm-hmm. But the in, at this moment, we were like rock stars and we appreciated the community so much. Yeah, definitely.
Ayanna:If you've never had the opportunity, um, to, to march in a parade at all, but particularly, um, to be a part of Middletown Pride, I would highly encourage you, um, to be a part of the march. Um, that is an energy that you can't, like I can, I see why people are like addicted to performing and addicted to that energy. Mm-hmm. Oh, a hundred percent. Um, because it is, it is so electrifying and no matter what your mood is, it'll, it'll immediately, um, change. So I have to credit, um, my eight year old, cuz I had no intentions on marching anywhere. No, I, there was so much work happening. My head was spinning. And my daughter's like, I wanna march. I really wanna march. And I'm like, baby, you can't just jump in. No, we folks', organization. Oh, I literally just, and just jumped in. Well, Shannon's like, but I'm gonna march. And Stephanie's like, well, we're here. I mean, we can just jump in. And we literally table abandoned. We abandoned it. We, and we bounced. And it was beautiful. And it was maybe like half mile to the, you know, for the rest of the way. Mm-hmm. So I didn't have to do the whole march. God bless you all. Um, that's, it's a long march. I did. That's a walk.
Shannon:I didn't, I didn't finish it last year. You and go run and get tech.
Christy:That's right.
Shannon:So that way this is the tech life man.
Christy:So next year you're gonna have to do the whole thing. I'm gonna have to do the whole thing next year. Hell, oh yeah. But I love the crown your daughter bought you. You have to tell us.
Shannon:It was beautiful. Oh, if you look at her Instagram, you'll see Ayanna with the beautiful crown. Yep.
Christy:That is, that is a thing Maya bought for her mom.
Ayanna:She did. So, um, so my daughter, this is her second pride. Um, the first one we came to last year, we came super late and so we didn't get the full experience. Um, and so she came. Uh, I was working, obviously had to have the professional hat on and she was just not with it. She's like, mom, can I go walk? Please? Can I go? Please leave you. This is, this is boring me. I need, and I'm like, babe, are you, I don't wanna, I don't think I should let you walk alone. Like you are eight. And she's just like, I'll be fine. And literally everyone else was like, She's safe. Mm-hmm. And it felt really good to have her be able to go down. She came back with bags of free stuff. It was insane. And she comes back with this tr and she's like, mom, um, I, I bought you this, or first she came to me. I was like, mom, can I buy you a present? Give me money to buy you a present. Right, right. And I'm like, okay, whatever. Take the money. I'm sure you're going to like eat it or find something to play with. You'll be fine, but let's go buy some time for me to keep working. And she comes back with this tiara. With a little jewel in the middle. It was the cutest thing. And, um, she was like, it's for you. And I was like, oh my God. So, and we all had this melting moment and I got so many compliments on that. Yep. It was so pretty. It was the perfect thing for pride. Oh my God. It was, it was, it was a amazing, and she didn't want it, she didn't want anything except for, except to give it to me. And so I wore it on stage. Every, I wore it the whole, the whole night. Um, and every compliment I got, she was just like, Beaming. I know. It was great.
Stephanie:Yeah. Um, I just wanted to jump off something Ayanna said, um, it felt safe to be at Pride this year. Um, yes, I was, yes. This was my first experience with Pride and, and this. In this current moment that we're in, I was worried that, um, pride would feel unsafe for this community. And I was very thankful that it was safe and it was joyful. And as soon as we got into it, I stopped worrying about my safety because I was just in it. Yeah. Um, but I'm very glad for this community that we, we were all safe and that people felt, um, safe to express themselves because this has, this has been a, a tricky year for pride. And I'm, I'm really glad that they were able to keep it safe for everybody.
Ayanna:Yeah, a hundred percent. We, we had, uh, so, um, I am a, I'm a part of the, uh, people, folks, the team that coordinates the Pride Fest every year. And so we, you know, we have a debrief and um, that was, is always one of the biggest takeaways is the safety component, right? Is the way that we prepare and over prepare for what could happen. Um, and the media would. Make you, you know, wanna be kind of hypervigilant. Um, and somehow when we get down to Main Street, there is a magic that you can't, you can't escape. And um, I know out of the 20,000 folks that we see, or we have seen for the past couple years, we've had less protestors than I can count on one hand. Um, and. That is will always be a, a miracle. We can't um, explain. We can't explain. Yeah. But we will continue to be very grateful for, um, so yeah. Shouts out to Middletown in this community. Yeah. For always, um, making the pride community feel so safe. Um, cuz they pack the streets, man. They pack the streets. 20, what's happening? Thousand people on main wild main street's.
