Berkeley, CA now has a Wingnut Museum. “The wingnut was invented in the first half of the 19th century and quickly became an indispensable piece of hardware. It lets users fasten bolts by hand, without tools, using little wings jutting out from the nut. Over time the term became slang, applied pejoratively to mentally unsound people, to political extremists, to freaks, eccentrics and weirdos. But in the Bay Area especially, it’s come to take on a more positive connotation, describing a certain type of creative tinkerer with a DIY, outsider ethos. The wingnut, in all its many guises, is being celebrated at the Wingnut Museum, which opened in July at Grand Opening, the art salon in Berkeley’s Gilman District that is also home to the Illusion Room. ”
A weird, whimsical game is hiding in the bookshelves at Los Angeles Public Library LA Times: “Imagine that your local public library is inhabited by an undiscovered race of tiny people. They’ve hidden themselves in the racks, tucked behind books and magazines, amidst history and fiction, new media and old.”
Utagawa Kuniyoshi Princess Tamatori Escaping From the Dragon God. 1853. Woodcut print.
Photo © Richard Kalvar, 1969. This was in my family’s neighborhood in Brooklyn. I can guarantee that it was completely ignored.
Joanna Karpowicz — Antiquary Bookstore (acrylic on canvas, 2024)
The governor’s little, free symbol foreshadowed a big, free policy change. In May, Walz signed a Minnesota law “banning K-12 schools, colleges, and public libraries from complying with [book] removal requests… based solely on the viewpoint, content, message, idea, or opinion conveyed.” The act meaningfully protects LGBTQ+ books from the crosshairs of conservative censors.
While unveiling the Little Free Library, Walz affirmed his commitment to free reading. “In Minnesota, we are focused on investing in education, our future, and children and families across the state. We’re not in the business of taking books away from kids and schools and we certainly don’t believe in banning books that tell our history,” he told reporters.
Travel Between The Pages 
Hooray for Tim Walz then!