Poipoia te kākano kia puāwai.

Nurture the seed and it will bloom.

Oh, Storytime Solidarity whānau.

We are all hurting.

We are all doing our best.

And, it is so, so hard.

This piece started many moons ago, to support Mychal Threets, when he publicly announced stepping down from his fulltime job.

It has been percolating ever since.

And, now. The Storytime Solidarity team are struggling.

We’re all going about out daily lives, masking our anxiety. Being bright and bubbly, and putting on wonderful storytimes for our little friends.

Inside? We’re tired. We’re clinging to each other, as our team is a safe space.

He aha te mea nui o te ao
What is the most important thing in the world?
He tangata, he tangata, he tangata
It is the people, it is the people, it is the people

In an era where libraries serve as more than just repositories of books, Mychal Threets (he/him) has emerged as a beacon of hope. Mychal is a valued member of the solidarity team here at Storytime Solidarity.

Mychal’s journey creating library content started after the onset of COVID-19 while working as a librarian for the Solano County Library. He aimed to “share library joy with library kids,” promoting literacy, offering book recommendations, fostering community interactions, and highlighting library services. He spoke about how the Solano County Library was his sanctuary as a child, getting his first library card at age five, and he felt an incredible amount of joy and pride in being able to work there as an adult and provide the same comfort and solace for other library kids.

He first went viral in March of 2023 and has had a meteoric rise since then, amassing over 1.5 million combined followers currently on TikTok and Instagram. He became known for spreading affirmations with his distinctive Afro and book-themed tattoos, including one of a library card from Arthur. On TikTok and Instagram, many of his supporters compared him to Mister Rogers or Reading Rainbow’s LeVar Burton, even pushing PBS to reboot the program with him as the star.

Mychal decided to leave the library to prioritize his mental health. Mychal has been very up-front about his mental health struggles from a young age, and his openness and honesty can help lessen that stigma.

He has continued to fight for literacy and advocate for library funding because communities need libraries, and he desires to speak in front of Congress about library joy.

Mychal’s positive influence has continued to flourish! He was featured on Arthur, had a TIME Magazine piece written about him, and is now the Resident Librarian at PBS. We are grateful to be in solidarity with Mychal and cannot imagine a better ambassador for our profession. He has used his transformative nature to promote the power of kindness.

There is something deeply poetic about Mychal managing a building that sixty years ago he would not have been able to enter. The act of promoting literacy and community funding is inherently radical, as it directly aims to bridge gaps through social justice. Social justice can be perplexing for some, and that confusion can very easily be turned into anger. But what Mychal has made clear is that kindness is the most important thing. You do not need to understand everyone or everything, just be kind. Even in the face of adversity, we can find joy in spreading knowledge and supporting out communities.

To keep up to date with Mychal, you can follow him on TikTok and Instagram at @mychal3ts, and you can support his mission by visiting your local library.

Storytime Solidarity stands in solidarity with our dear friend Mychal Threets because he is putting himself first!

Librarians have it hard at the moment. There is a lot we are going through at work and in our personal lives. We are providing customer service, creating lasting relationships with our patrons, giving reader advisory when asked, and above all we are offering pieces of ourselves to everyone who walks through our doors day in and out.

When it comes to librarians, especially children’s librarians, we are always putting our happy faces forward and bringing hope and joy to others. We often don’t have space for ourselves. We come with singing, laughter, and storytelling. At times when we are not at 100%, perhaps when it was difficult to get dressed and arrive at work, we push forward!  And this is extremely evident in the case of those committed to social justice. Moving through the struggle is our motto.

When Mychal announced that he was putting his mental health first, it was for his best and we should definitely take notice and congratulate him. Would we do the same? Can we do the same? We can learn from his example.

You deserve to put yourself first. You matter and your work matters. In order for us to give to our community, we need to take necessary breaks and refill our cups. We need to go to our support team and love ourselves back to full capacity.

As an organization that focuses on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and connection we know this all too well and stand with our friend in solidarity and colleague Mychal.

