I like my job but I’m very underpaid. Can I do anything about it?
It’s not like I would leave if I asked for a raise and they didn’t give me one, so I feel like there is no leverage.
You can ask for a raise even if you won’t leave if they say no. People do that at all the time!
First, your manager doesn’t know that you wouldn’t leave, and you should keep it that way. Whenever you ask for a raise, there’s always an underlying subtext of “I might go somewhere else if you turn me down.” That generally works to your advantage by making your manager take the request seriously. That doesn’t mean they’ll say yes, of course — sometimes they’re already paying you all they’re able or willing to pay, and sometimes they’re okay with it if you decide to leave over that — but the subtext is there regardless, and often give you some leverage.
Second, you’re allowed to ask for things that you want and especially for things you’ve earned, even if it won’t be a deal-breaker for you if you don’t get them and even if you don’t feel you have any special leverage. That’s true of all kinds of requests — salary, more time off, more work-from-home days, professional development funds, a snow cone machine in the break room, whatever it might be.
In general, a good employer wants to know how to keep you happy … and a good manager won’t want you to stay quiet about something that’s making you unhappy just because you’re not at the point of leaving over it.
Third, employers don’t always realize someone is underpaid until it’s pointed out. They should, but they sometimes they don’t. And sometimes they do realize, but they think it’s not a problem because you haven’t said anything about it. If you lay out a case that you’re underpaid for the market, you can end up getting a salary bump. (And that’s always true, but it’s especially true right now in this market, where most employers are acutely aware that they risk losing people if they’re not competitive on salary.)
And last, if you’re still hesitant, consider this: You might think you wouldn’t leave over money right now, but what if a friend contacts you about a much higher-paying job at their company next week? You’d presumably be pretty open to that offer — so it’s to your manager’s advantage to hear that you feel underpaid now and be able to fix it before something like that happens.
A good manager wants to know.
So please do ask for a raise. You might get it! Here’s advice about how to do it. (Exceptions: if you’ve only been in your job for six months, or if you haven’t been performing well. Otherwise, ask.)
We’re a small nonprofit, with a total of five staff. We recently hired for two positions, one entry-level and the other more senior. Of the initial interviews we scheduled, we had two people ghost for the more senior level and of the entry-level position we two show up, two withdrew (I greatly appreciate them letting me know), and the other six just ghosted. We tried to be as accommodating as possible — they select the date and time, which we confirm with each candidate. I put so much in screening and prep for each candidate and it is so disheartening when they don’t bother to let me know they aren’t interested. Is this a new phenomenon or have I just been lucky with previous hiring?
Employers have been ghosting candidates for years — scheduling calls that never happen, telling them they’ll get back to them and then never being heard from again, and ignoring all attempts to get in touch. The reverse — employees ghosting employers — is newer and is a reflection of the current job market, just as the old pattern was a reflection of a market that favored employers (although interestingly, employers are still doing it even though the tables have turned).
As a manager, if you’ve never treated candidates that way yourself, it might feel unfair to now be on the receiving end of it (it was unfair to candidates for years too!). It’s rude, no matter who is doing it. But employers did set up these rules themselves, even if you personally didn’t.
I know it likely feels extra burdensome since you’re a small nonprofit; you’re probably overworked and don’t have time for meetings that never happen. There’s not a ton you can do about it, unfortunately. You can try confirming interviews the day before and saying, “If you end up needing to cancel or reschedule, please let me know.” You can consider whether there’s anything you can tell people ahead of time that might make them more motivated to interview, like if you have great benefits or hours or anything else that might make someone decide you’re an interview worth keeping. But some of this is just candidates doing what employers have done for years, now that the market is letting them.
2. Coworkers sharing a house for three months
My wife is an attorney at a small firm who has a once in a lifetime case with her boss, that will set national precedent. The trial will take three months and is in a different city, so she, her boss/law partner, and the client will be lodging there for the entirety of the case. Her firm has decided to short term lease a single family house that they all will live in for the three months of the trial. This decision was made without the input of my wife, who is okay with the living situation.
My question is about appropriateness of the living situation. Two married men (one a boss/law partner, and the other a client) living with a married woman seems inappropriate to me, and from a liability perspective seems risky for the firm. I am curious on your viewpoint from an external HR/managerial perspective?
It’s not inherently inappropriate for men and women to share living space, married or not.
I would be concerned about them not being able to get enough privacy and downtime to disconnect from work — but that’s not because of the genders or marital status. It’s not inherently inappropriate; it’s just that it’s a lot of togetherness with colleagues. The same would true if they were all single women. But if the three of them are all comfortable with it and (importantly!) no one was pressured into agreeing when they’re secretly dreading it, then so be it.
It sounds like you might be uncomfortable as a spouse, and if that’s the case it’s something for you to work out on your own or with your wife — but if I’m right about that, you’re more likely to be able to work through that if you own that discomfort rather than framing it as an HR thing.
3. Our callers hate voicemail
I answer the main phone line for our division. I’ve noticed that no one wants to leave voicemails anymore. I’ll transfer the line to someone and the person will just call back to tell me they got voicemail. Okay? I tell them to leave a message and they fight me on it. They will call back multiple times instead of just leaving a voicemail. This isn’t just one or two people. This is a majority of the callers I get. Even when I let people know they might get voicemail and just to leave one (we are a smaller division with only 1-2 people handling each program) they still call back and harass me about getting a voicemail.
I think they either want me to hunt the person down or make them magically appear out of thin air. Most of the time they just call back and tell me that they got a voicemail and are upset about it. I normally just say, “Well, then the best thing to do is to leave them a message and they’ll get back to you.”Then I get some more huffs and puffs and I transfer them right back to the line.
Is this just how people are now or can I use different language? I sometimes offer to take a message for people and will just email the person to call them back, but I don’t like doing that because it makes me feel like I’m people’s personal assistant and that’s not the case.
Yeah, people do not like voicemail anymore! It’s super interesting. A lot of people have stopped using it entirely in their personal lives, instead assuming the other person will see the missed call from them and call back, or they’ll text instead, or they’ve almost entirely cut out phone calls in their non-work life anyway so voicemail feels like a strange relic of the past. But whether or not people like it, voicemail is still very much a normal business tool — in most offices, anyway.
Is it possible that people think that if you take the message for them, they’ll be more likely to get a call back? A lot of people don’t listen to their voicemail as much as they used to, even at work, and it’s possible that these callers know from experience that their chances of a return call anytime soon are low. If it’s definitely not your job to pass messages on, another option would be to say, “I can give you her email address if you’d like to try emailing instead.” (And maybe pass on to someone with some power to address it that people need to deal with their voicemail messages more often.)
But if none of that solves it and people just want to tell you how much they dislike voicemail, all you can really do is what you’ve been doing. You could try adding, “I know she checks voicemail regularly so she should get back to you soon” and that might be the reassurance they need … but obviously only say that if you know it to be true.
4. Can I give my former boss/soon-to-be-boss-again a gift?
My boss left our company a few months ago. I really, really enjoyed working with him and I’m happy to report that I have been given an offer to work on his team at his new company!! He’s not technically my boss again until a week from now since I haven’t started yet.
