“Ahead of her time, she challenged a patriarchal system & a doctor-dominated world, compelling both to be better & fairer. She did it all alone, bolstered only by her belief that she was right, in a world that continually told her she was wrong. She fought every day of her life to make things better, dedicating her life to others, wanting justice for all.” Finally finished this #shesaid selection. So good, nonfiction that doesn‘t read like NF.

#wdncw because it‘s been a week & we‘re only halfway through.

#wdncw that I am very excited that Bad Bunny will be doing the halftime show for the Super Bowl. Although I have conflicting views on the NFL. I am happy that whoever is picking the halftime shows is making bold choices. Representation is important & matters. No matter what some may think we live in a multicultural world. 🇨🇺

Time to read more scary sh!t. Few pages in & it‘s like a playbook for the current administration. Attacking universities, promoting anti-intellectualism, twisting propaganda, creating a mythic past (our country was once great) & creating a state of unreality where conspiracy theories & fake news replace facts.

In case you haven‘t heard Reading Rainbow is coming back with Mychal the Librarian! So happy that he‘s going to be able to share his love of books with more kids & families.

My daughter could start in band/orchestra this year at her school. She chose the cello. The instrument is about as big as her but she is excited. We are trying to match her enthusiasm as we listen to the sweet (screeching) sounds as she‘s learning how to play. She was adamant that she wanted to play the cello from the start. She‘s also seen someone on YouTube play “Pink Pony Club” on cello & it‘s motivated her more.

Picked this up at the DC book festival since it is Maryland‘s One Book selection. The book is a collection of poetry about the authors deep dive into searching for her family‘s roots to slavery in MD. Her family is connected to one of the largest landowner in MD. Frederick Douglas was enslaved by this family. The poems highlight the authors family, the house, Douglas, Harriet Tubman. The book also holds very artistic renderings of the past.

The similarities to today & what happened 100 years ago are eerily similar. Replace the white hoods with red hats. My hope with this story is that the white hats were defeated. That through the persistence of journalists, lawyers, & others pushing back they were able to defeat the one group trying to destroy our country from within. The only problem is that too many people in this country (SC, lawmakers) are too afraid to stand up. I guess they

Lesson #17 is our current state: “Listen for dangerous words: Be alert to the use of the words extremism and terrorism. Be alive to the fatal notions of emergency and exception. Be angry about the treacherous use of patriotic vocabulary.” There were 4 shootings in 24 hours this weekend. When the violence is done by another white male, there is an excuse. But no laws are made for gun control. Instead anyone on the “left” has now been labeled as an

It‘s the best when you can read your favorite Halloween books to your new love. She was reading him The Hallo-Wiener.

Finally mailed my Fall card swap cards. Sorry for the delay between my mom being at our house for a week & then being sick I lost track of time.

Meet Oliver, we adopted him last night from one of our local rescues. He‘s slowly settling in. The name inspiration was not the book but my husband‘s grad school mentor, Dr. Oliver Smithies. While my husband was in grad school Oliver won the Nobel Prize. His mentorship & guidance made my husband the scientist he is today. Oliver had such a huge impact on our lives, so we found a way to honor him.

Gavin Newsom was Colbert last night & he said what many are thinking (& fearing). He said Dems need to stop “writing a strongly worded op-ed” or other weak performative stances & f-in do something to push back. He‘s fired up & ready to lead. He‘s pushing a path of resistance forward. Definitely watch his interview if you‘re with the resistance.

#wdncw #mood #readingispolitical As a mom of an Autistic child his & our family‘s life have been made political. Not to mention, we believe in: science, vaccines, protecting the environment, freedom of speech, love is love…the list is endless.

#wdncw #mood 2025 has been the longest year & we still have 3 months left

Autistic mothers don‘t need to be blamed or shamed. What we need is support.

As we‘re free falling into Facism this Fall, I figured I‘d better be prepared. I stopped by my local bookstore on Saturday. Found a new sticker & found 2 other books that I‘ve been searching for. #banningbooksisbananas

#ranttime As the WH is about to announce the “cause” of Autism like it‘s some f-in game show contestant. Reminder that Causation does not equal Correlation. Just because a pregnant woman might have taken Tylenol (the one safe pain reliever during pregnancy) does not mean that it caused Autism. Then recklessly recommending Leucorovin (a cancer drug) as the treatment is not science. My husband (a geneticist) read the study that they are basing their

Since moving to MD I‘ve become a little obsessed with learning more about Minty Ross or as we know her, Harriet Tubman. Tubman was born on the eastern shores of MD & a significant portion of the Underground Railroad runs through the area. This book explores Tubman & other Black women that were spiritual leaders in the early 1800s. Tubman had visions which researchers now attribute to seizures she most likely suffered after her head injury.