When I hear Mychal say, “It’s okay to not be okay,” it reminds me of my own therapist’s reminders to listen to my “negative” feelings and ask what they are protecting me from. So helpful!

It’s totally okay to stop and take the time to listen to the cues and messages coming from inside and around us.

Thank you, Mychal, for reminding us that those extra moments in bed or on the sofa or the floor are time well spent!

Self-Care Stretch: Action Rhyme

These days, everyone wants Mr. Mychal. On behalf of the entire Solidarity Team, I want to say how proud I am of him and his  advocacy for libraries, literacy, and inclusion. When we first met, Mychal and I had comparable social media footprints. Now, he’s famous enough to have his own Wikipedia entry. It’s been wonderful to watch as we all cheer him on.

The best part, though, is seeing Mychal advocating, not only for himself, but for others. Mychal’s brave sharing about his mental health is breaking down all kinds of stereotypes. Mychal’s vulnerability is a testament to the beautiful things that happen when we know that we are worthy and don’t need to hide the more complicated parts of ourselves. Mychal is a light the world needs right now.

Passionate library workers often put everyone else’s needs before our own. I hear about folks who don’t even take their breaks. Some library workers devote everything to their libraries and the communities they serve to their own detriment. We need to find ways to fill the cups we pour from, or we have nothing to offer to others. I ask you, gentle reader, to consider treating yourself with the same kindness I know you show to the little ones you serve.

There’s a quote that I have scribbled down in my notebook. “You have a solemn obligation to take care of yourself. You never know when the world will need you.” It’s attributed (according to Facebook memes,) to Rabbi Hillel, although I’m skeptical of that attribution. For this moment, the attribution doesn’t really matter. What matters is the message, and the way we see Mr Mychal showing us how to put all of the good energy into the world that we are able to.

Mr Mychal has been an agent of change for many years. He brings library joy and book joy to the world, he opens up pathways to kids who may have never been able to imagine themselves in a job like his, he fights efforts to ban books, and that only skims the surface. His social media presence has brought joy, positivity and fond memories to the adults he has a parasocial relationship with. Throughout it all, Mr Mychal has given selflessly, even when his popularity and visibility exploded in a truly unexpected way. That situation alone adds a great deal of stress for anyone. We’re typically unprepared to deal with it.  And a few months ago when the bullies came for Mr Mychal, we rallied around him to show him our love and support.

We have seen Mychal giving selflessly for a long time. We have celebrated as his popularity and visibility exploded in a truly unexpected way. The more of the world that gets to know Michael, the more power he has to bring his special kind of change to the world. What is easy to forget is that becoming a public figure like that adds a lot of stress. The kind of stress most of us are unprepared to deal with.  When bullies stormed in a few months ago, we rallied around to support Mychal and to push back against their influence. Now he needs us to rally around him again and to  support him as he takes care of his own mental health so he can make the transition into his new leadership role, and brings his unique style of inspiration to a new audience.  Self-care is self-preservation, and we can learn a lot from positive role models like Mr Mychal.

I hate that I originally used the word “tireless” to describe Mychal. The fact is he, like every library worker and indeed every human being, is not tireless. We have limits. And it’s important for folks on the outside to understand that no matter how much we love our jobs and libraries in general. None of us are tireless.

The unkindness of folks on the internet can be exhausting even for the most resilient among us. Folks go after those who are putting kindness into the world because they see that it’s stronger than hate. So they want to exhaust those working to do good. There is so much cruelty in the world. So much unkindness. And it’s okay for those of us who are working to make the world kinder to make space to manage our own mental health.

Many of us need to be reminded that, while we are the helpers Mr. Rogers told us to look for during difficult times, it’s important to give ourselves the space to not be okay when aren’t. And to extend to ourselves the grace we so generously give to others.

Take care, friends, and remember that love is always stronger than hate. And we are in this, this great big messy beautiful world, together.

In Solidarity,

Ms. Kate