The Weekly Wrap: October 20, 2024

I got a great email at work this week. A person in our marketing office reached out to say that a publication was interested in featuring our library's new family-friendly study space. This new room is my baby and I preened at the message.

When they were remodeling our library, a colleague and I strongly advocated for the inclusion of this space. In fact, it ended up in our former office area. Most of our university's students are part-time. A large part of them have caregiving responsibilities. Students have brought their kids to the library (both in our old space and in our temporary space) since they have no other option. As a mom, I get it. It's a heavy lift to try to get work done while caring for a kiddo.

We wanted to make things a little easier. While our library can't provide childcare, at least we can make a more comfortable space for our caregiver students and their young ones. The room has adult workstations, a bookcase full of reading materials, a few toys, a kid-sized table and chairs, and beanbag chairs. In the restrooms nearby, we tossed some step stools to make handwashing easier. Many of the items in the room came from the homes of the parents on our staff.

We're halfway through the semester and the students who have used the space love it. Even better, they've given us actionable feedback on how to improve the room to better suit their needs. I get a magical feeling each time I see a kid and their parent in there.

Have you ever had a moment where you're really proud of something you've done?

---

• You're not politically powerless! [The Atlantic - gift link]
• I agree with all of this. [Culture Study]
• "Controlling access to information is about preserving power." [Men Yell at Me] 

• The impact of tariffs might not be what you think. [Good on Paper]
• What we will learn from Europa Clipper. [Short Wave]
• Some creative ways to get people back downtown. [Booming]
• Life as we don't know it. [StarTalk]

• I think Daniel Radcliffe has successfully managed to break out of his Harry Potter casting. In Escape from Pretoria, he plays an activist imprisoned for protesting apartheid. Sadly, this film leans heavily into the white savior narrative.  Most of the black characters are nameless and silent. It's incredibly noticeable and disappointing. As a prison break movie, however, this is rather good. The filmmakers ratchet up the tension with excellent choices of when to use music and when to  let the scene sounds take over. [Amazon Prime]
• The Way Back is another prison escape movie - except this one was about the massively long journey after the escape. It has a pretty stacked cast for a movie I've never heard of until it randomly showed up in our recommendations. This is based on the true story of several WWII prisoners who escape from a gulag in Siberia. They then walk to freedom. Walk! [Amazon Prime]

• The husband likes to pick prissy meals for dinner. They require a lot of work and all day tending. Luckily, he also makes said meals. That meant I got to enjoy porcini pot roast without any cooking labor on my part. It was really savory and warming. We added carrots and potatoes as our root vegetables. I think turnips would also have been a good addition. [WaPo]
• Now that it's colder, we busted out a seasonal favorite: oven roasted autumn medley. I've made this so often I no longer need to look at the recipe. I loved that I got to use the apples we picked from the orchard last weekend. We like to use chicken apple sausage in this one. [Budget Bytes]