I really want to give him a gift. Mainly because he has supported me through my job search (it wasn’t a guarantee that I would get the job, I still had to interview and I also interviewed many other places) but also because I just think he would like the items. It’s mostly snacks from a foreign country I went to.
By the way, if it matters at all, I am very well compensated, so I don’t think the typical worry about pay discrepancy between bosses and reports really matters.
I wouldn’t. If I were in his shoes, I’d feel awfully uncomfortable with anything that felt like it could be a thank-you gift for hiring you or which could seen by others that way.
It would be fine if it weren’t connected to him having just hired you. If you were already working together and you took a trip and brought back snacks, it would be fine to give him some. If he hadn’t just hired you but had been supportive during your search, it would be fine to give him some. But the optics of a gift right after he hired you are not good — it feels too much like a thank-you, and you should never imply that you think you were hired as a favor.
5. How long do I need to stay in my job after professional development they paid for?
A few months ago, I was feeling less than fulfilled at work, so I requested and received full funding for a professional development workshop as a way to break out of that rut. The workshop’s coming up in a couple weeks, but in the meantime, it’s become clear that attending one workshop is not going to solve the real problem, which is that my skills are pretty underused at my current job and despite the best intentions of my boss, that’s unlikely to change. As a result, I’m starting to look at job postings again, and hoping to use the workshop to do a little networking with that goal too.
But since work is paying for that workshop (travel, lodging, and registration), I feel like I need to time my job search appropriately so that I don’t just take the money and run. To avoid burning bridges, do I need to stay for at least three more months at my current job? Six months? More than that? Best as I can tell, there’s no policy about having to pay back the funding if I leave too soon after, but if you have a suggestion for how I could discreetly confirm that, I’d appreciate advice on that front too.
People leave after employer-paid professional development all the time; it’s just the way this stuff goes and it’s not generally a faux pas. There are some exceptions to that, like if you or your manager used a lot of political capital to get the training approved and it was a big financial stretch for your team after a lot of lobbying on your side and you got it approved by saying you’d use it to come back and do X in your job … and even then, it’s often less that you can’t leave and more that you need to acknowledge the bad timing when you do.
But as a general rule, when you’re job searching you’ve got to take the job you want when it becomes available. Often that does mean the timing is bad — you just did a workshop, or you agreed to train a new hire and now won’t be there to do it, or all sorts of other things. It’s a normal part of doing business and reasonable employers get that.
Some employers do have policies that you need to pay back the costs of certain types of training if you leave within X months of doing it, although that’s much more common with tuition reimbursement than with one-off workshops. But those policies are in writing and usually something you sign. You can check your employee handbook to make sure there’s nothing like that in there but otherwise, if you haven’t signed something to the contrary, you can safely assume there’s no payback clause in play.
This is very dated. The illustrations are bizarre and look even older than early 1970s. Andy and Jerry go around comparing sticks to body parts. (Of course I immediately wanted to make a bunch of tasteless jokes, because it is just too easy.)
Andy and Jerry need better hobbies and they need to be a bit more clever with names. 80 percent of this book is focused on the naming and comparing of these sticks. The last bit is when Andy and Jerry’s dad shows up and talks about rulers. The end.
I have questions. I want to know why they have so many sticks. Don’t these people gather them up? Don’t they need kindling? What about all the dogs in the neighborhood? Don’t they have a say? All these sticks and not one dog shows up. Obviously, there is something wrong here.
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"Mystery Science Theater 3000" started in the mind of show creator Joel Hodgson before debuting on KTMA in Minnesota in 1988, with the show eventually moving to The Comedy Channel (later Comedy Central) for several lucrative seasons, and then shunting over to the Sci-Fi Channel (later SyFy) to wrap up its run, before returning on Netflix (still Netflix) for two additional seasons. Now, "MST3K" has been rescued once again, this time by Kickstarter backers, so that it may make its debut on its very own streaming service called The Gizmoplex.
The Gizmoplex is debuting the first new episode on May 6, 2022, which will feature the "MST3K" cast from its two Netflix years -- most notably Jonah Ray and Felicia Day, reprising their roles as Jonah Heston and Dr. Kinga Forrester, respectively. It will also feature the cast of comedians that toured the country to perform live shows, including Emily Marsh, previously seen during marathons and riff-along YouTube specials.
Backed by Kickstarter money, and broadcasting on its very own streaming service, "Mystery Science Theater 3000" is coming back to its homemade comedy roots, allowing for an environment wherein the actors and writers can feel a little bit more free and relaxed. /Film sat down with Felicia Day and Jonah Ray to talk about the differences between working on a large-scale production vs. a more personal one, as well as the fineries of acting and comedy.
'A Scared, Hairy Boy'
"Mystery Science Theater" started in 1988. It had gone through many, many seasons. It had gone through several iterations. You came in late in the game. Was joining a legacy like this at all threatening?
Felicia Day: I was super nervous. And being a Mad ... When I told my brother ... My brother is hardcore. It was the one thing that unified us, me and my brother, watching "MST3K." Otherwise, we hated each other and hit each other and fought to constantly. But "MST3K" was the one thing that we'd be like, "Let's sit down and watch this together." And it really formed our sense of humor and the core part of our relationship. So when I told him I'm going to be a Mad, he was like, "What?" I could not have been cooler.
But it was intimidating. And the funny thing is when you hear Joel's voice -- he has such an iconic voice -- whenever he talks to me, I just don't even know if... I'm time traveling. His voice has such quality to it that I'm like, "Is he here? Or am I watching you on TV?" It was so cool.
Jonah Ray: Time is a flat circle. So both of them could be true! ... I was, as I've said to Felicia before, I was petrified. I was very, very scared because the show meant so much to me and I didn't want this to go badly. I look at sometimes an episode from the first Netflix season and I just see a scared boy. A scared, hairy boy just hoping that it works out. But ... to be a fan is to know what it is to be a fan. And to know what that was like. "Man, I don't know. I've said some pretty nasty stuff about remakes in my time."
It was scary, but because there was a lot of us that were new there, I think we all took care of each other. And I think that was very important for us to be supportive of each other and champion each other and be there.
'When You Look Stupid Is When It's The Funniest'
Was there ever a point where you realized that the fear was melting away and you were getting a little more comfortable? Or are you still nervous to this day?
Felicia Day: The great thing about this season is that there's a lower scale to it. It was an amazing record-setting Kickstarter, but the shows themselves were done on a smaller scale that was a lot more organic to what "MST3K" is. And being from web video, I'm like, "Oh yeah, I can handle this scale." So the crews were smaller, not only because of Covid, but because just of the way that they were shooting. We were on green screen. There were fewer people on set. It was a more intimate, spontaneous atmosphere. There was not a Netflix to approve the script so we could change stuff on the fly if it didn't work. And it was a lot more collaborative. And really, I think it has the spirit of the original show a lot more than the last two seasons.
And so I just loved getting on stage and knowing that I could do it, whatever the hell I want. And Jonah actually directed a lot of the segments that I was in as a performer. And we've known each other for a long [time]. I just trusted that he wouldn't let me look stupid. I'm like, "If you think it was funny, let's go with it."
Jonah Ray: Which usually is when you look stupid, is when it would be the funniest.
