Hands Øff Rally

April 5, 2025April 6, 2025 annbh356Leave a comment

winter weather clothing with bright gold scarves — January 29, 2017

Practicing our right to assemble has morphed from an occasional occurrence triggered by an extraordinary event into a regular activity.

My first rally of 2025 was on a frigid, below zero, February day protesting the administration’s rough handling of local immigrants. It was Rochester’s reaction to an early morning ICE raid which removed two restaurant workers without any communication with their families or access to legal assistance. We eventually learned they were removed to a maximum security, for-profit prison in Louisianna despite being in the midst of asylum-seeking legal procedures.

Today’s demonstration was one of over 1,200 of Hands Øff rallies held around the country. Hundreds gathered in Rochester, tens-of-thousands at the Capitol in St. Paul with nearby events from Austin to Wabasha, as well as in every state capitol. This was about showing up, being seen, being heard, and not backing down. Some participants carried signs listing a range of worries, others held hand drawn poster boards focused on specific uncertainties ranging from Social Security to cancer research, from free speech to reproductive rights, from education to national parks; and, of course, hands off libraries. The list goes on and on as it seems nothing about American life is sacred or safe.

I find being aware of the administration’s latest shenanigans, whether I do a quick check or a deep dive, puts a bruise on my spirit and I must remind myself to look to beauty. Poet Lynn Ungar wrote this verse yesterday as we readied ourselves for today’s Hands Øff rally and the work yet to come.

April 5th

I don’t know how this all turns out, 
and neither do you,
but I have to confess it doesn’t look good.
I wish we were headed
for a picnic, for a waltz in the park.  I wish 
we were not ruled by broken men
who want to damage everything
that they cannot possess.  I wish
I could tell you what we do now.
The street is littered with the petals
of cherries that bloomed before
the big wind came.  Tonight
there will be frost, and tender buds
will burn.  But still, the woods 
are unfolding into green, 
and just outside my door some frog
is bellowing for all he’s worth.
Who knows what happens next?
All I can tell you is that the fields 
are ablaze with dandelions
who have never known 
the meaning of defeat.

     Lynn Ungar 4-4-25

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White House Targets Library Services

April 4, 2025April 4, 2025 annbh356Leave a comment

Depending on the era, librarians and library trustees have not been immune from attacks on library collections. What is different today is the scope and scale of the intent to thwart basic library services.

Within the tsunami of Executive Orders coming from the Oval Office, libraries and museums came under attack on March 14. By Monday, March 31, ALL staff at the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) were placed on leave. And, State Library Agencies were notified that their federally funded grants were terminated, effective April 1, 2025.

Cloaked in sheep’s clothing under the guise of reducing the federal bureaucracy, this is really a wolf huffing and puffing to blow the house down. While local tax dollars fund a major portion of library operations, in big and small communities, the federal funding is the glue that unites libraries into an effective network sharing system.

In Minnesota, these federal funds which “the President has determined are unnecessary” [Section 1. Purpose] fund a wide range of programs and services affecting daily library operations and individual library users. Among those services in jeopardy but not limited to just these:

MNLINK or statewide interlibrary loan and delivery, which ensures that residents have access to the information needed to fulfill their lives, regardless of geographic location.

Minnesota Digital Library (MDL) – a unique partnership with local history centers and libraries to digitize fragile historical items and provide a snapshot of Minnesota life through the centuries with easy online access to over 60,000 pictures, maps, letters, postcards, and objects.

eLibrary Minnesota (ELM) – a broad selection of online research databases for users seeking information for class assignments, improving career skills, or seeking reputable medical information.

The entire IMLS budget, including staffing, offices, and the pass-through funding to each state and territory constitutes 0.00146% of the federal budget. An amount so small within a ginormous budget that were this a science experiment an electron microscope would be required yet huge in meeting the needs of individual library users. Please contact your Members of Congress and urge your Senators and Representative to protect federal funding for libraries by preventing the dismantling of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

Graphic credit: show up for our libraries – American Library Association (ALA). MNLINK, MDL, and eLm – Minitex.

Knitting

No fool’n…

April 1, 2025 annbh3563 Comments

…it is time for Knit Camp’s 2025 Spring String Mystery Knit-along (MKAL).