Christy:Being their authentic self. It's amazing.
Shannon:It's a great time.
Ayanna:It's awesome and it's,
Shannon:you feel the love from everyone.
Ayanna:Yes. It's like everyone's contagious.
Shannon:Everyone goes there to just be. Yeah. And everyone is there and there's a lot of love and it's wonderful. It's always an amazing time.
Christy:I love Pride. Yes. I'm gonna just wrap us up with our discussion that we had after Pride. We did a Heart Stopper discussion. Stephanie and I did. And so we had books from Pride. Um, they sponsored us, uh, having 20 copies of Heart Stopper to give away. And then we also had Food from Perk on Main. So it was a really nice night. And the folks that came, we had a mix of. Adults and, and teens. Mm-hmm. And we had an amazing discussion. Um, I hope that next year we can replicate it a little bit. Yeah. You know, try to have another type of discussion. Uh, Stephanie is amazing with the teens. Thank you. And we, you know, we just had people really being able to express themselves and, and, um, what was going on in their life. And then also like loving on heart stopper. Yeah. So that's beautiful. That's the, the kind of work I love doing as a librarian. And so that, that discussion, that event just like filled me up so much. Yeah. Yeah. And it's not stopping, not, we still have, um, pl a lot of things going on, um, for the next, for the upcoming months. Um, we. Are very firm in, in the belief that pride
Ayanna:is celebrated all year. And, um, so is, you know, our pride commission in the city of Middletown. So we're still going hard. Um, just a quick preview of what we got going on. There's a, there's a series of tie dye. Mm-hmm. Um, and don't let me lie to the people that is the teen only.
Stephanie:It's teen only. Yep.
Ayanna:Okay. So, um, Yes. Teens come vibe with us.
Stephanie:Yes, we're gonna be talking about, uh, identity and expressing yourself through the art of tie dye. But, uh, Q plus is coming to actually facilitate a discussion about identity. Yes. So it'll be a. It'll be pride filled. A hundred percent doing that three different times this summer. So check the calendar cuz I don't know when this is gonna release, so I don't wanna give dates. I've learned that as a podcaster. But check the calendar. Yes. Or call. Or call. There you go. We're also, we're happening this summer. We, we can confidently say that. And we're also, the summer won't go by before you hear this, and we're also, uh, partnering with Q plus again at the end of the summer. Yes. Um, and Rushford. And we're gonna do a back to school paint night. So, um, we'll be doing some more pride stuff.
Christy:Yeah. So look for that. Yeah. And more pride stuff coming coming Oh, throughout the year. Yes.
Ayanna:Also, um, check the. Hmm. Middletown Pride check. Middletown Pride. I don't wanna send you all over the place. Um, cuz that's frustrating. Um, Middletown Pride will also have the monthly community events and so shout out to our commission, uh, who has, um, stepped up above and beyond all expectations. Um, and they have started to do, um, more community. Um, events just based on knee or just based on what we've been hearing from the community. And so there was, we just had a speed dating, a queer speed dating night. Um, we are having a board game night. There will be a queer swim, so, Um, look on Middletown Pride, um, for the rest.
Shannon:Awesome sauce.
Christy:Cool. All right. Stay tuned for our live episode. Woohoo. So welcome to Middletown Strong, looking up with Russell Library and today Christy Billings, myself and Shannon Barillari our interviewing Mary Richardson and Olivia Scully. Mary is a teen services librarian at the Simsbury Public Library, a self-proclaimed huge nerd who loves all manner of gaining pop culture and graphic novels. She's also the co-chair for the Connecticut Life. Library Association, justice, equity and Inclusion. And on my other side, I have Olivia Sully. Olivia is the help desk coordinator for BLI Nation Inc. And co-chair of the Connecticut Library Association Legislative Committee. I wanna also point out that Olivia received the Intellectual Freedom Award for March, 2021 for a panel presentation involving Dr. Seuss collection, manage management, and anti-racism. And this award recognizes an individual or group for demonstrating extraordinary personal courage in defense of intellectual. Freedom. So with all of that, I know it's a lot. Um, I'm, I'm really excited that we are doing this live at Pride. We are in the middle of everything right here on the corner of Main Street and at Pride, and we have folks that are here set up, um, and ready for the parade, which we will get to in a little bit. But first we wanted to talk about challenges in Connecticut. Trucks. I wanna repeat that. This was book Challenges in Connecticut and I would love, um, to just talk a little bit. First of all, we are here at Pride. What are some authors or some books that you folks would like to recommend to our listeners?
