Category: Library

The Periodical: A Vicious Cycle

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Y’all, when’s the last time you really thought about your menstrual cycle? Chances are, unless you’re a doctor or a teacher, you haven’t really considered it for years. And jesucristo, if your sex ed was anything like mine, you probably left class even more confused than you came in. All I remember was being terrified by STI slides and confused about how a tiny egg could produce so much blood.

Even though I had so many questions in sex ed, twelve-year-old me was not about to ask them in a room full of people. Luckily, I’ve grown a lot in the past 18 years and am ready to tackle the tough stuff. Feel free to ask questions; there are no mean twelve-year-olds here! Think of it as the period class you never had. The Magic Schoolbus: Menstrual Edition, if you will.

To do this effectively, we’ve got to do a few things right. First, I’m not going to assume that all women have periods or that only women have periods because that’s just flat out wrong. All kinds of folks — trans and cis, non-binary folks and women and men — bleed or have hormone cycles. The fact that periods are linked with women and femininity is something that I want to push against because the reality is so much broader. At the same time, I want to recognize that this historical and present-day association has had all kinds of impacts on society. So, dear queer bleeders, let’s lovingly spreading information and helping each other out when we mess up.

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Fucking Pansies!

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Next time someone tries to tell you that queer and trans folks have taken our identities too far, give them a botany lesson. Plants are SO queer, y’all.

Before we get into all the very exciting sexualities that plants have, let’s talk about their sexy parts. If you’ve ever taken a 6th grade science class, you’ve probably learned about the “male” and “female” parts of plants. Since we’ve all come to recognize that there’s nothing inherently “male” about sperm or “female” about eggs, it’s about time for a vocab rehab. I’m excited about all the trans and queer plant-lovers out there who are rethinking ways that we can talk about and learn from plants. Today, I’m going to talk about “stamens” and “pistils,” and I can’t wait to see what we come up with in the future.

With that in mind, let’s hop in the Magic School Bus and learn all about plants’ bits.

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Write a Better Paper with Spreadsheets

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I am OVER writing papers, y’all. I just counted and in the past year, I’ve written 39 papers. If all this paper writing has taught me anything, it’s that efficiency and organization is what gets you through it all without losing your mind.

Do you know how many amazing sources I’ve lost because I can’t remember where I wrote them down? Do you know how many times I find myself flipping through the Bluebook to figure out whether book titles are italicized or small caps (or neither??)? I know I’m not the only wishes they could just hyperlink everything and be done with it.

Over the past couple dozen papers, though, I’ve figured out a way to keep my thoughts straight(ish). Using some of my favorite media and google docs, I’m gonna teach you how I use spreadsheets to keep my ish in order. You can use this method for any citation format, but I’m going to teach you with APA because I’m not about to Bluebook something for fun. And while it seems like it’s all about citations, it’s really the best way I’ve discovered to keep my writing flow going.

1. Set up a spreadsheet for your sources

Spreadsheets are your friends. They organize tons of information with little effort on your part and that’s exactly what you need when you’re jumbling tons of dates, authors, links and — OH YEAH — trying to turn it into a coherent paper.

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Things I Found In the Closets of my Childhood Bedroom (And Have No Intention of Throwing Away)

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Yesterday I arrived in the unnamed portion of Ohio that I called home for fifteen years of my life. If you’re wondering, it’s not “unnamed” because I’m trying to protect my privacy; it’s unnamed because it’s a vast expanse of suburb that quite literally has no name. We’re not quite Loveland (unfortunately. Can you imagine living somewhere named love-land?) and we’re not quite Mason (because Ma$on is fancy). Kings is the school district but technically Kings is the tiny little neighborhood directly surrounding the Junior High and High School. And my mailing address might be Maineville, but Maineville is really a few miles north.

But that’s neither here nor there. The point is: I’m home!  Continue reading →

And As Long As It’s Talking With You, Talk of the Weather Will Do

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Can I tell you something? Weather is something I just don’t understand.

I remember studying weather in 5th grade science. My teacher made us memorize that wind is caused the “the uneven heating of the earth by the sun.” The memorization part totally worked, but I still have exactly zero idea what that means.

don-quijote-picasso

Don Quixote and I are both confused about wind

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