what is sick, sad library?
A repository, a sandbox, an art project, a coping mechanism, a virtual happy place, a commonplace book, a little bit of freedom in an increasingly limited Internet: Sick Sad Library is all of these things and more to me. It's where I stick everything I make as well as all that interests, delights, or inspires me. The Library is, first and foremost, for me, though I hope all who visit enjoy it as well ✮⋆˙
"why sick & sad?"
The name "Sick, Sad Library" comes from a fictional reality TV show called Sick, Sad World which exists within the universe of the show Daria. We get snippets of Sick, Sad World throughout the series, always with outlandish and absurd soundbites - "H2-ugh! Are microbes having sex in your drinking water?!" Besides simply relating to Daria as a character, the indulgent ridiculousness of Sick, Sad World speaks to me - as Werner Herzog once said about trash reality TV, "the poet must not avert his eyes." I'm by no means a romantic - in fact, I see ugliness everywhere and draw inspiration from it, just as Daria and Jane do when they're writing and painting while SSW serves as their background noise.
Furthermore, you could say I, myself, am both "sick" and "sad." I'm neurodivergent and have struggled with mental illness for most of my life (if you couldn't tell), which colors my experience of everyday life. For me, some of the most mundane tasks can sometimes feel insurmountable. (Sometimes, they really are insurmountable). For as long as I can remember, I've self-soothed by compiling and organizing and re-organizing various lists. Lists of books I've read, books I want to read, movies, music, plants, animals, recipes, words, anything I could think of. Before ever working in a library, I'd become the dedicated librarian of my own interior world, purely as a means of comfort and survival. Now, I'm turning that library into a pocket of cyberspace. Hence: "Sick, Sad Library."