Olivia:Well, believe it or not, uh, i, I always thought that romance novels were super cheesy, but, um, oh, same. I came around. Yeah. Like you're going in that direction? Yes. I totally came around. Um, over the pandemic. I discovered an author named Olivia, wait, um, w a i t e. And she writes these historical sic romance novels and they are like the perfect combination of a little bit scandalous, a little bit steamy and super sweet. And so I would recommend any of her novels.
Christy:That's awesome. I'll have to check her out for sure. I hadn't heard of her before.
Mary:Oh yeah. Her stuff is fabulous. It's so gay'. And it also, like, she has a tendency to find like her other characters from the last book kind of make like, like surprise appearances. Yes. It makes, I love author that do that. Oh yeah. It makes sense for the story too. It's not like, I gotcha. Um, so yeah, so I, because I do read a lot of ya cause I'm a teen services librarian, but I also just really like ya. Um, I'm gonna recommend Dalia Adler. Uh, she has a new book that just dropped called Going Bi Coastal. Um, and it is so good. Uh, it's, the blurb for it is, it's like, Sliding doors for like a Ya by Disaster kid. Um, but if you don't know what sliding doors is, it's the type of, um, story where this girl is going into her senior year in the upcoming year, but right now it's summer and she has the choice to either stay in New York City with her dad, who is a Columbia math professor, or go to LA and visit her strange mom who has like, she has like some kind marketing gig or something and um, do an internship with her. And so she's in this juxtaposition of like, well, do I do this or do I do this? It's also the question of like, um, I got to speak with Dalia Adler about this book recently, and she says that, um, she was really looking at the idea that our teens often feel like if they make the wrong choice, they're gonna end their entire lives. Right? Like one bad choice. That's it. You, you've cut off all your career goals. Um, and so in this book, our main character gets, doesn't have to decide each chapter alternates between New York City and like, what if she went to la? Oh, that's so cool. That's amazing thing. So you have, and so you have a staff of romance in the summer in New York City and New York City's almost like an extra character. Um, you can totally tell I love that, that she grew up there, lives it, and then over in LA she meets another intern at her mom's office who's like absolutely terrible. So, you know, they're gonna have to kiss it out later. Um, and his brother owns a taco truck and so there's all this like food and it's, it's so good. And also we have a Jewish man character too, and I'm a really big fan of ya books with Jewish characters that are not about the Holocaust. Um, and so you get a lot of that kind of woven into it cuz she's a very, um, cuz she's practices so like, you know, she's doing. Um, Shabbat dinner every Friday. So like, I was so hungry when I read this book. Y'all,
Olivia:I love books with food in New York. It's so good.
Christy:And then a Jewish man character like that. That's awesome. We'll have to do this for a, a follow up. We have a, a piece where we talk about what's called shelf life. So we're, we're going to do a romance one, so I'm gonna Awesome. See if we can maybe do some of these. These are really cool. Oh, heck yeah. Awesome. So we, we just talked a little bit about like closed door, open door, some of the other romance things that I had never heard of. So I'm looking forward to like learning some more. Honest up, but these both sound awesome, so I'm definitely gonna check these out. Um, so I'm gonna ask you guys to describe an experience where you have experienced the challenge to material at your library or have assisted a Connecticut librarian with challenges at their library, and what have you come away with after the challenge? Mary, kick us off. Mary.
