Fuzzy's January 2025

Gorilla Of Destiny, who call themselves "world leading researcher in magic science", has a few words to add that just speak to me.

[...] I want to talk about why anti-intellectualism is so important to them, and then ways that you as an individual might be able to help against it.

Now, the first big reason they do this is because they're wrong.

[...] if you start listening to the expert, then you're going to realize they're wrong and not just wrong, obviously wrong.

There's also a few other reasons, like they don't want you actually thinking critically, and that's what a lot of degrees teach.

So what can you do? Well, there's a few things, but it is difficult. Read. Read anything, honestly. Non-fiction, fiction, doesn't matter, just keep reading.

[...] being able to research will be a very important skill in the coming years.

The other thing you've got to do is make sure you're not putting down different studies. STEM degrees are not inherently better. Trust me, I did one. All education is valuable, especially in the arts.

Sometimes they go after specific intellectuals rather than all of them at once. [...] Though from what I can tell, this is just the opening gambit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBnA6AhbTEs

The Enemy

The Professors Are the Enemy.

So, according to J.D. Vance, I am the enemy. For people like him, education and knowledge are almost as frightening as empathy and compassion.

My name is Fuzzy

Hearing someone say my Twitter and Tumblr username out loud is pretty much a spiritual experience.

Oseman, A. (2018). I was born for this. HarperCollins Children’s Books.

I can't overstate how much this quote means to me. So many years ago I came up with the username Leapfrog for a wiki page. It's based on a method used in numerical analysis and it is used in numerical weather prediction models, which is what I was working on at the time. Not much later, I started my first public social media profile, but Leapfrog was already taken. So I added Fuzzy. It's based on fuzzy logic, so again something I was just learning about. Whereas Boolean logic is based on only two truth values,

Fuzzy logic [...] is a special many-valued logic which aims at providing formal background for the graded approach to vagueness.

Novák, V., Perfilieva, I., & Močkoř, J. (1999). Mathematical Principles of Fuzzy Logic. Springer.

That is how I became FuzzyLeapfrog, or simply Fuzzy.

Both words capture my nature and soul very well. I always try to find a numerical solution, while acknowledging that the world is more complex and vague than that.

So I've been called Fuzzy online for over a decade now, but gradually Fuzzy has also found its way into offline interactions. It's not just about me though. So many people I meet offline are people I met online and we very often address each other with our online names anyway. This has brought me so much joy and probably caused a lot of confusion for people who are unfamiliar with our online names or even the concept of online names.

Anyway, it doesn't matter how often I hear it, having someone acknowledge our online connection by calling my Fuzzy loudly offline is an endless source of inner joy. I am Fuzzy.

International Students

How many international students are there at the moment who want to enroll in a US university? The threat to block Harvard from enrolling international students is so hollow. As if this administration cares about international students. There won't be any anyway.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/17/us/politics/trump-harvard-international-students.html

Online-Veranstaltung zu Banned Books am Welttag des Buches

Gemeinsam mit der Kommission für Queere Hochschulpolitik der bukof (Bundeskonferenz der Frauen- und Gleichstellungsbeauftragten an Hochschulen) organisieren die Queerbrarians (eine Netzwerk queerer Librarians) ein queeres Online-Event zum World Book Day.

Nach einem einführenden Vortrag auf Deutsch von mir sprechen Eve & Lucie auf Englisch. Sie kämpfen gegen die Book Bans in ihrem County in Tennessee.

Das Event ist kostenfrei und braucht keine Anmeldung. Alle Interessierten sind herzlich willkommen.

Titel: Celebrating the Freedom to Read

Datum: 23. April 2025

Uhrzeit: 16:30 bis 18:00 Uhr

Flyer & Infos

Universities these days

Faculty members hold more power than many realize. Without their labour, research and expertise, universities cannot function.

Unfortunately, universities that no longer function are part of the goal, aren't they?

The US administration might hope that academics will remain siloed, too consumed with their own work — or too afraid — to resist. However, if faculty members unite across institutions, they can become a force that the federal government cannot ignore.

Hopefully, STEM will not abandon the humanities.

But words won’t be enough. Faculty senates must formally call on universities to refuse compliance. Such resolutions aren’t just symbolic — they create a record that can be cited in lawsuits, the media and advocacy.

If thinking about all of those who already lost, is not motivation enough, think about those who will see what you do now or in the distant future.

If faculty members are to take a stand, universities must back them up — protecting academic freedom, defending academics against retaliation and refusing to cave in to intimidation. [...] For some, organizing against this directive would not be just an act of resistance, it would be an act of professional and personal risk.

Hoping that universities, states and local communities will support their researchers and institutions.

Global institutions must also take a stand.

Don't forget that

[...] it’s not just in the United States. Rollbacks are also taking place in parts of Europe, for example.

And after all and most importantly:

This anti-DEI directive is not just an attack — it’s a test, a probe to see how much resistance universities will muster. Staying silent will not prevent more attacks. The only way to win is to act — together, decisively and now.

This is not a drill. It is a defining moment.

Calisi Rodríguez, R. (2025). ‘Silence is complicity’—Universities must fight the anti-DEI crackdown. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00667-2

Do good for its own sake. Do well out of spite. ✨🌈

My new motto for the fascist era.

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons: Most of it is quite self-explanatory. But elaborate on #12.

