widespot

[widespot]

got an utterly wild email at work today from someone accusing us of violating the city's status as a trans sanctuary bc we're “pulling award winning and bestselling LGBTQIA+ texts from our online library”.

because of predatory capitalism, libraries do not own their digital collections. we're purchasing a license for that content, and there's many different kinds of licenses. many of them are only available for one to two years, or a certain number of checkouts. audiobooks are more frequently unlimited loans and don't expire, but not always. the books in question that this patron was concerned about are "metered access" titles. they automatically get weeded when the license duration expires (for digital collections: weeded titles are hidden from our collections when there aren't any more copies in our collection).

hundreds of titles expire every week. we have 35,000 titles on OverDrive that are weeded atm -- we're not manually weeding them, it's purely automated. we cannot repurchase every title that gets weeded, especially when, say, the eBook you can buy for $7 costs us $75 and we can only keep it for either one year or 26 checkouts, whichever comes first. i look at the report of weeded titles when i get the email telling me what titles were weeded, and i prioritize rebuying titles that had holds on them when they expired -- if no one was on the hold list for Pageboy or A Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School when they expired, I have zero clue they expired in the first place! and when we purchase a cart of queer books all at once, say for Pride Month, they're all going to expire at the same time. so it's scary to see a bunch of books disappear all at once, but it's not because we're villains yanking them away from you.

we need activists fighting for the freedom to read. so please speak up if you have concerns about your library caving to book challenges! i appreciate that this person is fighting the good fight! but also: ask your librarian what's going on first. and submit patron requests for titles that you notice are no longer in the collection. we will rebuy them! (budget depending. we're the library of last recourse so we get a much more generous budget than most other libraries. still got our budget slashed this year, and other libraries are in very dire straits. so i would also encourage people to write their senator, especially during spring when budgets are being considered for the new fiscal year, and tell them to allocate more funds to libraries!)

[widespot]

"Nope, middle school homework is still pointless busywork."

Fortunately, she has videogames to save her!

So does Mary, when she wakes up in the wee small hours, feeling age rushing down upon her.

[widespot]

A lot of people make friends online, but there's nobody around this afternoon but old people.

Ruth is surprised to get a call from Mrs. Bellum, who has been volunteering at the school. She's really nice and called to ask her to look out for her little brothers. As if Ruth were any good at that sort of thing!

Refreshed by his nap, Nathan goes out to weed and survey the hail damage to his cabbages. Gardening is a different kind of hard work than sales. More meditative.

"We need to brainstorm ideas for getting more new people into the Fun Bowl." "Having Ruth sell tickets should draw the teenage boys." "Eu, Mom, no!" "You'd need a more mature hairstyle -" "I don't wanna be exploited!"

"You shouldn't tease Ruth like that. I'm not sure she knows you're teasing." "Don't underestimate her. She needs a little push to get out there and shine, really enjoy her teen years."

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Middle school is no better than Ruth expected, alas. She barely avoided getting her GameSim confiscated.

It's hot, and the Swimming Hole is right there, and she can finally cross the street by herself. Time to dive in!

Or climb in by the ladder. Yeah. That's the ticket.

Once she's cooled off she goes next door to the TreeHouse. Mom and Dad and Ike all tell her she needs more friends, so she goes out of her way to be nice to this strange girl - she doesn't seem to be interested in torsion, though.

She came here to fish, anyhow. But hail soon drives her home again.

[widespot]

Gavigan Prime

Ruth knows she needs to be more practical and grown-up now; but a part of her still longs for a portal to open up and take her away from the necessity of middle school. She could learn a lot more on a fabulous quest than she ever will in class, is the thing.

Nathan and Mary open up the Fun Bowl. It's doing fairly well - but will it ever truly pay if they can't expand it?

Nathan can talk it up all he wants - it's still only two lanes worth of bowling, which is far and away the most popular feature.

Still, it's a definite local resource and he can be proud of it. As far as it goes. He's started investing. Somehow he doubts Ruth will take to running a bowling alley, and investing is a much more flexible way to provide for his grandchildren.

Heads up - Richest Mann in Town alert!

"Sheesh, I'm tired!" "Well, if you didn't try to bowl with everybody who walks through the door - go take a nap, my goodness!"

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"Trent! How are you? Did they -?" "No, they say I'm too old."

"Yeah, that was me…It was fascinating actually but I don't think I'd better come in to work today."

"What was all that commotion in the wee hours?" "Better come in and let Trent tell you all about it."

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"Oh, Pollyanna! What am I to do with that man? Will I be able to do anything with that man? Just because the aliens have never kept anybody before doesn't mean they won't this time."