Mary:Uh, yeah, so I'll try to be brief, but it's kind of a weird rambling story. So I work at Sims Republic Library. We're in the Farmington Valley and. So, uh, one of my good friends is, was also the team services librarian at Avon, which is right down the street from us. Right, right down around, uh, whatever that road is. I can't remember. I'm bad numbers. So, uh, I get a text from her like, Hey, you need to call me like right now. And I was like, what's up? What's going on? And she was like, yeah, we have a challenge going on for gender queer. Um, and I was like, what happened? Like, where did this come from? Because it just felt like it came out of the blue. Like we were hearing stuff like nationally, but it hadn't really hit Connecticut yet. Absolutely. Yeah. Um, and Austin. So gender queer had gotten checked out at her library and just never came back. And then all of a sudden it came back. A lot of us experienced that during lockdown. We had books that just disappeared for six months to a year. Yeah. Um, and it had been, she had a new sticker on it when it went out. And so she was like, you know, this book didn't get the love it deserved. And so she kept it on the new shelf. So it was front and center. Awesome. And so that's part of where like an upset mom saw it. He was just like, oh my goodness. Um, so that was fun. And then they had like social media and people were writing letters to the director and everything, and. We're like, uh oh. And then we kind of got word that somebody had come to our information desk, which is our reference desk, and asked about it. Um, and so we'd already trained all the staff, like, here's what you need to say, here's where our, um, form of like the request for, uh, reconsideration is and everything. And so staff was ready and gave it to them. And then we're like, okay. So then we wait. It was like a month before we actually got the form. So like everybody's just, uh, I think I'd been in the job like maybe five. Yeah, like, cause I'm still pretty new there. I'm going into my third summer. Um, and also like being a openly queer teen services librarian, I was like, oh wait a minute, this could really like, be uncomfortable. Um, and I didn't really want to hear a bunch of negative things about people who probably have never been into a library or seen what I do or anything. Or read the book. It, there's also that. Yeah. Uh, so like, you know, my friend was also a director at Granby at the time, so she starts mobilizing her staff cuz we're trying to see a domino around us. Um, geographically. And so we were like, alright, who's next? Um, our, when we finally got the form, it was really lackluster. Like we were waiting for like a bunch of incendiary language cuz like, I'd already seen like what Marissa had experienced in Avon. Yes. It was pretty like, like nothing burger. So we were like, okay, you're upset. You didn't like the book. You didn't read the book. Um, okay. Uh, and so we went through all the things we had to do. Went to the library board, I had to talk about this book at the library board. Um, and they kept it. It was fine. That was it. And we didn't make a big deal about it either, just because things were really starting to hit up on heat up on social media across the country with book challenges. Mm-hmm. And it's like you don't want to invite that to your door. So in the meantime, we looked at our policies, looked at our collection development stuff, and just started kind of trying to make sure that we were doing everything correctly. Um, I think the biggest win in the Farmington Valley was probably over in Canton because Sarah McCusker saw what we did. She actually went as far as to her Board of Selectmen. So when they got the challenge that. Somebody, they were like, oh no, you don't come to us, you go to the library. So like everybody was educated and like ended up like working out and they kept their book too. That's so, but yeah, everybody's all mad about this one book. Right. And this book is, it's a great book. It's a great book. I remember buying it when I worked in Colchester and thinking, I know kids that are gonna read this book and see themselves. Yeah. And that is so amazing. And kids are gonna read this book and understand their friends or maybe even possibly parents understanding their kids. So
Shannon:I read the book when I got challenged. Because I was like, let me see what's happening. And then I was like, wait, they're challenging this. And I was like, I hate people. Yeah. So, but that's a great experience thing, just like the education you have.
Mary:Yeah, we, I mean everybody in Connecticut, I really feel like pulled it together for this one book. Um, and then the other part of it too is like, it was actually off our shelves for a little bit and that's cause I had to replace it cause it got checked out so much. The original copy was paperback, so I put a hardened back copy in so it'll stand up a little bit more. And it actually looked great yesterday. It's currently checked out.
Christy:I feel like that is like the thing, what is, what happens? A book gets challenged and it goes out probably way more than it did before it got challenged. Mm-hmm. Right? People are like, why? What is this? Why is this important? Um, we're putting together, we, so we're here at the Russell Library is here at Pride. We have this great booth, um, and we have some books that are banned and we have, uh, some something where you can flip up a, uh, a little sheet and see why the item is banned. Mm-hmm. One of the, one of the books on there is, Brown and it was banned because Bill Martin is a very common name, so they banned the book was supposed to be a different Bill Martin than a different book, but it just shows you that is appalling. Right. My gosh. It just shows you the, the ridiculousness of challenging books in the first place. Yes. So, so we hope folks will come down to our, our tent and see some of our challenges. We did notice that the, it's a title and often it is male protagonists on the cover. Mm. These are the books that are challenged more than anything else. So we thought that was interesting when we were putting together our, our sheet. But Olivia, I'd love to hear more about what you have to say too.
