Annie's Blog

Annie Hoffman here! This is my final blog post as the Student Journalist for the Libraries. My senior year and Honors thesis will require...

Annie's been busy this week in socially distanced dance rehearsals, swapping books, making cheese, and volunteering at the YWCA in Minneapolis.

A few weeks ago, I tried out the Suggest a Purchase feature on the University Libraries website. This week, I received an email informing me that the book I suggested was now available to read online through the library catalog. I am excited to start Ryan La Sala’s Reverie, a young adult fantasy novel about gay teenagers and dreams becoming real.

I am about to start a podcast from the New York Times called Nice White Parents, which was recommended to me by a friend. We are both future educators, and the podcast examines how race and specifically whiteness operate in public education. I look forward to expanding explorations that began in courses I have taken as part of the DirecTrack to Teaching program.

This week I am grateful for warm weather and safe, fulfilling ways to interact with family, friends, and the university community.

Libraries Student Journalist Annie Hoffman is looking forward to senior year, brainstorming topics for her Honors thesis while "getting more and more excited to learn, to challenge myself, and to work for positive change on campus and beyond."

This week, Annie writes about her plans to incorporate Montessori ideas into her Dance Pedagogy course in the fall, a new transgender podcast, and Anti-Racism Daily — a newsletter that offers daily actions to dismantle white supremacy.

Annie is a member of Equity, Accountability, Redistribution — a group of white, Minnesota-based writers committed to using our collective privilege and capital to resource and support writers of color and indigenous writers in our community.

This week Annie watched "Black America Since MLK: But Still I Rise," a two-part documentary hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. that examines the last five decades of African American history. Both parts are available for free on tpt.org. She provides three Netflix offerings that dive deep into sections of history touched on in Gates’ documentary.

Annie Hoffman here, Student Journalist for the libraries. In this final week of Pride month, I am honoring the incredible contributions of Black LGBT+ activists and artists. Below you’ll find five people that I admire, and a book or film by or about each individual.

I have heard the term ‘mutual aid’ a lot over the past few weeks and months, but I didn’t really know what it meant. So I looked into it. Mutual aid, simply put, refers to people working to meet each other’s needs.

Annie Hoffman, Libraries Student Journalist, recommends additional anti-racism resources, including two podcasts: "1619" from the New York Times and the June 4 episode of NPR's "Throughline."

As we mourn George Floyd’s death and try to honor his life through opposing violent policing and systemic racism, it is essential that white people like me make meaningful commitments to antiracist work. If you are white and unsure of where to begin, these books are all a good place to start.

Post-Spring Semester, Annie Hoffman — the Libraries Student Journalist — has spent time drawing, watching episodes of "The West Wing," and reading "S," a book by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst.

Hello! Annie Hoffman here, Student Journalist for the Libraries. As spring turns into summer, I am enjoying both the cozy rainy days and the...

Hello! Annie Hoffman here, Student Journalist for the libraries. I am officially done with spring semester! Even though I’m finished attending class on Zoom, there is still a lot of Zooming going on around here. I have jumped on video calls for game nights, to sing Happy Birthday, and even to attend a spelling bee.