Felicia Day: Thank you.
Jonah Ray: And that's the one I would always... That's the take I would use.
Felicia Day: Yeah. Cool.
Jonah Ray: Yeah. But I think this is the season that... I think because of that Kickstarter and seeing how many new people had donated to it. I think it was more than half of the people who donated to the last Kickstarter didn't donate to the one before. And so that made me at least kind of go, "Oh. These are people that want our version. They want more of our version." That was a very confidence-instilling moment. So it's like, "More of us? This is the money for us to make the thing?" It's like, "Sure. Okay. Let's do it." And having a bit more of that confidence.
And just like Felicia said, the way it was, we came in knowing each other better, knowing each other's strengths as performers and comedy chops and just being able to go, "I don't know. What do you think? What can we do to make this a little better?" Coming in with a bit of a steadier hand. And knowing the sillier we were, the more fun we were having, it almost doesn't matter what happens after that. And hopefully, it reads. Because that's not true for all. When you have a fun set doesn't necessarily always mean it's going to come across. But I think these have been. There's a bit of an unwieldiness. Yeah.
'We're All Eating The Same Tostitos'
Would you agree that this is maybe going a little bit back to "MST3K's" roots in a way? That a "big" production of "Mystery Science Theater" seems almost antithetical to the spirit of the thing?
Jonah Ray: Yeah. I was confused by the size. I remember walking onto those sets for the Netflix seasons: Gigantic sound stages. Which in itself is exciting, and you're going on to a lot -- It's show biz! You're walking around and I'm in the jumpsuit, and you're in your costume. And you're like, "Oh, this is like in 'Pee-wee's Big Adventure.' When the centurions are walking by, and the spacemen and cowboys." And it feels like show biz, and it's super fun.
But it's also antithetical to what the show is. We're not too dissimilar from the movies we're watching. We're just some scrappy people trying to make some entertainment, trying to make some people happy. And we're no better than the movies we're watching. We're just having fun with them. And we should embrace what they embraced, which is, a lack of major resources. And just swinging for the fences. And that's what it felt like this time. It did feel like how [the original cast] would make it. And I remember, even on that second season. When Joel was talking about this season, I was like, "We can bring it way down." And I was trying to tell him, I was like, "Me and Felicia, we come from web videos and sketches and DIY."
Felicia Day: I would rather be on a set that has nothing. We're all eating the same Tostitos. That's fine. Honestly, I realize about myself I'd rather be on a low scale where people's spontaneity can come out. There's less management, there's less intimidation. There's just less.
Jonah Ray: Yeah. When there's 70 people on set and you're just trying to go, "Okay. Sorry. Keep on messing that line up. All right. Let's do it again. Action. [Robustly exaggerated] "What do you mean?" And then just some guy, some gaffer, some union guy, just waiting to get off, just waiting.
Felicia Day: This was a union production, but yeah.
'We're Just Kind Of Odd'
Now that you sort of have this freedom to be a little bit more relaxed and do things at your own pace, are you starting to think ahead?
Felicia Day: I think the Gizmoplex itself ... Jonah and I aren't in charge of finding the financing or making more episodes or any of that. The vision that Joel has for the Gizmoplex is pretty impressive. And it is a living, breathing entity, in a way. So people can get on there and chat with each other. They can talk to each other. Where they watch an episode, there's going to be live streams with cast and creators, all that stuff. And I think it's really brilliant in a new media way to build community and have that sort of spontaneity.
Jonah Ray: Yeah. And I feel that's seeing what people gravitate towards, what people like. It's going to help us almost in a live comedy way of "How does this score? Hey, when we did that thing, there was a good response. Okay. Let's lean towards that thing that got the good response."
And now we can have that feedback almost in real-time with this stuff to pivot, as opposed to chunking an entire season and going "Hope you like it the way it is." And yeah, we've shot all these [episodes], but moving forward, we're going to get this ... real-time feedback and it's good. I think it's going to be very, very good for the show. We've still sped up the process of this season to try and get it out within the timeline of what we set with the Kickstarter and whatnot. And so I do think if and when we get to do more, we're going to try and really expand what it is, to what the show can be.
This is more of an acting question: I know a lot of "MST3K" characters are extrapolated from extant stage personae; Joel Robinson is based on Joel Hodgson, for example. How much of yourselves were you permitted to bring into your roles? And how much it was study and getting into character and really delving into the past of Kinga and Jonah Heston?
Felicia Day: I have tomes of backstory for Kinga that I've actually written a book on her backstory. It's her diaries from when she was 10 to 12 years old. I'm writing them in Wattpad.
No, I definitely ... watched my "relatives" [in the clan Forrester]. And I tried to be a little broader, a little more expansive, a little bit more out-of-control. And it certainly was not something that fit me like a glove. I really had to work at being ... because I have a different style of acting. I hadn't really done as much sketch and stuff and it was super fun to just let it go. Patton Oswalt was really key in helping me find that. Because it really was him setting that energy tone and me kind of, "Oh, I want to match him." And I needed to be bigger than him because I need to be in charge of him. So having him at this level allowed me to aim for that level.
And this season. Oh my ... We're just kind of odd. We just went crazy. We're just a little out of control in a good way. I'm like, "Is it broad enough, Jonah?" And he's like, "Go with it." And I was like, "Nice."
'No One's Done Goofy Before'
Jonah Ray: Super silly. There's a lot of the nerdiest aspects of Felicia now being funneled through the chaotic anger of Kinga in this season that I really, really love.
Felicia Day: I feel like I've really found Kinga this season in a way that we haven't before. And it's mostly just being just as silly and broad and not even caring what is on screen. Just really just inhabiting the character in a way that I really appreciate.
Jonah Ray: And I really love how you let yourself cry immediately a lot with the character. A small thing going wrong ... And then this anger! And because the fun thing I like about Kinga this season is that it's yet another attempt to get something going. And it's that desperation is really starting to kind of trickle in and the emotions are kind of getting in the way. I think it's super fun. [As for] Jonah Heston: I was super nervous and excited to be there and I figured I might as well utilize that. And because I hadn't seen that [before]. Joel's this guy and he's the father figure. And Mike is just this Midwest dry ... His dryness and flatness of his delivery is just perfect. It's one of my favorites. And I figured, well, no one's done goofy/excited to be there. That was my approach to it. If I'm already super excited to be there, I might as well use some of that through the character.
"Mystery Science Theater 3000" season 13 premieres May 6, 2022, on The Gizmoplex.
Welcome to the Middle-Aged Restaurant, a place designed around a Gen-Xer’s current lifestyle or lack thereof. Our often-overlooked establishment offers you respect, acknowledgment, and a menu that adapts to what your stomach can no longer tolerate these days.
Features of our hot spot (perimenopause joke intentional) include:
No small-font menus. Put away the readers and flashlight app, and any worries about accidentally ordering “filet chignon” with a side of “mostatoes” here, because everything is in forty-eight-point type, which also may be your age.
No cute menu headings. We have categories that actually make sense, like “Appetizers.” “Salads.” “Desserts.” No “Appies” or “Love those Leaves!” or “Sweetie Pies.” (But if you know of a restaurant that serves a dessert called “Sweetie Pies,” we’ll take two a la mode, please.)
