Bob Schulties
Night in the Library
On Saturday, March 8, 2025, we attended Night in the Library at the Central Branch of the public library.
I love libraries and think they are one of the best ideas we’ve come up with, and boy do I love the Central Branch (and not just because it’s so close to me).
Despite all of that, I have very mixed feelings about this event. While I 100% believe it should be free, they need to limit the number of people attending. There is no way they can hold that many people safely. Basically, the event was oversold, and no one appeared to have experience managing crowds.
The main room (which used to be where the Circulation desks were) housed DJs and a small stage in addition to a pop-up bookstore. Now, I know I’m a cranky old fart, but if the music is so loud that the bookstore guy has to keep asking me what I said (at least, that’s what I think he said), then something’s not working.
Of course, the library rooms aren’t meant to be staged for lectures requiring a lot of seating. Sure, there are tables and chairs, but we’re talking about tables and chairs for 30 people, not the 2001 that were in the Society, Sciences & Technology room. Same for the 2002 in the History, Biography & Religion room. Folks were standing in the stacks, peering through openings, generally fussing about to be able to hear and get as comfortable as possible.
Media for Workers was the first event I attended. I was, as stated above, relegated to the stacks (along with lots of others), and it was a little hard to hear. And, of course, the room heated up pretty quickly with everyone in there. Summary: Support the media you want to keep enjoying. I’m all for that (see my Washington Post cancellation post), and I pay for as much as I can afford.
I wanted to stay in the room to hear the The Fire This Time: Baldwin & the Essay, but they had us all leave, and there was no way to get back in because the line for that talk was super, super long.
Next, I went to Podcasting & the Future of Democracy. Halima Gikandi was very charming, and I’d like to hear more about what she has to say as I found the talk a bit too light on what I expected her to talk about. I did love that she mentioned the library has resources to help folks out if they want to get started recording their own shows. I did have a seat at a table, although it was to her back, but the audio was generally fine.
I was able to stay in the room to listen to Win Working Class and didn’t even have to give up my seat. Bhaskar Sunkara was likewise charming and funny.
The one talk I am extra disappointed I couldn’t even get into the room for was Jacobin Magazine: Who Owns the Working Class? A Debate
Overall, the idea of event is a 10, but execution was a 6 at best. Look, I am fully aware libraries are always on the brink of being closed and by and large every single person involved did put forth an honest effort. But it was oversold which made it a less-than-fun experience.
What I think I’d do (I’m aware I’m spending money that isn’t mine and likely doesn’t even exist): Make it a weekend event.
Hold the event Friday night to Sunday afternoon. Use the Dweck Center for the talks over the three days. Figure out a better ticketing system and set up the little lobby down there for meet-and-greets and things. The featured speakers could then push folks to their own sites for more information, etc.
I also don’t know why the library itself didn’t have a booth to promote itself. There are so many damned cool things at the library that folks don’t know about3. And maybe this isn’t something that’s allowed4, but the library should make sure folks know who to write to to insist there is funding for the library.
I feel like I dropped a giant turd on this event and I so don’t mean to. The library is the best, the services that are offered there are great, and all of the staff I’ve ever interacted with have been wonderful and helpful.
And the good news is folks want more of this at the library. I hope the folks at the best library system in NYC figure out how to get more folks involved to make this run more smoothly.
In case you are wondering, it’s super, super easy to cancel your subscription to The Washington Post. Don’t worry, you won’t need to call or talk to anyone. It’s just a couple of clicks.
Also, when I think of The Washington Post, I am reminded of Veep (best show ever) and this little exchange:
The media will be our downfall, normalization edition: Stop Analyzing Trump’s Unhinged Ideas Like They’re Normal Policy Proposals.
Think of how many folks you know who use The New York Times as a reference point to form their opinions. That’s why we will never, ever move forward (by that I mean, to the left) as a country.
Our media will be our downfall, Term 2.
I’ve decided to combine more of my streaming services into bundles to save a little money. So I had to cancel Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Now HBO Max Max. Only Max was subscribed via Apple’s services and cancelling was, as promised, a simple two-click operation. The other services? I swear it was 5 clicks each along with pleas to stay and small buttons to click.
Of course, I have to wait for the billing cycles to complete in order to really set this all up properly, but here’s hoping!
Each week I read Mike Monteiro’s Good News newsletter. And each week I’m better off for it. I bet you’d like it, too.
Well, the rich got what they wanted, right? The NYTimes made this happen and the Washington Post was a super-close second.
I am willing to bet a lot of this “Joe Biden must drop out” nonsense if because of this: IRS reports collecting $1 billion from rich households’ back taxes.
