It's amazing how life changes after months of healing and self-care. First, I would like to apologize for the lack of updates and reviews on this blog. I've had A LOT going on lately (understatement of my LIFE at the moment), and really need to take a break to heal all of the pain I was going through. While working on myself and my mental well-being, I adopted a stray kitty named Hikaru. Pickles, my 16-year-old tortie is not having it, as I totally understand given that we had recently lost Bella and Pickles is not one to share (ask my exes). What I didn't know was Hikaru was pregnant at the time. The sneaky little cutie had five stowaways! The two kittens featured here are Maria (named in honor of my late friend, Maria Narciso) and her brother, Deku (My Hero Academia, and awww he's sleeping). The others are Georgie (male), Josie (female), and Mayu (female). I'm keeping Maria, and considering keeping Deku since they are close (update: I kept Georgie. He REFUSED to leave us xD). The others have homes waiting for them when they're ready. I'm going to miss them, but I miss not having chaos in my apartment *lol!* Another fun challenge I had was presenting at this year's American Library Association's Annual conference. While I was originally going as a spectator, I ended up being a panelist for Manga Connects to BIPOC Teens, moderated by my good friend Jillian Rudes (mangainlibraries.com). Joined by Dr. Joe Sanchez (Queens College), Frederick Jones (Saturday AM),and Tony Weaver, Jr. (Weird Enough Productions), we spoke in front of room of librarians and professionals on why BIPOC teens connect to manga and why representation, inclusion, and acceptance matters. While at the conference, I was able to have dinner with the publishing company, Kodansha (ON MY BIRTHDAY!!! *omg!*). I feature a lot of Kodansha's works here, and love what they produce for readers. They are an amazing group of people who I hope to meet again in the near future. I got to finally meet Mark from Yen Press in-person, and what a mad cool dude and another I hope to meet with again. I also met authors and had books autographed. B. Dylan Hollis and Terry Moore will forever be icons to me. Telling B. Dylan Hollis I made the potato chips cookies and seeing his excited reaction was worth it! But meeting Terry Moore ON MY BIRTHDAY was just awesome! But the icing on the cake was watching Judy Blume speak. Her books were a part of my childhood and hearing her take on the recent book bannings were so refreshing. And let me tell you, Ms. Blume can take on Gov. De Santis any day and I'd pay to see her humble that douchebag. So with all that said, what's next for the Library Lady besides sending kitties off to their forever homes? Well, I'll be continuing my duties as member of NYPL's Best Books for Teens committee (another reason why I've been busy), catching up on my reviews for Good Comics for Kids (latest review can be found here), looking forward to NYCC and AnimeNYC, and another panel in the works that will be announced shortly. As for this blog, I'm currently working on a review for AEW Fight Forever, which I have been playing more than writing about. Gotta love being a gamer. Overall I'm still here, still standing, and continuing to do what I love. If there is anything you want me to review, please feel free to contact me on Twitter. Til then, stay healthy and please be kind to one another.
0 Comments
|
Who am I?The Library Lady is a Young Adult Librarian and reviewer. She's also a music, anime, and film nerd. Archives
January 2024
Categories |