Links to Click: August 18, 2023

Child stars, casual connections, and more.

We’re nearing the end of August, and in many parts of the US, kids are going back to school. This means it is one of the two times I love Facebook, since seeing my friends’ kids brings me such joy (the second time I love Facebook is when those friends put their kids into costumes for Halloween). It’s been a rough summer, y’all–let’s hope fall is a little better.

I finished up my summer semester in school this week and have a whole 7 days off before the start of my own fall semester. Going back to school as a full-time working adult and parent has been An Experience, but I have gotten so much more out of it now than I think I did when I was in school in my late teens and early 20s. I think a big part of it is understanding when and where I am done with any particular assignment and letting go of things when I am no longer gaining something from it. If only I could apply that lesson to the other things in my life.

My Work This Week

• By now you’ve likely seen the articles about how a school district in Iowa used ChatGPT to ban books. That’s…half of the story, of course. I talked with the district about the query they used and replicated it over on

  Literary Activism
  . It’s been a busy week for the book banners, y’all.

What I Read & Consumed This Week

• It’s always been kind of embarrassing to be from Illinois, where our politicians have legacy of corruption. But JB has done so much good for this state, and the policies being implemented are almost progressive. Two I wanted to highlight include the new law that protects children of influencers and the new law which allows victims of doxxing attacks to sue.

• Speaking of children thrust into the spotlight before they can consent, this Vice TV episode on the dark history of Jon and Kate Plus 8 is so, so good. I won’t lie: I don’t think Jon comes off well here, and I question some of the ethics of the episode when it seems pretty clear that Kate has decided to retreat from public attention.

• One of the many reasons we need to care about the way right-wing nationalists attempting to change public education and access to material is this: teenagers are much more susceptible to conspiracy theories than their adult counterparts. This is especially scary given how many adults easily buy in.

• As “a regular” at a coffee shop, this piece on the way becoming a regular somewhere can soothe your loneliness resonated [gift link]. The science on weak ties explains why those early months of COVID were especially brutal for so many of us.

• I read a piece within the last year about how beiges, grays, and creams have become such trendy interior color choices and some of it has to do with influencer culture–those neutrals make photographing products pop (obviously, not applicable to all things, but an interesting thought nonetheless). I can’t stop thinking about it, too, in context of this piece about the design company who has revitalized food packaging for the Instagram/influencer era. Related: Magic Spoon is good and all, but it is not $10/box good. You can get more protein more cheaply with a protein shake and cold brew (aka: the proffee).

• Why the local library director in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, carries a gun. How long until the wrong person gets ahold of it? How much can you blame the director?

That’s all for the week. See you on Sunday for a wackadoo story of the group of people attempting to create a professional library organization to rival the American Library Association.