Olivia:Yeah, yeah. Those are, you know, those are some really good points. Um, I haven't been privy to a book challenge myself, but I have worked with a number of librarians throughout the state and, you know, one of the things that, um, what I keep hearing and seeing over and over again in Connecticut libraries, Is sort of that, you know, it's this, it's like an astroturfing campaign where, um, these very organized groups come in and they try to stir up a kerfuffle about some title and you know, you get a couple of very angry people who get very vocal and um, and you know, when it comes to the Board of Selectmen or the board of directors at a library or, you know, whatever it is. We're seeing and hearing, uh, a lot of, um, just community support. You know, the, these meetings become like standing room only, and what you hear is that the, the local community itself, they're rallying around libraries and, um, and supporting the freedom to read and the freedom, uh, to think. And, um, so that's, that's honestly really heartening, you know, that gives me a lot of hope. Um,
Christy:yeah. I love that. I mean, and like Mary said, we're, we're we. Want the kids that need these books to see themselves in the pages and say, I'm not by myself. This is really important. Uh, our first pride that, uh, last year when we were here, we had a gentleman come up who was probably in his fifties, and he said, I came to the Russell Library years ago because I wanted to find out what was wrong with me. And he said, guess what? I found out. He said that nothing was wrong with you. Wow. Goes yes. So it's like, this is what we do. Absolutely. We want, we want people to see that this is normal. Yes. That this is, um, this is, you know, Particularly, um, uh, like when you're being told that it's not, that this is absolutely the way your life, your authentic self should be.
Olivia:So. Absolutely. And just to, just to add on to that, yes. You know, we've seen this happen over and over throughout history and it's never on the right side of history. Nope. You know, obscenity and libel, there's like a very narrow legal definition for this stuff. Libraries are not stocking that stuff, you know? Agree are building collections that are inclusive and diverse and, um, they're really forever. So it's,
Christy:that is the goal. That is absolutely the goal.
Mary:I like to say super, just like, oh, kids are gonna read this book. I'm just discovery. They're gonna be gay or they're gonna be trans. And I'm just like, y'all, I read the outsiders. It did not make me straight. Right. Like yeah. Censoring the books. It's true. It's like the most heteronormative Ya book. I have parents come in that my kid doesn't read. I want'em to read the outsiders and like they are not going to interact with it the way that you think they are. Like they might like some, some kids actually would read it in school and they were really jazzed about it. But I'm like, no. Like
Christy:it's a classic. But I feel like now that it's just not the same. It's experience that that people had me some years ago.
Shannon:Yeah, I just liked watching the movie cause there's just so many good looking men in it for me. And then Diane was, Diane Lane was so cute. Like that's the reason why I was like, I didn't actually.
Mary:I love it. I mean, I feel that way about Grease too. Michelle Pfeiffer, and that movie was a gay awakening, right? So, oh, shoot. Yeah. Yes.
Christy:So, yeah, I'd love to hear, do you guys have a book or a film that you'd like to share with us? Just a, a recommendation is Cool.
Mary:What do you got, Olivia?
Olivia:I do have one actually. Um, all right,
Mary:while you're scrolling, uh, did y'all recently read the Washington Post article that looked at the aggregation. Of, um, all of the book challenges from the past year. Oh no, I have not seen that. Oh, yeah. Like 42% of them were all LGBTQ titles. That's not shocking. And then the thing they found from the FOIA requests for that, like, it was actually just a, uh, what we were talking about earlier on our way down here, uh, it's a handful of people that are just like filling out these requests, like across the board all the time. Yep, yep. So it's like, you know, done In a way it's like a smokescreen, right? Social media makes things look so much bigger than it actually is. Yeah. Right. And that's that. Astroturfing too. You know, where you've got this like national group that is trying to masquerade as a local parent organization that you know that the outrage is manufactured, right? Are they
Christy:right? It's absolutely manufactured and it's, um, really disturbing. It does. It blows up on social media. These people are often not in the community whatsoever.
Mary:So, yeah. I remember we kind of went through this in the eighties too, uh, with like, Reagan was in office and we had a lot of books censorship. Cause my dad was actually a library director at. Um, small academic college in, uh, north Georgia. That's where I grew up. And, uh, remember being like eight years old and going to school, having like a, I read band book shirt from Ala Wow. So, yes. Mm-hmm. You were rocking the shirt. History repeats itself. Yep.