Listened to this one over audio, narrated by the author. Bishop has lead an extraordinary life. Her story was so interesting to listen to.

Vera is always fun to listen to. Fun to listen to on audio. Love how Vera continues to find ways to bring people together. The story brings up the difficult topic of human trafficking. I do appreciate that the author highlights real & hard subjects.

The book is based on a photograph brought to the Holocaust Museum in DC. There were so many important & sad points made throughout the book. There are so many people & families that were murdered that historians feel that they still don‘t have the full story. That there has been so much whitewashing & pushback on researchers. Making it difficult to access archives or digger further into the past. My grandmothers family left Poland in the early

#wdncw that we have a horrible cold & I‘ve totally taken advantage of reducing my parenting duties. When my kids were younger I‘d keep pushing through when I felt horrible. I felt like I needed to still do everything (not to mention my husband was in grad school or postdoc & working 50- 60 hours a week). In the last year or two I‘ve realized that I don‘t have to do everything when I‘m sick. I have a capable partner. Tonight I didn‘t cook dinner

Interesting article by Ta-Nehisi Coates for Vanity Fair. “Words are not violence, nor are they powerless.” https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/charlie-kirk-ezra-klein-tanehisi-coates?s=...

A page on Threads, Whiteness Studies, has listed several important books that are very relevant to our current timeline. I have a few & read a few but found many new ones to read. Linking list if anyone is interested. It links to a Black owned bookstore. https://shop.mrwelltravelled.com/collections/whiteness-studies #antifabookclub

John Grisham is writing a new NF book (out 6/9/2026) about the case of Robert Roberson. He‘s an Autistic man (diagnosed after his conviction) on death row in Texas. The Autism Society of Texas is having a discussion coming up. Our jails make up too many people with developmental or mental health disorders. As a mom of an Autistic child & kids with mental health conditions it‘s terrifying to dwell on the police/prison complex in this country.

#readingispolitical #fightfacism #Fthepatriarchy #FRacism #readmore

#Shero I can‘t imagine what it was like for her to know that 6 of her fellow justices basically crapped all over the 14th Amendment today. For her as a Latina woman to know the racism that is permeating in the halls of the Supreme Court. It‘s just sickening. #ranttime

#ranttime ugh, I mean seriously. How to say you‘re racist without explicitly stating you‘re a racist. Someone on Threads was saying we all need to go around shouting our old high school Spanish phrases to confuse them. My favorite always has been, “Por favor, donde esta La biblioteca?” #FRacism Someone also said that years from now John Roberts SC decisions will be seen along the same lines of Roger Taney & Dred Scott.

Listened on audio, narrated by the author. I always enjoy listening to these retelling of women in Greek mythology. I always love how sometimes as Haynes is reading she sounds like an exhausted woman, like seriously why are we still having to fight these fights…like a majority of women do. I love the authors perspective (my 10 year old would love them too but she needs to get a little older, she loves mythology & definitely want her to gain a more

My mom & I went to the National Bool Festival in DC today. It was our first time going. It was amazing but a bit overwhelming. We walked around some, bought a ton of books. I was able to get a book signed by Joy Harjo, which was amazing. I had hoped to get more books signed but my mom was done earlier than expected. Still a good day, not sure if huge book festivals are my thing.

“Ableism robs us of our ability to see disabled possibilities, even ones that might be relatively small.” The book is an honest & brutal collection of essays about what it is like, particularly in the US, to live a disabled life. The disability community has to constantly fight to have equal access to services, rights. The book highlights the struggles that the disability community dealt with during the pandemic. Ableism continues to be pervasive

“Young girls been having babies as long as there was babies to have. Meaning, forever. Not even a hundred years ago, nobody woulda batted an eye at me and my children, but things had changed. Somewhere along the walk of history, somebody decided we was a transgression to all things good and pure, and ever since then, despite the fact there‘s less of us now than there was a decade ago, politicians and pastors and regular folk always talking about

The Baltimore Museum of Art announced today that they will be showing Amy Sherald‘s American Sublime exhibit from November 2-April. This was the exhibit that she pulled from the National Gallery of Art since she feared censorship. I‘m happy that I‘ll still have the opportunity to get to see this exhibit. https://artbma.org/exhibition/amy-sherald-american-sublime

#wdncw that it only the 3rd day of September & have already baked the first batch of pumpkin muffins. Plus #wdncw that we bought 2 containers of chocolate cupcakes from Costco. It‘s my middle child‘s birthday, which is why I bought the cupcakes he requested. I bought 2 because my kids will demolish them quickly & sometimes you just need a decent chocolate cupcake…that I didn‘t have to bake.

