Boredwalk Community: Don't Let the "Y'all" Fool You

Welcome to our weekly Boredwalk Community series, where we ask Boredwalk fans fun questions! This week we're talking to Laura B., looking erudite AF in her Support Your Local Library tee!

1. What's your actual day job and what's your dream day job?

Before quarantine, I'd have said my dream job would be to write on a beach somewhere, undisturbed, and to actually make money on my novels. After quarantine, I have discovered that I need a real 9-to-5 to actually force me out of bed in the mornings, to give me a sense of purpose and deadline, and to provide the stress, frustration, and angst necessary to be inspired in the first place. So I'll continue with my actual day job quite happily: public librarian. (Ed. note: Seagulls have indiscriminate bladder control when in flight, so you're probably safer indoors, anyway.)

2. What's a book you think the Boredwalk community should read?

This is such an unfair question because there are so many life-changing books, and because normally I'd ask you all questions first, about what you like best in a book, what you last read, what motivates you to keep reading... but if you want a handful of "try this out and see" (I can't pick just one): Luster by Revan Leilani, Lila by Marilynne Robinson, Lock In by John Scalzi, or The "More or Less" Definitive Guide to Self-Care by Anna Borges. That last is nonfiction, and sleek, and wow, helpful right now. The others are nicely alliterated and have their own points of entry: black girl magic, Depression-era despair, future world effects of a pandemic! Cheers.

3. Clear up a misconception (about your job, where you are from, some other topic you know a lot about).

Don't let the "y'all" fool you: people in the South are not idiots. We are not all (TW) Confederate-flag-waving assholes. People in the South are nuanced just as you are nuanced. The sins of our soil are on the surface, for the most part, and culturally we are required to pay lip service to politeness; therefore, there is a thin veneer of dust caked in our smiles, but some of us are very aware, and working for change-still with a smile.

4. Where can the rest of the Boredwalk community find you?

Twitter: @lily_bart

My author page.

There's also tumblr, but let's not be too revealing.