Christy:Unfortunately it does. Um, so we'll go back to some of the questions that we had. Um, uh, you know, going forward, I, I hear it and I'm sure you guys hear it, that people say that libraries are going away and
Olivia:libraries are not going away. I don't really feel like our number counts. At the door say. That's right.
Christy:We are very valuable to our community and we are very busy. We have, um, all kinds of opportunities for people to come in and use our services. Um, we have books, we have audio, we have, uh, streaming services. We still fax stuff.
Mary:So it's like amazing, amazing stuff that, where else can you go to fax something
Christy:for free?
Shannon:It's too expensive.
Mary:Absolutely. Yeah. Right. Absolutely. Yep. And we do notary services too in a lot of our libraries. Yeah, I know, right? Notary services too. Yep. That's like your number. One question when I worked the info desk on Mondays is like, do you have a notary? Are they in the building? Wow. And I'm like, yes. What are you looking to notarize? Cause there's a couple things we cannot do. Right? Huh?
Christy:But that interest libraries do this. So what is the thing you would like people to know that your library is doing that they may not realize their libraries are doing?
Mary:Hmm. So, uh, I guess basically that like, yeah, we have books and stuff, but like we have a huge library of things at our library. You can check out a drone, you can check out cake band. Wow. Board games, puzzles. Um, We also have yard games now that are pretty much, you gotta put those on hold. They're hard to get in the summer. Uh, and I'm always, we have wifi, uh, hotspots too. Um, I think we have a Chromebook now. Like, there's a couple different things that we have. There's like a, there's like some, some tools that like you may don't normally have, or like, oh man, I just need like a car kit for something. Like, we have a little bit of everything. Um, and yeah, we have all the makerspace and stuff too, but like, I think the biggest resource the library has is space, honestly. Yeah. Wait, a meeting room, people can book a meeting room. Yeah. We also have, uh, Rooms for study and for small meetings. Uh, and we have so many people that are coming into this space because a lot of people are still working from home and like, oh no, my wifi went down. I didn't need it. I gotta take this really important meeting for like an hour or two. And I'm like, oh, cool. Which room would you let we'll book you.
Christy:Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Anything that you wanted to add to that?
Olivia:Like, yeah, you know, I think it really boils down to access, like Mary just said, you know, there's all these different things that the library does and all of it is about providing access. Um, you know, Of the things that I, I keep coming back to is like eBooks and, um, I, I am going to do a little plug here, but there's, there's some legislation that, uh, is currently in the works, um, to make eBooks more, uh, affordable and fair licensing terms for libraries because, um, many people don't know this, but like, it's expensive. Yeah. It's very, it's so expensive. As a, as a, a customer, I can go on Amazon and buy an ebook for like five. Five bucks, but a library has to pay$60 or a hundred, you know, so much more than that. And they have to buy it over and over and over again. Um, and, you know, it's, it's really a barrier to access for folks who really need eBooks and audiobooks, folks who have disabilities, who can't necessarily get out to the library. Um, and because the library can't afford to, uh, to buy, keep trying. Yeah. You know? The collection becomes very, um, very narrow, and it can't be as inclusive and diverse as what's on the shelves. So that's one of the things that is happening right now with libraries. Um, you know, we're, we're trying to do our best to provide these diverse and inclusive collections. And, um, I would just say, you know, uh, talk to your legislators and ask them to support, um, HB 68 29. That's, that's the main ebook bill that is. It's, uh, it's on the, on the, on the docket and, um, the legislative session is about to end. So, um, hopefully, yeah. So we're, we're fingers crossed that we wanna get this over the finish line, but, um, but yeah, it's just really about access, you know, it, it, libraries, uh, in this way I think libraries are just so critical to having this democratic society, you know?
Christy:Yeah. And if you don't know who your legislators are, just ask us at the library. Yes, we'll help you find them. We will help you write to them and support this bill.
Mary:So absolutely. That's great. Also, thank you for all the work that you've been doing with the legislative committee. Oh, like I know more about stuff than I did like five years ago, so thank you.
Olivia:Thank you. You know, it's been, it's been a team effort all, all around, so.
Christy:Yeah. No, it's a, it's a, it's a been a wonderful journey. I was on there a little bit for, for some time during covid, and it's not as scary to talk in front of legislators. Um, We did a lot of it now on Zoom, so I did it for my living room instead of having to go up to Hartford. So, but it's important and I think we can affect change more at the local level than we can at the national. So it's important to do that kind of stuff.
