Karla with a K
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karlarchivist.bsky.social
Karla with a K
@karlarchivist.bsky.social
Archivist in Philly. Library defender. Loves skeeball and soft pretzels. Theater costumer in a previous life. she/her
Reposted by Karla with a K
"AI is the asbestos in the walls of our technological society, stuffed there with wild abandon by a finance sector and tech monopolists run amok. We will be excavating it for a generation or more."

This piece on AI by Cory Doctorow is spectactular.

pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...
December 9, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by Karla with a K
“I am so bored by AI. One of the things I love about the theatre is AI can’t do it.”

Ethan Hawke is a dude 👌🏻
December 9, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Reposted by Karla with a K
Folks might not know a lot of people are getting *very* upset that the materials they request are not available in the libraries/archives they're requesting from.

We're getting lots here at the Library of Virginia: requests of documents likely surfaced by large language models that *do not exist*.
December 8, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Reposted by Karla with a K
Worth a read. It's wild to me how far American society has regressed with respect to accepting transgender people, cross-dressing, gender-bending, etc. You couldn't turn on a TV, watch a movie or read a culture magazine in the 80s without seeing positive depictions.

We're all boiled frogs.
A very important thread. When I was probably no more than 10, I saw this picture of the woman known as Harlow in the Philly Inquirer. A little babygay, I was shocked that such a glamour queen could live in my hometown and even more shocked to see her described as "a former man."
December 7, 2025 at 3:18 AM
Reposted by Karla with a K
Ann Lowe was the Black genius behind Jackie Kennedy’s iconic wedding gown.

Before the fashion world was ready to credit a Black woman’s talent, Lowe was already designing for America’s most powerful families. Brilliant. Bold. Innovative. Undervalued. And nearly erased from history.
December 7, 2025 at 4:14 AM
Reposted by Karla with a K
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has proposed disastrous cuts to our city's libraries while setting aside $5M for a ShotSpotter replacement. As library associate Sara Heymann told me, “Libraries embody everything we need to fight back against fascism.” My piece on what’s at stake and how to fight back:
You Can’t Fight Fascism While Defunding Libraries
“Libraries embody everything that we need right now to fight back against fascism," says Sara Heymann.
organizingmythoughts.org
December 3, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Reposted by Karla with a K
What's happening with the Chicago Public Libraries right now is terrible. The proposed budget of the city would CUT 89 CPL positions. Importantly, 78 positions were lost LAST year. That would be 167 positions in 2 YEARS while COPS KEEP GETTING MORE MONEY. ENOUGH. SAY NO.
December 2, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Reposted by Karla with a K
Happy St Katherine's Day to all scholars, librarians, and Katherines. May you win an argument against an annoying man today, in the true spirit of Katherine herself.
November 25, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Reposted by Karla with a K
“I want their morale as low as possible because a team with low morale is ineffective.”

Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Meet the veteran who chases ICE on a scooter
Clifford “Buzz” Grambo patrols the streets of Baltimore to keep his neighbors safe—and make federal agents uncomfortable.
www.motherjones.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Here's how to delete your data if you've used TurboTax in the past: accounts-help.intuit.com/app/intuit/1...
TurboTax is about to be integrated into ChatGPT, where customers will be guided through tasks tied to their tax filings or financial profile by the AI chatbot.

TurboTax owner Intuit is also paying OpenAI more than $100 million a year to power AI agents.
November 18, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by Karla with a K
It is genuinely incredible to me how much evidence there is to support investing in the public good and how much animus there is to do this simple, effective thing.
November 18, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Reposted by Karla with a K
From this minister's op-ed: "People wanting to experience God are more likely to meet the Divine trying to shut down the Broadview, Illinois, ICE facility than we ever were in church...God does not live in our houses of worship, but...with those who are bearing the brunt of cruelty in this moment."
Oh wow @reuters.com got the photo here:
November 14, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Reposted by Karla with a K
So many vulnerable people were hurt, harassed and raped by these ghouls and now—I’m worried—it’s gonna become hehe haha lurid internet circus instead of a long overdue moral reckoning. I’m scared of who we all are becoming. That man has brought us ALL low.
November 15, 2025 at 12:02 AM
Reposted by Karla with a K
Reposted by Karla with a K
Oh so they are doing torture torture
An interesting tidbit in the joint status report filed in the Broadview ICE facility case today:

ICE says video from inside the facility "between October 19, 2025, and October 31, 2025, has been irretrievably destroyed" and can't be produced in discovery.

www.courtlistener.com/docket/71832...
November 14, 2025 at 12:12 AM
Reposted by Karla with a K
As all this disgusting Epstein shit starts surfacing more and more, I hope we don't lose sight of the fact that apparently every major media outlet knew everything and instead spent their time money and energy attacking the trans community.
November 13, 2025 at 1:07 AM
November 11, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Reposted by Karla with a K
People of all ages should know about this man [especially white people because some of you continue to pretend that people didn't know that enslaving Africans WAS WRONG at the time].
We will hold the launch of our children’s book, *Fearless Benjamin* (PM Press), this evening, Tuesday, Nov. 11, at 6:00 pm at the Abington Quaker Meeting House, where Benjamin Lay worshipped and where he is buried. See the flyer below for more info. Please join us!
November 11, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Reposted by Karla with a K
Librarians told 404 Media they're being inundated with new pitches for AI library tech and catalogs are being flooded with AI slop books.

But more broadly, AI maximalism across society is supercharging the ideological war on libraries, schools, government workers, and academics.
AI Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge
"Fascism and AI, whether or not they have the same goals, they sure are working to accelerate one another."
www.404media.co
November 6, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Reposted by Karla with a K
I wrote about public libraries as spaces of civic solidarity, common knowledge, and public infrastructure — all endangered by commercial and federal saboteurs
Extralibrary Loan: Making the Civic Infrastructure We Need
Amid a war on public knowledge, libraries are pushing outward, enlarging the commons through new configurations of civic and creative life.
placesjournal.org
October 28, 2025 at 3:03 PM
October 31, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Karla with a K
One of the largest distributors of print books for libraries is shutting down causing major issues for libraries.

🔗 www.404media.co/libraries-sc...
Libraries Scramble for Books After Giant Distributor Shuts Down
Why it might have been and may continue to be harder to get new releases from your local library.
www.404media.co
October 30, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by Karla with a K
i think if you ride public transit enough you learn that most weird behavior is not dangerous, and conversely i think driving a car teaches you that everyone is trying to kill you at all times
October 29, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Reposted by Karla with a K
Resharing this! We haven't gotten much by way of groceries so if you can donate, please do.
My day job is working at a women's shelter in DC, and many of our clients are on SNAP. If you're local and can support these women so they can stay fed, the info is here: www.instagram.com/p/DQU7kh3CbKg/

We need grocery store gift cards and shelf-stable food donations!
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www.instagram.com
October 29, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Reposted by Karla with a K