No god-awful loud music. You won’t have to yell at your dining companions here, because we keep our speakers at an extremely low decibel level. Is that Sting singing? Nobody knows for sure. Could be Michael Bolton or early Wham! Of course, we’re always happy to ratchet up the sound on request, like when Jennifer starts bragging about how much is in her 401K.
No temperature fluctuations. Every seat at every table is just right. No A/C draft will hit the back of your neck, and no arctic blast from the front door will make you wonder why you even left your damn house in the first place. We keep our thermostat at a comfortable seventy-two degrees, which may also be the year you were born.
No patrons from other generations allowed. For example, you will not see Boomer men with hats acquired free at golf outings, or Gen Z women whose shirts end within two inches below bra level (but have inexplicably long sleeves and possibly a hood?), or Millennials because god knows those cry babies get quite enough attention as it is.
No overly chipper servers. At the Middle-Aged Restaurant, no one will say “awesome” or “no problemo” or “you young ladies want another bottle of the Savignon/four spoons with your Sweetie Pie?” In fact, they won’t say “you girls,” “you ladies,” or “ma’am” or in any manner reference their mothers while serving you. They will instead refer to all dining patrons as “Superior beings from the ’80s.”
No bright lighting. Did your chin hair grow back? Is Jennifer trying to get you to notice her highlights (because she’s definitely too old for balayage)? Doesn’t matter because we keep our restaurant nice and dim, like that boy you went to prom with back in ’86.
A no-photo rule. Unless you’re using a Kodak Instamatic X-45 and plan on developing double prints later, put away the camera. Nobody your age gives a shit what your bread looks like.
No early-bird specials. We are clinging for as long as possible to the notion that we can set off for dinner well after sunset, even if that means missing the PBS NewsHour. But no late-night menu either because who are we kidding? We need time to digest.
No problem splitting the check. In fact, at the Middle-Aged Restaurant, we automatically prepare separate checks. Not so much because of Jennifer and her “second” Cosmo, but because this way you and your dining companion can just whip out your credit cards and pay for your share. No trying to do math in your head because here everything is split fifty-fifty. Which may also be your age.
Hovertext: I can draw perspective JUST FINE, thankyou, it's just two giant women behind a tiny man, and the guy in the back is standing on 4 crates of oranges.
April 30th marked the 15th anniversary of the first LibGuides install! That's right, if LibGuides were a person, it would be eligible for a learner's permit in many states. While we won't be pursuing that particular right of passage, we thought it would be fun to take a stroll through the Springy archives and look at how much Springshare has grown since that fateful day back in 2007.
A Look Back...
On our 10th anniversary, we caught up with Steve Bell from Temple University to reminisce about the early days of Springshare and LibGuides. Temple was the first-ever LibGuides install, and they still use the tool today!
"Librarians were eager to move paper research guides and pathfinders to the web, but were frustrated by internal rules and requirements that made it difficult to do so. Then on April 16, 2007 I received this message from Slaven..." And the rest is history!
The library industry was not alone in this desire for new technology; 2007 was an important year for tech in general. A CNET article from earlier this year outlined the tech innovations of '07, including the beginning of Netflix streaming, the very first iPhone, the Kindle, the first LCD TV, and more.
The very first LibGuide at Temple University, Circa 2007.
Like many of these new products, LibGuides took off! Steve recalls, "Once librarians had an opportunity to explore the LibGuides they were highly enthusiastic and wanted to begin using it as soon as possible. We had our demo site by May 1 and were a full-fledged customer by July 1, 2007." Today, the librarians at Temple University manage 562 guides in 68 subjects.
Remember when adding a Content Box looked like this?
The first Springshare website
Fast Forward to 2022
Over the past 15 years, Springshare has seen plenty of growth. LibGuides remains an industry staple but we've done so much more since 2007!
Our SaaS platform is used by more than 7,500 libraries in 106 countries around the world.
There are 456,500 LibGuides currently published worldwide.
You've been busy, too! LibAnswers users have answered more than 38 MILLION questions since we began tracking in 2014. That includes 19,930,000 tickets and 18,502,000 chats!
Our virtual conference, SpringyCamp just celebrated its 10-year anniversary with an overall attendee count of around 60,000 people!
At the end of the day, our mission remains the same: helping librarians shine in providing great service to users! Here's to the next fifteen years (and more) of supporting libraries and librarians around the world!
My three-year-old daughter has been going to the same in-home daycare provider since she was very young. Her daycare provider, let’s call her Amy, is very good at what she does, has 25 years of experience, and is well-respected in our community. We have always been happy with her as a professional. However, Amy’s daycare is closed for 40 weekdays each year. Most of those days are paid. My spouse and I each have 15 days of paid time off, so it’s always been challenging to cover those closures, but with the help of my in-laws, we make it work.
Recently, Amy came to us and announced that she would be taking on a part-time position coaching other in-home daycare providers in addition to owning her own daycare, and that she would be working four hours each day in addition to the ten hours her daycare is open and would be closed an additional day each month. This is a big problem for us, since we are barely able to cover the current number of closures, and we don’t feel comfortable relying on someone who is working 14-hour days to provide safe and attentive care for our child. We offered to pay her more if she decided not to take the position, but she declined. We began looking for a new daycare and found one.
This is where things get interesting. Amy’s contract states that we need to give six weeks of notice if we are ending care with her. I gave her notice, in person, exactly six weeks before our planned last day. Amy was nice, told us she was sorry we were leaving, but she understood. I was very clear that the only reason we were leaving was because of the schedule change, and that we had no qualms about the level of care that she has provided. She told us that the new daycare center we were moving our child to was a great one and that we would be happy there. I thought we were in good shape.
However, the next evening, Amy texted us a vague message saying that we would be ending care in two weeks because she has a family lined up to replace us, and they want to start care for their child soon. A whole month earlier than we planned. We texted back asking for clarification but didn’t hear back. We tried calling her, and she didn’t answer. We were incredibly worried because a month-long break in childcare would be devastating to our careers. The next morning, Amy refused to clarify the vague text, but told us that we don’t need to worry and that we WOULD have childcare for the full six weeks that we needed it. I again thought we were in good shape.
A few hours later, while I was at work, I got an incredibly long text message from Amy that included the following:
1. Amy told us we were making a huge mistake in moving our child to a new daycare, saying that we would create devastating long-term effects for her. 2. She accused us of being inflexible and not caring about her family’s well-being since we couldn’t make the schedule change work. 3. She said, “We as providers have seen over the years of our business have seen a change in parents. Not necessarily a good change.” I think this is a slight against us as millenials. (?!) 4. She ended the message saying, “Just know I wish you all the best as you tear someone from my heart and I have to accept it.”
I cannot understand the point of this message. It’s wildly unprofessional and has ruined our perception of Amy. We have been told again that we do have childcare until the end date that we originally communicated, but Amy is refusing to talk to me when I drop off or pick up my daughter. Oddly, she is communicating normally with my spouse.