Olivia:And in Connecticut we're lucky that our legislators by and large know about libraries and support libraries. So, um, excuse me, big shout out to them. Uh, and
Christy:yeah, keep it going. Absolutely. Um, so are there, in Connecticut, are there other events, discussions. And such that you would like folks to know about? Is there other events that you'd like to give a shout out to?
Mary:Yes. I'm actually gonna give a shout out to West Hartford Pride. Uh, if you had told me where I live, I would have a Pride celebration a couple years ago. I'd been like, what? No. Uh, but yeah, we have a, a vibrant West Hartford Pride organization. Uh, we don't have, our festival is coming up in a couple weeks. Uh, you can follow them on Instagram for all their events and stuff. Like the Game Inquire From Hartford are actually doing like a fundraiser thing. Tomorrow. Um, and it's like they've actually outgrown the space for like the big PrideFest. Like it's gonna be somewhere else now I think. Which makes me so happy. Cuz it also shows the community that like, yes, there are people that are here, there. If you pick up a rock, you will find a queer person wherever you're at. Like we're not actually invisible, we just kind of do our own things. Sometimes some of us are very out and very loud and some of us are like blending into the walls. It's fine. People are people.
Christy:I love that. Yeah. That's great.
Mary:I was, yeah. People are just like, oh, are you sure? Are actually gay people around, like wherever I worked. And I'm just like, yay. We're sure we're everywhere. We're sure. I was just saying like, have you, have you met anyone? Like, like, do you really out see other people that are not like, had around like, so just say it. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. And do you have an event to Olivia? Yes. You know, I, I want to draw attention to a very small new organization in Hartford called the free. Heart closet. Um, yes. Staff. Gabriel Organization. Gabriel? Yes. Gabby
Olivia:Barnes. Um, she is a Dynamo. Um, but this organization is a mutual aid organization that provides, um, art supplies for anyone. Um, and it's just, I don't think we tend to think about art so much, but it's so important and it brings, like, it helps us to, it helps create culture and Yeah, you know, gets discussed. Action going and things and brings beauty. Um, it's good for the soul, it is good for the soul. And the free heart Closet is holding a, um, a press party fundraiser on June 17th. Um, so get out and support that, um, help, help artists to keep making art. Um, and there's more information about that@freeheart.org.
Christy:Beautiful. Uh, so last, last stop, uh, book or film or podcast that you'd like to. Share with our Middletown strong people. We'll come back to that. If, if you, if uh, if not,
Crowd Chatter:hey, let here singing. Did have a singing challenge. Oh no. We're recording. I love it's daughter and she's, she is awesome. And get So we're, we're, so, we are in front of Cinder and salt. We are in the midst. We have, right? We, we love cider and salt. We really appreciate that. They let us, uh, sort of hang out here in front of their store. So, uh, definitely check out Cider and Salt right here in Middletown. Yes. The corner of Maine and College And College Street. Yep. So their store is amazing, sustainable, and they do an awful lot in our community, uh, with cleanups and and such. And the library loves partnering with them, so we really appreciate them very much.
Mary:I actually do have an answer. I was, Yeah, do as well. But okay. If you wanna go first, that's cool. Yeah, sure. Uh, so I'm a big podcast person and one of my favorite podcasts, I've been listening to you since I discovered podcasts like however many years ago, um, is called, you Must Remember This, and it is a film podcast by Green Longworth. It's the first a hundred years of Hollywood and she, yeah, she's a, she comes to it from a feminist intersectional perspective and she does seasons. Um, and if the name sounds familiar, it's cuz she's also married. To Ryan Johnson who did Knives Out. Oh. So they were basically just a bunch of film nerds, vomit, love. The last Tuesdays, the ones we're, the one we're on currently now is called Sex in the nineties. And the one before that was Sex in the eighties. Uh, which is funny cuz everyone was like, how did you come up with this? And she's, Ryan and I were like, at home during lockdown, there's nothing you could do, watch movies. And then we realized there's no sex marshes anymore, which is like the whole like eighties Oh my god. Movie. Yeah. Those don't go, they don't exist anymore. Right. I never thought about it. She's like, there are not movies about adult relationships anymore. Everything's all superheroes. Or kids orient in and they take the sex out of it. Um, so she started like the late seventies with like the idea of like, what happens with the rated X and like how that all comes about. And now we're in the nineties and it's very interesting because pulling this back into book dating, I see your face. You're like, where is she going with this? Oh no, you're good, you're good. Um, like she's been talking about like, there's a whole episode on uh, pretty Woman. Like Pretty Woman was a Disney film. Y'all what? Yeah, it's it's done with the same production coming. Its Disney. It's a Gary Marshall film. No. Okay. Yeah, you just blew my. It. I mean, think about it. It is a transactional Cinderella, right?