The IRS reported Wednesday that it has collected $1 billion in taxes and penalties owed by hundreds of wealthy households who accumulated past-due tax debts for years while IRS enforcement dwindled.
“The tax bill wasn’t even in dispute — the taxes were clearly owed by these people,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a call with reporters. “But we didn’t have the people or the resources. … It takes time and staffing to work through these cases.” Get a curated selection of 10 of our best stories in your inbox every weekend.
The tax agency, boosted by $60 billion in additional funding from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, has hired hundreds of skilled accountants over the past year and a half after years of shrinking staffing.
Is Biden old? Yes. Really old? Yes. But Biden has been far better than I expected and he’s doing the job (gaffes and all). Should we have a younger person in there? Assuming as qualified, 100%. But it’s Joe. Dems need to push the DNC to embrace the younger folks rather than fight them.
The problem, I assume, is the youngs want it all to be better and that costs money which means higher taxes (for the rich). The rich do not want that. At all.
I’d love to see a Harris/AOC ticket. Or Whitmer/AOC ticket. I hope one day to be able to vote for AOC for president. By the way, it’s a damn shame the Dems aren’t not 100% backing her impeachment movement against Thomas and Alito.
Paul Waldman’s post on The New York Times is right on the money. The Times has an outsized amount of influence and I really wonder why it wields it the way it does.
Our media will be our downfall. Part whocankeeptrack?
A quick follow-up to a post I wrote about years ago: Joni Mitchell et al., return to Spotify. Ah, well.
The media will be our downfall part infinity.
As little as I have loved Republicans the past few years, coinciding with the rise of our own little autocrat, at least Donald Trump knows how to dress. I can’t imagine that even he would demean his office or his country by dressing down, as is now the “code” for senators. Clothes might not make the man or woman, but they do tell us a great deal about them.
Yeah, fuck those actions. It’s what you are wearing. The fact we* are talking about Fetterman’s dress means we aren’t paying attention (or don’t care) about what is going on. “Call me old fashioned,” says the old white lady. I’ll do you one better. You are a problem.
*We being our media.
As I’ve written in the past, if Earth was described in a science fiction story, it wouldn’t be believed.
Look at these pictures: The Earth is wonderful. And these photographers are so awesome at their jobs. Thanks, photographers!
I listen to the Apple New Today podcast every day. I find it to be the best of the <10 min morning news summaries. I have noticed that in the last few months ANT has been adding more and more sound bites from ESPN. With all the talk about Apple buying Disney, I wonder if Apple in particular wants ESPN.
I have no good feelings for Mitch McConnell. At all. On any level. That being said, when he froze up and then regained a bit of lucidity, his assistant asked reporters, “Any more questions?” 1) That’s incredibly callous, bordering on eldercare abuse and 2) How was the very next question not, “Are you going to call an ambulance, you fucking monster?”
Someone needs to make an app that makes it easy to subscribe and unsubscribe to streaming services. I think I could save a lot of money it was easier to turn these services on and off.
You know, kind of like how you can toggle off a subscription on an iPhone.
Our media will be our downfall: CNN edition. How how how are people surprised CNN is a POS? How?! The only time I go to CNN is to check my internet connection.
Did I mention that our media will be our downfall? Well, Our Media Will Be Our Downfall.
Reading
I am currently reading The Angel on the Roof by Russell Banks. This American Life recently included an old segment featuring Banks. I got the book from the library and they had to dig it out of the archives. That made me a bit sad. It’s slow reading for me, but I am enjoying the stories.
I somehow had missed the book Revolution in the Valley by Andy Hertfeld. Many of the stories, if not all, are available on his site, Folklore, but I am glad to have the stories in one collection to hold. And the pictures are bigger and that’s fun for me.
Watching
We’ve been watching Bad Sisters and that’s been a blast. How I can really, really like this family is something else. But I really do.
And because I am weak, and will watch anything sci-fi, I started watching The Ark. It’s buttocks. I watched the three available episodes (I know, I know, I can’t help myself).
Finally, raise a glass to Leiji Matsumoto who helped create Space Battleship Yamato, known in the U.S. as Star Blazers.
I know, I know. I complain on this blog (likely to a void… hello, no one!), but I try to get it out of my system so I don’t explode.
Anyway, in Edition 53,721 of Our Media Will Be Our Downfall is this article about how the new White House person is ineffective.
The more I think about it, the more rage-filled I become. I never, ever read anything like this when Angry Potato, Meal Interrupted, Blonde Mouth were doing the job. Never.
Our media will be our downfall… part 3 of what will surely big a big number.