Friends: We’ve been struggling to think about what to write, what to post, what to say. This has been an atrocious week for so many of us – especially for our most vulnerable friends and neighbors. We’re exhausted, not sleeping well, and feeling too many emotions. Although the urge to hermit has been strong, we’ve been pushing ourselves to be around people: sitting in caring and compassionate spaces these past few nights, reminding ourselves that we are always stronger together.

Wednesday night’s Solutions-Focused Community Book Club was not our typical bookclub… but about 20-25 of us sat together, heard from an amazing panel of LGBTQ+ activists, mourned together, shed some tears together, laughed together, and reminded ourselves that the work happens when we show up for each other, have each other’s backs, and live in service to those who will need us most over the coming days, months, and years. Honestly? It was a balm.

And on Thursday night, Emily attended a poetry reading at the University of Arizona Poetry Center with Roger Reeves, who didn’t mince words about what we’re facing as a nation, but reminded us that there is beauty in words and beauty (and strength) in togetherness:

“Community keeps the graveyard and the potential bullets that seek to push you beneath its lawn at bay; muzzles and measures grief; allows us to touch the lives we’ve been denied… we share our sadness, our griefs, our hurts, our lives, our love with our community, so in order to reckon with them, which is to say feel them, we have to do it with others. We have to laugh a hysterical laughter while crying hysterically in the next moment. And we must do it together—in a grove sometimes and in the streets and boulevards of America at other times—in a sort of study group.” (From DARK DAYS: FUGITIVE ESSAYS).

In light of all of this, we wanted to reaffirm to all of you that we are here, we aren’t planning on going anywhere, and we will continue to support and uplift those voices that most need it. As we all know, book bans have been increasing at a rather horrifying rate in the United States. According to Pen America, “Books are under profound attack in the United States. They are disappearing from library shelves, being challenged in droves, being decreed off-limits by school boards, legislators, and prison authorities. And everywhere, it is the books that have long fought for a place on the shelf that are being targeted. Books by authors of color, by LGBTQ+ authors, by women. Books about racism, sexuality, gender, history.” Given the outcome of this week’s election, we can only imagine that these attacks on books will continue to increase.

We believe in the power of reading – it’s why we do what we do. For ALL people, books can be windows into the realities of others, not just imaginary worlds. Books can be mirrors that reflect the lives of readers. Books can be sliding doors – readers can walk into a story and become part of the world created by the author – becoming fully immersed in another experience. Approaching the sharing of stories through the lens of windows, mirrors, and sliding doors prioritizes diversity, honors the beauty of cultural differences, and promotes empathy (this concept of books as windows, mirrors, and sliding doors was developed by Rudine Sims Bishop).

So, what does all of this mean? Well, it means that we are (still!) committed to serving as a Book Sanctuary. This means that we will:

• Collect and protect endangered books.
• Make those books broadly accessible (book hiding, anyone?).
• Host book talks and events, including sparking conversations about diverse characters and stories (Solutions-Focused Community Book Club!)
• Educate others on the history of book banning and censorship.

We’re not going anywhere, and we hope you’ll stick with us. Now more than ever, we hope you all will lean into your people and lean into this bookish community. We will all need each other – we can’t face it alone.

Do you want to help us continue to ensure that a variety of books are accessible to folks in our community through our random-act-of-kindness book-hiding and book-sharing efforts? Please consider making a donation to our 2025 fundraiser to ensure that this important work can continue.