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"He'll be fine. I mean, I didn't get pregnant, did I?" "Duh, they probably looked at you and decided you couldn't take it!"

"Hey, I'm fit as a fiddle." "And full of cliches."

"I'm sure you made many nice alien friends that you don't even remember."

He still isn't back by the time the bus comes, and heaven forfend a little thing like a vanishing father hold them back from school!

(At this point, the player was growing concerned. I've never had an abductee kept quite so long.)

[widespot]

Well, whaddaya know?

"Great. I hope we don't all regret this." "Woof?"

[widespot]

Undeterred by his recent adventure, and rather hoping to repeat it, Topher is back on the telescope as soon as it gets dark. Between that and having gone out with Olivia Ottomas and gotten kissed, he is riding pretty high.

"Some people can be divas but some of us take responsibility. C'mon Laddie. No need to go around smelling like that."

After the twins go in to homework and bed, Trent takes a turn himself. After reading everything he could get his hands on, it's occurred to him that it may be possible to volunteer to be abducted.

"Are you sure that's wise, dear?" "No risk, no gain, and think what a breakthrough it'd be in sim/alien relations!"

[widespot]

They get the store open eventually. It's a beautiful spring day and daytrippers are coming out from Bigg City.

"Actually I mostly came in to look for my husband. When I realized he'd wandered off and saw the bookstore I figured this is probably where he went."

With Nery on register, Trisha and Trent handing off sales and restocking, and a recent overhaul of the prices, it's a pretty good day for used books!

They're hungry enough to stop in at the Dining Dash on the way home rather than waiting to cook. They're having problems in the kitchen, though, so that proves pointless.

[widespot]

Traveller

Trent has a little time off, but the kids don't, so he amuses himself while Tricia is getting breakfast, intending to go into the store with her in a little bit.

Trisha is experimenting in the kitchen.

"Little too much grease in the pan there, ma'am?"

Well, this isn't a great start to the day, but at least it was no worse.

[widespot]

"After the party's over, after the end of day, after the dancers leaving, it's time to wa-ash the doogs - There's always one more dog to wash whatever you do, somehow." "Woof!" "Yeah, I know, you could have waited but if you had, we'd just have to do it tomorrow when Porthos and Sarah are dirty again."

"Ugh, bugs. We'll just have to be real sure we wash these apples thoroughly before we juice them."

The first summer storm hits that night. The men are fast asleep; the dogs aren't.

Alerted by all the barking, Cyd runs out - much to his regret. Thank goodness the bathroom's so close!

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"So. You're a householder now." "Sure am. Got the expenses to prove it." "You going to get a dog?" "Not till we get a decent fence, for sure. But I may need the company once Arden goes to college."

"I'm hoping the magic of college will steer Dawn in a steadier direction. She and Ida Juana were talking about her joining the sorority. All the time she was in it I thought it was just a distraction for Ida Juana, but here she is with a baby on the way, a new house, a bright future - she wasn't going for her MRS degree but she sure did get one." "I had a lot of doubts about it at first, but it really is a supportive place to discover your strengths and work on your weaknesses."

He should ask her out. But Julian might take it personally if he actually bails on the party.

Julian really wants to get to know Dr. Sara better. She's a quiet little thing, but surprisingly easy to talk to. "I honestly thought I was never going to get that first woohoo but - good things come to those who wait, right?"

"It can truly be a long and winding road."

"It probably would be nice to be married." "If you like that kind of thing." "Why don't you, then? You and Julian make a great couple!" "Um - not, no, it's not like that." "Come now! It's nothing to be embarrassed about! My oldest son married his college boyfriend and they couldn't be happier!"

[widespot]

Cyd comes home to find a party going on. Of course. Who are all these people?

"There's only one person on my mind today, fishies. And she's on her way! Say, does it bother you that we're going to eat a fish I caught? Probably not. Fish eat fish all the time."

Is there anything more attractive than a woman who goes straight out back to play with dogs?

"Meeting new people is a little harder out here in Widespot, but the cost of living is so much lower -" "You get what you pay for."

"They say the best things in life are free."

"I really should get up and tend to company." "If that's really what's on your mind…"

[widespot]

Cyd strolls across the street to the Treehouse. It's almost as popular with teens as the Makeout Spot, which is a bit awkward, but he'd really like to try his hand at fishing.

Looks like some Bigg City folks have been lured out into the fresh country air.

"Oh, hey, I caught a fish!"

[widespot]

Roseland/Cook

Cyd and Julian both have today off! Cyd steps starts right in on the dog and yard care he's had to let slide all too often.

Missie is so striking. They really should breed her. But to what dog?

"Ooh, lamb chops." "Yeah, 'tis the season you can actually get them fresh."