Olivia:Oh my God, Mary, you just blew my mind.
Mary:Seriously, don't get me started on dirty dancing going forever. I love it. I love we when we're not recording. But yeah, so like I remember, I remember when Basic Instinct came out cause I was like maybe around 10 or 11 and my parents were like, yeah, you can't watch this movie. And it was almost gonna get an NC 17 rating and that was all this taboo. I did not realize it was just one of the things she gets into, there was actually a whole bunch of. Gay activists came out when it was getting filmed and were like, no, you can't do this because the character is like a bisexual murderer. And so it's just saying we're tired of having all of our queer villains be gay. Like why not be gay? But like all, all the queer characters and movies are, are, are villains, right? Yeah. Like why are they and they die. Usually she's pork spoiler. She doesn't die in basic consume. But um, so there's like that aspect of it. And also like it got like roasted in the, in the Village Royce our, um, in just all of the stuff. And so she's kind of talking about like, yeah, so we're talking about like, this is happening in like 91 or something, but it's not that different from what's happening today, right. With everything. But the last episode she just did was the Madonna. Um, basically it's about Madonna, but a lot of it is about, um, the movie that she does with Bloom de photo basing on the name of it. And also, but you can't divorce that movie from the sex book that comes out at the same time with getting into censorship. Um, and like what people have a problem with that book isn't actually any of like the heterosex scenes, it's the fact that she can. It includes queer culture in it as well. Right? That's what they're reacting to. So like that's like 1991, right? Or 1992. Pretty nice. And now it's 2023
Christy:and we're still having the same issues.
Mary:What is it Shakespeare says in the Tokyo? The past is prologue. Oh yeah. So beautiful. That's where I'm going with its, I love, it's a good ride. And like you never know, like what she's gonna call, she did a whole series on the blacklist too when Trump got elected, which was like very telling,
Christy:right? Oh, I'm definitely gonna check this out. And Olivia,
Olivia:that's awesome. Um, yeah. So whenever anyone asks me about podcasts, I always recommend seeing White, um, on scene, on radio. So Seeing White was a podcast series done by the podcasters who do seen on radio. They have a few different seasons now. Um, but I, I know it's very serious compared to, you know, what, what Mary was talking about. But, um, I found it to be just really eye-opening. It deconstructs race and racism. And privilege. And, um, I know this stuff sounds like, it sounds really heavy and it is really heavy, but the thing about seeing White this podcast is it makes it really accessible and digestible. Um, it's very conversational and, um, it's just so important, I think, to get that perspective. Um, and, and sort of to bring that back to book bands as well, you know, as Mary mentioned, like 40 oh. That 42% of these book bands are, you know, these LGBTQ characters, but also, um, an enormous number of book bands are centered around race and racism. And, um, so, you know, it's really all connected. And I think just getting that perspective is just so critical.
Christy:I think it's a journey that people need to take and sometimes they can start it with a podcast. So I think that's really important.
Mary:Yeah, yeah. Yeah. They're really ease you into it. Yeah. Yes. To your point number one book chance here so far is All Boys Are Blue, which is by a black queer author. So that has everything for that particular group to hate. Yeah. So, and it's an amazing book. It's so good.
Christy:Right. Awesome. And that's the thing, these books are amazing and I, I hope maybe they'll get, you know, a little more visibility because of some of these challenges instead of being tucked away and in some place that people can't access them. Absolutely. So I wanna thank you guys so much for this today. My guest, Mary and Olivia and Shannon, who's been doing a, doing stuff. A lot of cool stuff out, a lot of content. So thanks you guys, and we really appreciate you guys so much. So happy pride, anytime. Thank you so much. Happy pride. Thank you. Excellent.
Kim:Thank you for listening, and please visit our website to learn more about our events and resources. Middletown Strong is now available on apple podcasts, spotify, and many of the places you listen to podcasts. Please subscribe and feel free to share what you learn with others. Russell Library has too many exciting things going on to keep them quiet. Talk to you next time.