Now for my questions. I am so fired up about this situation and I am having trouble gauging what an appropriate response would be. I intend to remain professional for the next six weeks with Amy, as we approach our end date. However, should I tell the other daycare parents what happened? Should I leave a Google review so that others can be warned? If I had heard of this happening to other parents in the past, I would have wanted to know. That could have led me to not giving any notice, and just paying out an extra six weeks beyond our end date so that we could have guaranteed childcare. Should I forgive and forget? Should I let the childcare coaching agency she now works for part-time know that she is this unprofessional toward parents? (I am guessing that last one should be a no, since I would hate for someone to call my workplace to share stories about me.)
Thanks for any insight you can give. My brain is feeling fried at this point.
Yeah, don’t contact Amy’s part-time job to tell them she’s unprofessional. That would be overstepping in a big way. If you had hired her through that agency, that would be different — but contacting an employer that you have no connection to is a big transgression.
But you didn’t do anything wrong here and Amy’s response is kind of wild.
It’s entirely reasonable not to want to stay with a daycare that will be closing for more days a month than you can handle. Amy is entitled to set her days and hours however she wants them, but she has to know that they won’t work for every family, and she might lose clients over it.
You followed the terms of Amy’s contract and gave the requested six weeks notice. That should have been the end of it.
I don’t know what changed in between your initial notice-giving conversation and everything that happened next, but since it sounds like you’ve always known Amy to be reasonable and professional before this, I’m guessing the most likely explanation is stress. People are under a lot of it, child care providers in particular. Because of that, and since you’ve been happy with Amy up until now, I’d err on the side of giving her some grace.
It would be different if she had a pattern of being erratic and unreliable. That’s the kind of thing that would make sense to share with other parents and/or leave in a review. But if this is one uncharacteristic moment after years of good work, and after two years of intense stress … I’d let it go.
That’s not to say what Amy did is okay. It’s not. And the fact that she’s still refusing to talk to you when you see her is weird. (Any chance it’s embarrassment? Or even just being exhausted by what happened and not wanting to touch it again? That’s not a reasonable way to handle it, and if Amy were the one writing in I’d tell her that, but it might explain what’s happening.)
But because it’s not clear what happened or why … and because stress seems like such a likely explanation … and because she’s been lovely up until now, I come down on the side of letting it go, wishing her well, and moving on. (I imagine you’ll find plenty of people who feel differently, though!)
That’s not to say that you shouldn’t respond honestly if someone asks about your experience with Amy. If someone seeks out your opinion — because they’re a potential client or a current client trying to make sense of their own experience with Amy or so forth — this is something you should share. I just wouldn’t go out of your way to proactively inform people, unsolicited.
It’s worth making a distinction between those two scenarios, and it’s the second (proactively spreading the word) that feels more nuclear than is called for, and where I’d advocate for some grace.
Highway 60 cuts through the Cibola National Forest to the rural mountain-plains town of Magdalena, New Mexico, where polymath and former Texan Hills Snyder has made his home since 2018. Just off the main drag, Snyder runs a compact art space that humorously goes by the name kind of a small array. (The Very Large Array is only 25 minutes away). The gallery and its crowd are familiar, kindred to the art spaces of Lubbock or Marfa on a weekday, or any of the other cooly understated scenes in Texas. The first weekend in April, my kindergartener Stevie and I made the trek to see an exhibition of Fort Worth-based Bale Creek Allen’s photographs, which were taken along American roadsides, titled Paradise Lost.
The village has a long history of mining and cattle-driving — now, many of the folks we met are engaged in the arts, sciences, labor, or service industries. Kelly Mine, just minutes from downtown, boasts a mineshaft designed by the famous Eiffel. The dusty road that connected our lodging to cafes, galleries, and the single town bar retained warmth from the high-altitude sun rays. Stevie and I meandered about, stuffing our pockets with rocks. Magdalena is the perfect host for Allen’s large-format snapshots of the Southwestern road trip: images laden with banal familiarity and subtle mystique.
“Yellow Tire,” from “My America,” September 2017
Allen is the son of Lubbock legends Terry and Jo Harvey Allen. One of Bale Creek Allen’s popular pieces, the gilded tumbleweed, made national news for a lawsuit, the claim being that Val Kilmer filched the concept and was selling a similar (and expensive) work as his own. (This lawsuit was privately settled in Allen’s favor.) The tumbleweeds and neon bodies of Allen’s work are attention-grabbing, darkly fun cultural commentaries…but not as powerful as his photographic works.
The removal of the actual situation for the tumbleweeds (which come in several color coats, not just gold) creates a hyper-symbolic read of the work, to the point where it starts to break down into purely formal realms. I like these works, maybe more-so because they rub shoulders with Jeff Koons and other finish-fetish artworks — purr. In Paradise Lost, however, there seems to be a sort of enduring, unfurling gesture at Americana that is sincere and more engaging. In these photos, at first, as with Allen’s sculptural works, there is a similarly innocuous “this would look good in my house” quality. Keep looking, though, and the meaning creeps in — a quiet force there to remind you that these scenes hold a winking-but-honest look at the American myth and its decay.
“Highway Reflector,” from “My America,” September 2017
Take Highway Reflector, or Piece of Wood. I know this place, its dirt spotted with smooth agate rocks. I feel the desiccating air, my mouth suddenly dry while wondering if a rattlesnake could be hiding in its shade. Though some of the objects in the group of photos clustered on a black wall appear random, each seems to have undergone a process: painting, breaking, and removal. Loss. In Magdalena, the photo of a lone golf ball next to some weeds makes sense. I wonder how these photos feel in a metropolitan setting. Controversial? Exotic? Here, they feel like a landmark; turn west at the Yellow Tire, then call me and I’ll meet you at the gate.
“Snow Cone Santa”
Snow Cone Santa, a massive mobile snow-cone shack, sits alone in an overgrown corner of a parking lot. The character’s frozen smile and the concrete desert broken only by a few weeds and a sign for a plant nursery speak to global warming, childhood, and folksy nostalgia. This resonates with those from a place brimming with pride over their “world’s largest statue of ___,” who have been met with looks of pity or disdain when answering the question, “you are from where?”
“Paradise Lost” at kind of a small array
This work holds a kinship with Allen’s mother’s performative art, particularly the piece Counter Angel, which she performed in actual truck stops. In this light, Paradise Lost reveals something personal about Allen, as though these are snapshots of his childhood summer drives to Lubbock. The myth of the roadside harkens back to an inconceivably different time. One where children — really, any passengers — rather than spending hours in the backseat, pacified by phones and tablets, fought with their siblings, whined, imagined, and actually looked out the window. Whether that window was to a world bustling with human activity, or the sparse highway miles of barbed wire and the occasional tumbleweed doesn’t really matter. It is exactly this unguarded, uncool, and sentimental aspect of Allen’s work that feels revelatory.
Paradise Lost is on view at kind of a small array through April 30, 2022. The gallery is open 11-3 most Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and by appointment: 210.473.9062
Erin Segal, publisher at Thick Press, recently talked with artist Mark Menjivar about social practice (aka socially engaged art) and anti-death penalty activism. Thick Press and Menjivar are collaborating with Rickey Cummings, who has been on death row in Texas since 2012, on a booklet entitled “Holding Vigil.” Learn more about Cummings’ case and how you can help at iamrickeycummings.com.