The first clue dropped today without any April Fools tomfoolery. The remainder of the pattern will be revealed over the next four weeks. Just like a well-written dust jacket blurb that offers story hints without giving away the plot, the pattern’s pre-release notes provided an overview sufficient to know this will be a triangular shawl, in three colors using fingering weight yarn.

three skeins of yarn with colors (left to right) purple, varigated coral, and green — Colors: Farmers Market, Pumpkin Spice & Macrame

The yarn for Postcard from the Edge is a lovely selection of hand-dyed, organic Merino from Heather Best at Sew Happy Jane. And, with a move to a new house always on the fringe of my consciousness, there will be three fewer skeins to pack and move as I did a “stash dive” for this project.

Happy knitting!

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Hiding History

March 22, 2025April 4, 2025 annbh3561 Comment

wreath laying ceremony at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

While every cemetery holds hallowed ground, the rolling green hills of Arlington National Cemetery go beyond the grief filled quiet found in other places. The space, the land, the very air holds that which is holy knowing each white marble headstone, row upon row, represents an individual braver than I am. Whether volunteers or draftees, these men and women were willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice for our American way of life.

The Washington Post recently revealed that the sweeping efforts to exclude any reference to diversity, equity, and inclusion by the new administration’s Department of Defense has resulted in information about notable African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and women buried at the Cemetery being unpublished, altered, or hidden. My librarian’s heart and my American soul hurt knowing that DOD has blocked or removed information about these brave Americans simply because their stories have been deemed too “woke”.

I am not a military strategist. But it seems to me that with a growing list of global hot spots potentially threatening national security, DOD staff time would be better spent focusing on today’s threats rather than obscuring historical information on its various websites. The valiant efforts of the Tuskegee Airmen or the stories of brave women pilots who flew planes from manufacturing centers to the front in WWII should not be hidden simply because the individuals who performed those tasks were not white males.

Photo details – While laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier occurs frequently, I have only ever known one person who performed this ritual. I was invited to attend the ceremony when my dear friend Margaret retired from senior service at the Pentagon. I regret my decision to stay in Minnesota to manage some long-forgotten library task. I wish I had followed my heart to Washington, D.C. when she performed this honorable act on January 6, 2012.

This photo captures the moment she presented a wreath to the honor guard. Her husband Tom, a retired Air Force Colonel, stood to her left and her two sons stood at attention. (Edward in the Marine uniform and Peter in AirForce blue. He is still on active duty as a Lieutenant Colonel and Squadron Commander.)

New House

A time of lasts

March 20, 2025 annbh3562 Comments

white and green house with large trees all covered in new snow — The first snowfall at our newly purchased house – November 1985

Even as we excitedly peruse electrical, plumbing, and tiling websites to identify possibilities for the new “villa” at 5314 Solstice Place, we recognize we will experience daily “lasts”. Our last Christmas is already a memory. And, while the garden is still being planned, we did not realize when we planted the garlic cloves last fall that we were beginning our last gardening season on First Street.

For a majority of our lives this has been our home – 40 of 42 married years; 40 of my 72 and 40 of Richard’s 78 years. It is tempting to simply look towards September, to focus on the myriads of decisions in an effort to make this shiny new building project and the move as easy as possible. Conversely, it would be easy to get lost in the memories. To reminisce about late nights spent with the steam gun and a putty knife as we removed seven layers of smoke permeated wallpaper in the dining room; the residual nicotine so heavy that the house smelled like an old-time beer bar. To laugh at the number of times we washed and moved buckets and buckets of river rock around our lot – raked from one garden path to another. Maybe, just maybe, we can manage a blend of something old and something new. But today, after yesterday’s blizzard, I will be happy to pack away my last memory of snow shoveling. Fingers crossed that winter weather cooperates.

Racing

Countdown to the first race

March 14, 2025April 8, 2025 annbh3562 Comments

The winter wait between the last Formula 1 race in Abu Dhabi and the new season in Melbourne is over. The first three free practice sessions of the 75th anniversary year are complete with qualifying and the race yet to come. The winter dry spell was made slightly more palatable as we watched three days of pre-season testing in Bahrain, the release of Drive to Survive – Season 7, and the recent discovery of @CadenceBraking, a well-informed female TikTok influencer with a passion for racing, especially F1.

I am pleased with the results of these three practice sessions – McLaren papaya and Ferrari red were fast and, unexpectedly, Williams blue joined the quick queue, although poor Ollie Bearman, in Haas white, crashed not once but twice.

P.S. After qualifying – McLaren locked out the front row with Lando Norris on pole and Oscar Piastri starting second for his home race.

P.P.S. On the podium – Lando Norris as winner, Max Verstappen, second, and George Russell in third.

New House

Location! Location! Location!

