Hope and joy

the thing with feathers

The last year in Texas has seen a spate of book bans and new legislation for school libraries and classrooms, with so many different iterations it’s been hard to keep up. The constant fires and confusion have kept all types of FReadom fighters in Texas extremely busy. But as we’ve continued to see throughout the country, everyday folks are joining seasoned advocates to stand up locally for the right to read and for their libraries. In the majority of Texas school board races, extremist candidates lost in the May and November elections. And only one of the spate of library censorship bills actually passed(though it has been an implementation struggle). Around the country, a number of states have passed anti-censorship bills this last year as well. And in many local communities, local advocates have forced their libraries to reopen(thanks New Braunfels parents), or put books back on the shelves or give them due process through enforcing district procedures.

The new bills in Texas were like a multi-headed hydra, cropping up in unexpected ways and bills that had little to do with libraries at all still affecting books offered in schools and classrooms. And if you’ve watched any of it unfolding, you know it’s mostly unfounded, overhyped, and uncalled for by the majority of parents. But it’s draining. It’s draining to be involved in a fight “against” all the time, to be stamping out one fire and another fire, and to be fighting nebulous fear as well as actual bills.

Which brings me to hope and joy. What we are really fighting is about taking the joy of reading away - away from students, library patrons and librarians themselves. Reading is an act of personal joy and communal joy. Libraries provide access to that for readers. Part of what’s being diminished is this joy around reading, at a time we know students are reading less(at least reading less traditionally books) and need to be reading more(because our democracy depends on literate voters). When you create a sense of suspicion around books, people become guarded and wary. We’ve seen that in history as well. Of course, being guarded and wary is not conducive to joy or hope, though it’s realistic to feel that way.

But as we enter 2026, we want to invite you in to joy. Because joy and hope are a choice too. And what a joy it is that we have an increasingly diversified collection of texts to choose from in libraries and classrooms. What a joy is it that we have libraries in small communities that bring people together and support their aspirations. What a joy it is to watch in a library’s children’s section kids sitting in a cozy chair engrossed in a good book. What hope is there when we see someone getting their first passport at a library(thank you Austin!) or being able to get online and fill out a job application for their first job! What simple personal joy it is to bring a book home from the library or borrow an ebook and immerse yourself in someone else’s story, quietly escaping when you need to. And what a sense of accomplishment when you finish one book, or one manga series or ten audiobooks or whatever your reading passion is. Also, we want to remember how these causes bring us together in community, too - making new joyful friendships.

So this year, deep in the midst of a very determined fight for the first amendment, for the rights of readers, and for the work of libraries, we also want to invite you to mindfully recall and celebrate the joy and hope. And then to bring that joy to the fight - to come to school board meetings to share the joy of reading for your family, to write your school superintendent or your city council a joyful letter about the ways libraries have nurtured you, to drop off flowers for your librarian, to joyfully(with defiant joy) donate to advocates who are fighting for your rights and freedoms. History tells us that freedom wants to be free, that we are on the right side of history and that reading and books will prevail, ultimately. And that is where hope comes in to meet with joy.

So as we FReadom Fighters enter into 2026, we invite you to join the fight or to continue fighting, leaning with us on hope and joy. We can’t let them take that away because it is ours to hold, to cherish, and to give. We may have to buckle up and buckle down this year, but let’s always remember what we are fighting for - our freedoms and yours. As poet Emily Dickinson reminds us, ““Hope” is the thing with feathers - that perches in the soul.” Let’s keep that hope, that hope that helped found our country’s freedoms, let’s keep that hope shining as we go forward this year. It will help sustain us unceasingly as Dickinson wrote, “And sings the tune without the words -And never stops - at all.”