“In America‘s criminal justice system, survivors become background characters to a story that is actually about us-our lives, our bodies, our dignity…Victims are erased from their own narratives.” Nguyen‘s story is about how she fought to make sure that women‘s rape kits are not thrown away while women take the time to decide if they want to pursue justice. She talks about the odds stacked against women to get convictions against their rapist. She

Someone learned a new science word & is flashing it around like he knows what it is. You can‘t see mitochondrial disorders. I don‘t know what he‘s trying to imply. Mitochondrial disorders are not very common (I worked with a handful of kids in early intervention that had these disorders & I worked with the medically complicated kids at Duke). I really wish the news would ask him to define what a mitochondrial challenge looks like. Also how

#wdncw when we say that what happened today & happens too many times across the US is because too many spineless politicians continue to accept money from the NRA & other PACs to stop any real legislation to that would stop children from being massacred. They offer their “thoughts & prayers” but no real solutions. They will continue to accept the blood money & do things like blame it on mental health (meanwhile defunding mental health resources

One of those books that is highly relevant to today & the continued fight for voting rights. The book tells the story of several key people that fought against racism & white supremacy to bring voting rights to Black citizens of SC. Their model was used throughout the south to enshrine voting rights that many were denied for too long. As we see with gerrymandering today, people who are in power are fearful when people can use their vote.

Knopf publishing announced yesterday that they will be releasing a book written by Virginia Guiffre (with journalist Amy Wallace). The book will be released on October 21st. Knopf has also said that the current president is not mentioned in the book. https://people.com/virginia-roberts-giuffre-to-publish-posthumous-memoir-nobodys...

We took our kids on one last summer adventure to Harper‘s Ferry National Park. I surprisingly did not buy a book at the bookstore but did buy a new puzzle (which are just as addicting). We have been on a mission to continue to take our kids to museums & historical sites as the current administration threatens to white wash American history. Plus supporting our National Parks. Definitely need to go back in the fall when the leaves are changing.

I love listening to Stanley Tucci talk. I loved his story on getting kids ready. I feel the same way, why am I having to repeat the same thing every day, year after year. He says what all parents are thinking. Of course his discussions about meals made me hungry (why I made minestrone soup, luckily it‘s cool in MD tonight). I‘m not as adventurous as he is in his food selections (no rabbit for me), but it did make me want to try some new recipes.

That was the most intense 20 minutes trying to secure at least 2 tickets (was trying to get 4). RL Stine is coming to Frederick, MD at the end of October to do a reading & then book signing (through our public library). The site kept crashing. I somehow got through but tickets sold out in 20 minutes. Happy that I was lucky enough to get 2. Phew

“Never underestimate the power of a girl with a book, she becomes a woman who votes.” Ruth Bader Ginsburg (pie photo is from Pieladybooks on IG).

#wdncw #realhistory I don‘t know who needs to hear this or be reminded but slavery was bad. There should be no debating about this. Talking about it is not “woke.” It was a pure evil system. If you‘re on the side of saying it wasn‘t that bad you‘re either a N—i or White Suprem@cist. You clearly need to re-evaluate your understanding of history. Denying the telling of people‘s history/experiences doesn‘t mean it didn‘t happen.

The Library of Congress released the times of talks & book signings last week. I‘m planning on going as of right now. Hopefully the current occupier of the WH ends his authoritarian take over of DC. https://www.loc.gov/events/2025-national-book-festival/

Today is the 102nd anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment. As the occupier in chief & many others are trying to disenfranchise many. It‘s important to remember all those women who fought hard for our right to vote (they were not perfect & were not intersectional feminists). If our vote wasn‘t so important they wouldn‘t constantly be trying to take it away. #resist

Not that I need more books but I couldn‘t pass up the B&N 50% off hardcover sale. These are few books that I‘ve wanted to get. It was my birthday earlier this week, so I‘m counting it as a birthday treat. The top book is for my daughter. Tiffany MacDaniel wrote a children‘s series. My daughter is obsessed with Wednesday & figured this series may interest her 🤞🏻 (I love MacDaniel‘s books).

The last few years I‘ve stepped back from reading about WWII because it felt so overdone. But with the rise of authoritarianism currently happening in the US it has pushed back to reading about that era. The 2 on the left I found at Hachette Books (I signed up for the newsletter & got a 20% off coupon). I have not been able to find “What We Knew” anywhere. The other 2 I found wondering around the bookstore.