March 6, 2025 annbh3563 Comments

saltellite map of new neighborhood with empty lots and a star at 5314 solstice place

We have a site! Specifically, Harvestview Third, Lot 7, Block 11 located at 5314 Solstice Place NW. After looking at existing side-by-side townhouses, we will purchase a new “villa.” This will provide independent living on one level with no-step entry constructed on a 50×100 foot lot. Interestingly, this parcel is slightly larger than our current property, with the added benefit of HOA provided lawn care and snow removal.

Given the already high-costs for construction materials post-Covid and mix in an unstable market due to ditzy rhetoric about on-again, off-again tariff threats and we thought the price of new construction might be unaffordable. But after weighing the pros & cons of 30+ year old properties in need of new appliances and remodeled bathrooms versus new construction with greater energy efficiencies and various warranties, we will build. Next step – choices, choices, choices.

Knitting

Knitting Retreat: Early registration confirmed

March 3, 2025March 22, 2025 annbh3561 Comment

On a sunny March day, with meteorological Spring having just sprung, I have a Fall weekend booked for knitting. From September 18-20, I will join 100s of other knitters at the annual Knit Camp at the Coast virtual retreat. My registration is confirmed, complete with swag. The speakers’ roster is a who’s who of industry experts. As planned, workshop topics range from short rows to color saturation to changing gauge. With a sunny disposition, I will set aside my worries of potential scheduling conflicts – retreat vs. house move – and simply plan to defer packing and unpacking while acquiring new skills.

Happy knitting!

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I Stand with Ukraine

March 1, 2025April 4, 2025 annbh3562 Comments

artwork by Marc Chagall with mother clutches her child while her husband attempts to shield his family from flames

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. While the White House claims the opposite, it does not change the truth we saw for ourselves. Television images of Russian tanks and bombed children’s hospitals. Interviews with World Central Kitchen Founder and Chef José Andrés as he and his teams provided hot meals for displaced people. And, on a personal note – hearing from Moldovan friends, with whom I shared many glasses of wine, that they were offering safe homes to Ukrainian refugees. Americans hung bright yellow and blue flags, churches conducted prayer vigils for peace, and sunflowers became the flower of choice, at least for a time.

With embarrassment, I watched a BBC live feed as an international relations meeting devolved into a shouting match intended to intimidate democratically elected President Volodymyr Zelenskyy while he visited the Oval Office. While Zelenskyy sought ongoing US support for Ukraine, the administration rudely rejected his warning to avoid putting too much trust in Vladimir Putin. These words of caution were not that of a flimflam man but from someone who has walked through the exploded rubble of the streets of his Capitol; a warning based on personal knowledge of broken Russian promises. My upbringing, with deep roots in southern hospitality and Swiss congeniality, requires treating a guest with respect. While I have only visited 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, I believe it is the people’s house and basic rules of respect and dignity should prevail. That definitely did not occur yesterday.

Art credit: Marc Chagall, 1887-1985. La Famille Ukrainienne, gouache, pastel and pencil on paper, executed circa 1940-1943.

Reading

Ruth and Freckleface Banned

February 24, 2025April 4, 2025 annbh3562 Comments

With the firehose of bad decisions spewing forth from this White House, I vacillate between trying to stay informed and wanting to ignore the mistaken path this country blithely follows. As a former children’s librarian, I am dismayed by the administration’s recent order to remove certain picture books from U.S. military schools. In an unstable world with bombs hitting targets in Gaza and Ukraine and civil wars in Sudan and Myanmar, I would think the Department of Defense would have more relevant tasks to undertake than pulling from its school library shelves Freckleface Strawberry by Julianne Moore and No Truth Without Ruth by Kathleen Krull.

Here is a brief synopsis in case you are not familiar with these two picture books.

No Truth Without Ruth – An age-appropriate biography of the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, from a small girl who chipped a tooth while twirling a baton to Supreme Court Justice making major decisions while donned in a black robe and her signatory lace collar.
Freckleface Strawberry – Tired of being teased because of her looks, the story tells of a young girl’s antics to hide her face before accepting her freckles.

While I may be eight years into retirement, my long-held belief in intellectual freedom as basic tenet of librarianship still rings true. As defined by the American Library Association: “Intellectual freedom is the right of every individual to both seek and receive information from all points of view without restriction. It provides access to all expressions of ideas through which any and all sides of a question, cause or movement may be explored.”

I encourage you to read these titles for yourself and determine whether these books are, as described by the administration, “radical indoctrination.” I think not but take a look.