Erin Segal (ES):As a socially engaged artist and publisher, you’ve produced installations and publications related to capital punishment. I’d love to hear more about this body of work and how it came about.
Mark Menjivar (MM): I first started thinking about state-sanctioned violence when I was studying social work in college. A professor gave me this picture about Timothy McVeigh being killed 168 times — speaking to an “eye for an eye” ideology.
Photo of a gas station sign with “Eye for an Eye” ideology
I’ve kept that with me – it’s actually one of the few things I have from that period of my life – and it always made me reflect on using violence for retribution. I’m not a pacifist (I tried to be), but the use of violence, particularly by the state, for punishment, has always been hard for me.
I started to become really haunted by capital punishment in 2013 when Texas executed its 500th person since 1976. Prior to that I had some interactions with vigilante justice in Bolivia that led me deep into lynching culture, but that number 500, just really haunted me. And it made me start to ask questions about the system, about how to explain violence to my small children, and about trauma.
Over the years I’ve learned that when I start to ask questions it’s best to not ask them alone. Collectively, we can ask better questions, and arrive at better answers. And I particularly like asking questions with young adults because they tend to have different ways of viewing issues than I do. Brighter. Crisper. So when I started asking questions about capital punishment, I reached out to my friend Ryan Sprott who was teaching world history at a public high school in San Antonio. I asked if he had any students who may want to spend a year looking at capital punishment from diverse perspectives. We developed a project structure, really a class, and put out an invite to students. Over 30 signed up, and we spent the year working directly with families affected by capital punishment, and with documents from Texas’ state archives. We made zines, drew directly onto court documents, and made a participatory picnic table that had six questions carved into the table top as the centerpiece of a final exhibition. After the exhibition closed, the table went back into their high school and the students used it the next school year to engage their peers and visitors in dialogue.
Students sitting at the participatory picnic table they created to engage the public in dialogue around capital punishment.
Detail image of student-generated questions carved into the participatory picnic table top.
When I started working with the youth, I felt like I didn’t know much about capital punishment. A few months in I found myself thinking, “Ah, okay. Now I get it.” But then I very quickly found myself back at a place of feeling confused. Capital punishment is super complex. It’s not just about an execution. It’s about poverty and race. It’s about class and education. It’s about religion and revenge and forgiveness. It’s about mental health and broken homes.
ES: So much.
MM: Yes, so much is below the surface of a death sentence.
While working on that project with the high schoolers, I met folks at the Texas After Violence Project (TAVP) based in Austin, Texas. They are a community-based archive and documentary project cultivating deeper understandings of the impacts of state-sanctioned violence on individuals, families, and communities. We really worked well together and decided to keep trying to collaborate.
While visiting their offices one day, I learned that they had a number of archives related to capital punishment that had yet to be made public. One of them was the Execution Files, which were the research files for a book called The Rope, the Chair, & the Needle that was written by Dr. James Marquart and two others in the 90s. The archive had a folder for every person who was executed from 1923 until 1988, and included images, documents, and other relevant information. It is a haunting and complicated archive that we are still working on today.
I just recently completed an in-depth oral history with Dr. Marquart, talking about the complicated history of how the archive came to be. TAVP staff and I are also working to identify descendants of those who have been executed and are represented in the archive. We want to invite them to be involved in determining how to best care for the archive.
Another archive they had was the full contents of the cell of a man named David Lee Powell, who was executed in 2010 after spending 32 years on death row. He left his belongings to a filmmaker and friend named Sally Norvell so she could work on a project with them. She had his things for a couple of years, but then donated them to TAVP with the hopes that they would be made public. I have been making projects from David’s possessions for the past few years in different contexts. These include a couple of books, a musical score, and various gallery installations.
Installation view of DLP Inventory from Blue Star Contemporary in San Antonio, TX. 2020.
Installation view of DLP Wall from Sala Diaz in San Antonio, TX. 2020.
After working with these archives for a number of years, I started to think about what those who had been executed would say if they were still with us. And I remembered that we have almost 200 people currently sitting on death row in Texas. So I started a new project a few years ago called Open Letters, which invites people currently on death row to write letters to the public about the trauma that they and their families have faced post-conviction. These letters are then read publicly and I facilitate a response to them. The events are recorded and the transcripts are returned back to the authors on death row. The project debuted at the Rothko Chapel in Houston in 2018 and is now a book.
ES: In Open Letters, you mention an activist who has been to every execution since 1982. I know there are also professional advocates (like lawyers and nonprofit staff) involved in efforts to defend individuals and change policy. And filmmakers, artists, writers, etc. Can you describe the death penalty activism landscape that you’ve encountered? What does it look like and where do you situate yourself?
MM: Those involved in work against the death penalty vary widely in form and conviction. Some people approach it from a religious perspective and hold weekly vigils to pray. Some people protest with signs and words. Some people work on the legislative end, trying to target state governments. Some people provide direct legal representation for individuals on death row. And some do all the above and more. There are some incredible people who have been laboring for a very long time.
The woman you are talking about is named Gloria Rubac, and she has been a death penalty advocate for decades. She has been in Huntsville, TX — where executions take place — for every execution since 1982. She really is one of my heroes. Her dedication, presence, and voice continue to remind people of the injustices happening. I first saw her in Huntsville when I attended the execution of my friend Christopher Young. Chris I had been writing together for 2 years when he got his execution date. Gloria was there with a bullhorn talking about Chris’ life and keeping the small crowd that had gathered up to date on final decisions coming out of the Governor’s office.
The last time I saw Gloria, I was visiting Rickey Cummings on death row. There I was, sitting and waiting, and Gloria walked in the room. I was surprised and not surprised at the same time. She seems to be everywhere.
I often find myself functioning in between advocacy groups, the general public, and the art public. I am often trying to get people thinking about capital punishment who may not have ever thought about it before. And I am often partnering with advocacy groups like TAVP or the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. During exhibitions and at events, people will often ask, “What do we do now?”, and I try to connect people with these community organizations. And I encourage people to start talking about it with their friends and their family. I am deeply motivated to try and get people who have never really thought about capital punishment to begin considering it.
ES: It seems to me that your work is political, but it’s not propaganda. You are exploring, and asking others to explore, too. Is this correct?
MM: I really am. I often think about the word invitation. I find myself being deeply curious or troubled by an issue or event and try to learn more. And not just facts about an event or an issue, but the emotional work, too. And I try to invite people to do that with me.
I have often said that I value dialogue over debate in my art practice. I see debate as being about trying to convince another person that I’m right and they are wrong. And dialogue begins with listening. I think there is definitely a place for debate – and it’s needed. But I try to start with a posture of listening with these issues.
I am most often trying to keep one foot in and one foot out of various contexts. So in thinking about art and activism, I try to do the same thing. Art often gives you very little instruction of what to do when it comes to social issues. It can often be more about awareness. And often activism is trying to tell you exactly what to do. I like to try and function a bit between those spaces.
ES: Why are so many artists, filmmakers, and writers attracted to making work related to the death penalty? Do you ever worry about ethical issues?