12. Make eye contact and small talk.

This lesson is so simple and human that it hits me every time I think about it. Snyder gives a straightforward definition, which I will quote at the end of this post, but he also links this lesson to people who have lived through tyranny.

[...] memoirs of their victims all share a single tender moment. [...] people who were living in fear of repression remembered how their neighbors treated them. A smile, a handshake, or a word of greeting [...] took on great significance. When friends, colleagues, and acquaintances looked away or crossed the street to avoid contact, fear grew. You might not be sure, today or tomorrow, who feels threatened [...]. But if you affirm everyone, you can be sure that certain people will feel better.

When I think about it, making small gestures like this also makes me feel a little less afraid. So making a small gesture - whatever gesture fits your personal style - makes those who need it feel better.

Snyder's definition is this:

This is not just polite. It is part of being a citizen and a responsible member of society. It is also a way to stay in touch with your surroundings, break down social barriers, and understand whom you should and should not trust. If we enter a culture of denunciation, you will want to know the psychological landscape of your daily life.

Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World

This book has so many great quotes that made me think, reflect, scream and cry. Here are some of them in the order I read them, rather than in an organised way alongside my thoughts.

Sáenz, B. A. (2021). Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World. Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers.

They want us to read, but they do not want us to write.

This applies to so many different areas and aspects that it is almost universal. It is even more relevant in the current political climate in far too many countries. It's frightening and it all starts with banning books, restricting access to information and preventing people from gaining knowledge.

I don’t want you to live in the prison of my thoughts. I’m the only one who should be living there.

Ouch. That one hurt.

Happiness. What the hell did that mean? It had to be more than the absence of sadness.

I'd argue that happiness can't exist without sadness being around as well.

A lot of things happened outside the world of words.

Communicating without words is as much an art as communicating with words.

But here we are, we’re in it, this world that does not want us, a world that will never love us, a world that would choose to destroy us rather than make a space for us even though there is more than enough room.

Some people want queer people to disappear, but we're born this way, so there will always be queer people because people are born every day. You cannot make us disappear.

I wonder if people like me ever get to know what peace is like.

Not long ago I was full of hope that we could. I'm not as hopeful anymore.

[...] we will always live between exile and belonging.

Rarely have I read a better depiction of the range of emotions described by many members of the LGBTQIA+ community. The sense of exclusion versus the sense of belonging to a community. And the state of floating between the two.

Sometimes we have to be able to speak for those who can’t. That takes a lot of courage.

I always felt that it was much easier for me to stand up and speak for others than for myself. But it takes courage to do both.

We were both learning words and their meanings, and we were learning that the word 'friendship' wasn’t completely separate from the word 'love.'

Of course it isn't. Platonic love is just as strong and important and meaningful as romantic love.

It’s a beautiful thing to let the people you love see your pain.

It's just so damn hard.

How can we make them change if we’re not allowed to talk?

It's not just about banning books, restricting access to information and preventing people from gaining knowledge. It's also about banning people from expressing themselves, preventing them from telling their stories, and preventing people from passing on empathy and knowledge, because love and empathy are contageous.

Maybe we think that the value of our own freedom is worth less if everybody else has it. And we’re afraid. We’re afraid that, if someone wants what we have, they’re taking something away that belongs to us — and only to us.

Some people certainly think so.

But not everything we need to learn can be found in a book. Or rather, I’ve learned that people are books too.

Have you ever heard of living libraries? This is an amazing description of the idea behind them.

We were in this world, and we were going to fight to stay in it. Because it was ours. And one day the word “exile” would be no more.

Hope.

Hate is an emotional pandemic we have never found a cure for.

Hopelessness.

Protecting Libraries as Safe(r) Spaces

What Not to Do

- Do not remain neutral when a hate group attempts to infiltrate the library. [...]

Hopefully an uncontroversial opinion: In these situations, "remaining neutral" isn't "neutral" at all.

Western States Center (2022). Confronting White Nationalism in Libraries: A Toolkit. https://www.westernstatescenter.org/libraries

When I teach my library and information science students, that's the kind of library I envision, and I hope to inspire them to create it.

people talking about "lesbian rights" going "U CAN'T BE A TRANSMASC/TRANS MEN LESBIAN THAT'S LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE YOU ARE THREATENING ALL OF THE LESBIANS AROUND U!!!!!!!" meanwhile i was at the library earlier and saw one of the staff members with a shaved head had a water bottle with a sticker saying "cultivate lesbian JOY!" and so i decided to go "hey nice i'm a lesbian too!" and that person & the transfem next to them both erupted with joy. nobody got mad about my beard. nobody got mad about how deep my voice is. those two, who are very used to seeing me there as that's where i print labels for my job, were overjoyed to see another lesbian.

i didn't get 20 questions. i didn't get "your voice is deep are you a MAN????" nobody bitched about my facial hair. nobody got mad that a person passing for a cis man at the time said it was a lesbian. instead i received nothing but joy, the others giggling and saying that we were the Lesbian Corner. nobody got mad, there was nothing but joy. a transmasc lesbian & a transfem lesbian shared the exact same joy it it bothered no one. no fighting. NONE. no being mad about my appearance or my voice. this is what lesbian community is REALLY about. diversity among lesbians. accepting lesbians no matter how they look, sound, or what their gender is.

this is the spirit of lesbianism, not getting angry when someone is a lesbian "wrong".