MM: I think people are drawn to death penalty work because it is so intense and complicated. As I mentioned before, a death sentence is never just about one thing. It has so many layers and most of them exist below the visible surface. Violence in our communities, including capital punishment, affects so many people. It hurts not only the people directly involved, but those around them. Their friends, their family, their neighbors – even people who just hear about it.
I think about ethics all the time. Early on in this work, I felt that maybe I could only work on death penalty issues if I had been directly affected by the system. But I quickly came to my role as citizen and taxpayer in the system and felt firmly grounded. And now I find myself working and advocating from a place of deep relationship with those being affected.
One thing that has really helped me in considering ethics is to work as openly and transparently as I can. Always coming back to collaborators. Always being open and willing to change. I have also learned to not make assumptions and to value working slowly. This allows things to change and adapt as needed.
ES: I hate to use the word “evaluate” because Julie and I try to avoid thinking of care work – and art, too – in instrumental terms. I guess I’m just wondering how you know if the work is worthwhile, how you know if the work is working.
MM: I sometimes think about the work I’m doing in terms of effectiveness, but not always. I am trying to create work that has multiple entry points and hopefully, multiple exit points. What I mean by that is that I want people from a broad spectrum to be able to have a meaningful encounter with the work. And this can be a museum curator, a journalist, or my grandmother – who comes with very little to no contemporary art historical context. I hope that each of them can find a way into the work that brushes up against their own experience.
I often think about providing “handles” for people in this work as well. The content they are encountering can be difficult – and it should be. We are talking about state sanctioned violence. And that can shake us, but I don’t want people to fall down. So the handles will hopefully give them something to grasp for, to hold onto. And those handles can look like different things. They can be objects, actions, ideas, or even values like love and hope.
And when I talk about multiple exit points, I mean that each person can walk away from the work with something. For some, that will be getting involved in direct advocacy or having a new sense of urgency for the work they are already doing. For others, it may be the first time they are thinking about state sanctioned violence, so the work is just a seed and you never know when it will sprout and give sustenance or beauty. And a large part of making the work effective is by making the work in collaboration with or alongside people who I deeply respect and those who have been deeply involved in the movement for years. The trusted individuals, and participants in the projects, can provide critical feedback along the way. And with much of this work you never know if and when it resonates or blooms. So I guess in a way, all I’m really trying to do is produce good seed.
ES: We land on that idea so often in our conversations with people involved in the work of care and justice: we can’t ever anticipate the outcome of our work, so we should just focus on the work itself, and in particular, on the relationships.
MM: So true, Erin. Great words to end with.
* 6 Questions Remain
—What are the social, moral and political implications of an execution?
—Is the “eye for an eye” ideology appropriate for today’s criminal justice system?
—The average death penalty case on Texas costs taxpayers about $2.3 million, three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years. How do you feel about this? How could these funds be used more effectively?
—The average stay on death row is close to 15 years. During this time, prisoners are sharply restricted in terms of visitation and exercise, spending as much as 23 hours a day alone in their cells. Is this cruel and unusual punishment? Is this too lenient?—Is it worse to kill an innocent person or to let a guilty person go free?
—How would you feel if a loved one was a victim of a crime that resulted in the defendant being placed on death row? How would you feel if a loved one was the defendant in death row?
Learn more about Menjivar’s Open Letters project here and here. Glasstire is the online publishing partner for Menjivar’s new publication with Thick Press. Learn more about that here.
STAGE MANAGER: This place is a bus stop in Manhattan. The day is Monday. The time is around 6:25 a.m.
A rat family scurries across the sidewalk.
Over there is a condominium under construction. Krispy Kreme’s over yonder. Dunkin’s still farther over. Right here is a tree with a plastic bag in it. Any minute now, people will be walking to this stop to catch a seat on the great M96 crosstown.
A garbage truck roars by. The STAGE MANAGER covers her ears and nods.
At our bus stop, we know very little about everybody, but we’re a family.
Oh—here comes the man with a briefcase I always see around now. And here’s the woman in scrubs, right on time.
MAN WITH BRIEFCASE: Morning!
WOMAN IN SCRUBS nods.
MAN WITH BRIEFCASE: Any sign of the M96?
WOMAN IN SCRUBS: Not since a minute ago. I just got here myself.
MAN WITH BRIEFCASE: (Shaking his head) Here we go again. I declare—this bus!
STAGE MANAGER: There comes another fellow I see here every morning, wearing jeans. Sometimes he carries a helmet, but not today. Must be a no-helmet day at work.
FELLOW IN JEANS: Bus here yet?
MAN WITH BRIEFCASE: Not that I can tell, but I keep checking my watch. With any luck, if I keep checking the time, the bus’ll be on its way.
FELLOW IN JEANS: According to my bus-tracking app, it should be coming any minute—but time will tell.
WOMAN IN SCRUBS: Doesn’t it always! Father Time is up to no good at the bus stop, and that’s the truth.
STAGE MANAGER: Maybe I should explain why all of us keep waiting at this bus stop anyway, day after day, even with its unreliable service. You see, this stop is the beginning of the M96 route, the very first stop—which means we get our pick of the bus seats. If there’s a little puddle in one of the seats, no matter—that’s nothing a fresh tissue can’t wipe up.
An M96 bus rolls up to the stop. Everybody walks to the door and takes out their wallets. But the bus’s lights go off.
FELLOW IN JEANS: What in the devil…?
WOMAN IN SCRUBS: Why, that bus driver parked with all of us standing here!
MAN WITH BRIEFCASE: It’s not his time. If my memory serves, this driver doesn’t go until seven o’clock. But another will be here any minute. That’s a fact.
WOMAN IN SCRUBS: I pray you’re right. If I stand out here long enough, I’ll catch a cold.
STAGE MANAGER: Sometimes after an exchange like this, a school bus passes by, and we think, “Close, but no.”
FELLOW IN JEANS: Look!
Another M96 bus pulls up to the stop.
MAN WITH BRIEFCASE: I told you! Come on!
FELLOW IN JEANS: Finally!
This bus’s lights go off too. Another garbage truck is heard.
MAN WITH BRIEFCASE: You know, I think I knew this one wasn’t it. It’s the next one!
WOMAN IN SCRUBS: I hope so!
MAN WITH BRIEFCASE: There’s a plan—a schedule!
FELLOW IN JEANS: I’ll put my MetroCard away—no use having it out if I’m just going to keep putting it back in my wallet. No, sir.
STAGE MANAGER: And so we wait.
STAGE MANAGER takes off her hat, rests it on her chest, and shakes her head. WOMAN IN SCRUBS zips her jacket all the way up.
STAGE MANAGER: Sometimes around now, we stand without talking. One of us might put in airbuds, or sip coffee from one of those travel mugs, or walk to the street corner, looking for any signs of the bus, to bring ourselves some peace. Maybe a pigeon struts awfully close to our feet, and we gaze at its shimmer. And I reckon the next M96 might be coming right around now…
Another M96 bus arrives. The lights stay on and the doors open. The bus driver waves.
FELLOW IN JEANS: Hallelujah!
MAN WITH BRIEFCASE: I knew it! Everybody, get out your MetroCards! No need to rush—single file—we’ll all get a seat. The bus driver won’t leave without us. Isn’t that right?
BUS DRIVER: I’d never do such a thing! I serve the people. Hop on.
STAGE MANAGER: And so we all sat down, as we do after we board the bus. And (she claps her hands) I even got my favorite seat—a single, right in the front. Now we rest. As more people board, we might feel a little squished, but we distract ourselves with podcasts, or by listening to the same Fiona Apple song five times in a row. And tomorrow, as morning breaks, we’ll all gather once again and be confused, together, at our bus stop.
American tourists in Israel found an unexploded shell in the occupied territory of the Golan Heights and decided to keep it as a souvenir. Upon arrival at the airport, they informed security agents about the big live shell that was packed in their luggage. — Read the rest
As we prepare to flip the calendar to May, the weather will fast forward a few weeks, as forecast highs near 90 degrees, more commonplace for late May, become a feature in the days ahead.
We’ll start today with a drought update. You probably assumed that this week’s impressive rains acted to relieve the drought some in our area, and you would be correct. Coverage of drought in the Houston area dropped about 15 percent versus a week ago. We’ll need another couple rounds of storms in the next couple weeks to keep that improvement going.
Drought coverage remains widespread south of I-10, but it has mostly disappeared for now north of I-10. (US Drought Monitor)
Will we get that? I’m not sure, truthfully. The pattern will support active weather near our region, but it may miss us to the north and east more often than not, so we’ll have to see. This could be a situation where things don’t change much north of Houston but perhaps they get worse south of Houston. That brings us to the forecast.
Today
Sun and clouds will mix for us today, and we’ll see temperatures and humidity both nudge higher versus yesterday. We should do mid to upper-80s for highs this afternoon.
Weekend
This weekend will see a cold front drop south into the extreme northern fringe of our region tomorrow. We expect it will stall out north of Huntsville, but it may come close enough to deliver at least a few showers into the northern third of the Houston area tomorrow afternoon. The best chance would be outside the Beltway to the north; think Conroe, Cleveland, Magnolia.
An additional slight chance of showers would be in play on Sunday as well, again mostly north or perhaps east of the area. We don’t believe you’ll need to alter any weekend plans, but just be prepared in case a stray shower or downpour passes by.
It will be firmly like mid-May this weekend with lows in the 70s and highs in the mid to upper-80s.
For those of you riding in the MS 150 this weekend, day 1 will feature those hot temperatures but also a south wind. It will be consistent along the length of the ride from Houston through La Grange, sustained around 5 to 10 mph, with periodic gusts closer to 20 mph.
Saturday’s leg of the MS 150 will feature south or south-southeasterly winds at 5 to 10 mph with higher gusts at times. (Pivotal Weather)
Day 2 will be a little breezier. While temperatures and humidity should be about on par with Saturday, the wind will shift to more of a southeasterly breeze. It will be more like 10 to 15 mph, with more frequent 20 mph gusts.
The second leg of the MS 150 will be breezier with southeast winds of 10 to 15 mph, gusting to 20 mph or a bit stronger at times.
It should never be a headwind, but it may be a bit annoying at times. Keep an eye out for a few showers, especially on day 2, but it should hopefully be nothing that causes any problems. Whatever the case, good luck to all those participating!
Early next week
The first part of next week should be fairly similar to the weekend: Clouds, sun, hot temperatures, high humidity, and a very slight chance of a few showers. Expect lows in the 70s and highs well into the 80s, with an outside shot at 90 degrees in spots, along with a noticeable south or southeast wind, gusting to 20 mph or so.
Later next week
The late week question revolves around whether or not we get a cold front into our area. Right now, that seems to be a low probability thought. The front should probably hold out until the weekend, and even if it gets here, any relief would be brief. Outside of that, we will keep hot temperatures, high humidity, and a low-end rain chance each day heading toward next weekend. We’ll refine this more on Monday.
For a time, Microsoft and IBM were collaborators on a project known as OS/2. You might have heard of it.
For the most part, the work was done separately, with the Microsoft engineers working in Redmond, and the IBM engineers working in Boca Raton, commonly nicknamed Boca. There were some Microsoft engineers who were sent to the IBM Florida office to serve as liaisons.
During this period, IBM tracked what they called “security violations”. These included things such as tailgating through a locked door without swiping your ID badge,¹ leaving the office with papers on your desk,² or wearing shorts to work.³ According to one legend, you would be fired after your sixth security violation. A variation of that legend said that Microsoft would have to dismiss three employees after amassing a cumulative ten violations.
Microsoft was not known for its strict corporate policies, and one of the Microsoft employees stationed in Boca reported that as a general rule, the Microsoft transplants had difficulty adhering to the rigid IBM standards of business conduct. According to one employee, “Sadly, six security violations did not in fact get you sent home to Redmond. I know: I tried.”
The only coffee available in the building came from a vending machine that accepted a large amount of money and produced in return an undrinkable brown liquid. The Microsoft employees chipped in to buy a cheap coffee maker and put it in their shared offices. But it was identified and cited as a fire hazard and security violation.
Part of the Joint Development Agreement included a clause that the Microsoft offices inside the IBM location were sort of a tiny Microsoft embassy, and anything marked “Microsoft Confidential” could not be touched or examined by IBM. So the Microsoft employees took a cardboard box, wrote “Microsoft Confidential” on it, cut a cup-sized access panel in the side, and put it over the coffee maker.
Since the box was labeled “Microsoft Confidential”, IBM security could not look inside.
The Food and Drug Administration has announced plans to ban menthol cigarettes, which the tobacco industry has aggressively marketed toward African Americans since 1964.
(Image credit: Stanford Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising)
Texas closed most public oyster reefs for harvesting, dealing a blow to the fishing industry. "It's taken a big toll on me," says Johny Jurisich, whose family has worked in the business for decades.
(Image credit: Lucio Vasquez/Houston Public Media)
A new Texas law that penalizes financial institutions trying to go green is full of loopholes, and is straight up ignored. But other states are following Texas's punitive approach all the same.
Thank you to Alison and to all of the commenters. I read every comment and learned a lot. (One thing I learned was that you all have excellent literary and pop culture taste!) I took a lot of what was said to heart and especially want to thank SaraM and GythaOgden for their lovely and insightful comments. A few things I feel compelled to add:
I had spoken to the employee previously about their situation and was told that their therapist had recommended that they not rush into any permanent or semi-permanent name changes. Their therapist asked them to ask us to “try to be comfortable with some ambiguity at the moment for the sake of their mental health.”
The employee does not identify as cisgender, and yes, it is their full name that is at issue. They still retain their legal name. Once they settle on a new name, they will consider changing their name so that they don’t, indeed, have to look at their dead name on paystubs, etc. At least that is what they told me, not that it is anyone’s business.
Socially — and I know this because we have mutual friends outside of work — they are also not using a name, and it seems to be causing some not dissimilar issues.
Many commenters mentioned the Public Universal Friend, which is interesting because “friend” is the term that we now try to use to get their attention and/or distinguish them in meetings. It has worked for the most part.
I spoke to my grandboss and he agreed that the name change need not be permanent.
I also spoke with the employee using some of the suggested language and explained that, at least for work purposes, they need to choose an identifier and that it need not be permanent. They said they understood and are going to think about it for a week. Once they do, the IT department should be able to find a workaround.
