Hi babblers! If you’re reading this then it is officially spring! Pat on the back to us all for making it through, though we still have a couple weeks till the last frost.

Through tiktok debates, bad movie adaptation discourse, & popular headlines I’ve noticed a pattern of using the so called, literacy crisis, to diminish people’s opinions or as a vague term to virtue signal and separate yourself as an intellectual. But what even is the literacy crisis? And how easily can we fall into elitist rhetoric instead of investigating the intersectionality and root of a problem? So let’s chat about the literacy crisis!

Special thanks to my mom, Sarah Hawley, for joining me to have a deep discussion about education, the literacy crisis, and the American school system with her first hand 20+ years experience as an educator.

REFERENCES & MORE INFO: https://babblings.net/so-you-want-to-talk-about-the-literacy-crisis/

Time Stamps:

5:20 Current Events Corner

6:24 Jon Lemon & Georgia Fort - Journalist Arrested

10:37 Remembering Wael Tarabishi - ICE targeting people w/ disabilities

14:21 US/Israel v Iran

16:49 Main Topic: The So Called Literacy Crisis

20:17 The Reading Wars & Literacy Politics

24:04 Literacy Crisis or Critical Thinking Crisis?

25:16 Let’s Talk To An Expert

INTERVIEW STARTS:

26:30 What are the challenges to teaching kids how to read?

37:35 Understanding Literacy Crisis Data

49:55 Phonics vs Whole Language

56:05 The American School System

1:00:06 The Importance of Reading & Complex Texts

1:20:14 Reading & Empathy

1:24:50 AI and Future Crisis

1:26:46 JUST READ!!

1:28:23 Outro

Links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aliannreed/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@babblings20

Podcast Links: https://babblings.net/category/babblings_pod/

Blog: babblings.net

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/sounds-from-space

License code: HFCWEOEYJ9AUOI6C

Hello babblers! I'm so excited to finally get this aging episode out to you all. Despite sickness delays and the holidays I felt this needed to come out before the 1st of the year. I hope you enjoy and may it be the start of healing for us all the fear of aging!

GO DEEPER (References/Resources): https://babblings.net/whys-everyone-afraid-of-aging-podcast/

Time Stamps:

0:00 HELLO! Happy Holidays :)

5:35 NO NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS

8:23 Current Events Corner

9:04 Pantone Color of the Year????

13:05 The Met Gala Theme

17:47 Met Employees Move to Unionize

22:09 Recommended Article: Centering Sundanese Voices

23:28 WHY’S EVERYONE AFRAID OF AGING??

25:12 I like getting older! Experiencing death young, not being afraid of dying

31:57 We take aging for granted

34:55 Fear of loosing attractiveness & the beauty industry

39:19 Subliminal Messaging In Media

40:34 The real underlying fears of aging

42:12 Our fear and view of death

44:08 AGING IS NOT A DISEASE

Welcome to a special edition babblings’ report - podcast bonus episode! *tehehehehe* I have some updates and thoughts that I just didn’t feel like organizing on paper and wanted to chat with you about. If you listen to anything please jump to the section about me leaving substack and moving babblings to my own website :) I also talk about wintering, the grit you earn working a service job, and more babbles. time stamps below. xoxo, Ali Ann

Time Stamps:

0:00 HELLO!

2:39 Deleting my subscriptions, Financial Advise??

17:02 Winter Goal: Fix Attention Span

18:55 Winter Goal: Nondigital Activities

20:17 Wintering & Living In Season

24:47 Leaving Substack!

36:12 Tarot Card Reading: You Needed To Lock In & Now It Will Pay Off

39:49 I LOVE YOU!!

Links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aliannreed/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@babblings20

Podcast Links: https://babblings.substack.com/podcast

Blog: https://babblings.substack.com/

Hello beloveds! I’m back with a new babblings podcast episode dissecting celebrity worhsip, parasocial relationships, and investigating whether art is required to be moral??? I’ve been ruminating on these thoughts for some time per usual and of course it’s timely with our noise diving economy and somehow growing consumption of celebrities. I hope you enjoy and I say this multiple times but don’t get defensive! This is about us, it’s about understanding that it’s us versus them! They will never be one of us no matter how hard they try to cling to relevancy.

xoxo, Ali Ann

Go Deeper | References: https://babblings.substack.com/p/youre-fav-billionaire-doesnt-know

Time Stamps:

0:00 Welcome Back!

3:35 Navigating Financial Stress

7:15 RHOP Wendy Fraud Scandal

12:08 Oracle Card Pull

19:55 Current Events

20:30 Trapped In Tunisia Documentary Rec

22:34 Alaska Typhoon Halong

26:34 Pentagon Media Corp No More!

28:18 Celebrity Worship

33:26 Taylor Swift Album

37:54 Chris Brown Breezy Bowl

39:33 Unpacking Parasocial Relationships

44:40 What Is Celebrity Worship?

48:40 Money doesn’t equal Moral

01:02:01 Dystopian Future

01:04:55 Collective Understanding of Consumer Power and Increased Morality Surveillance

01:08:33 Must Art Be Moral? The Ethics of Artistry

01:15:41 responsibilities of celebrities

01:17:31 MY POINT!

Links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aliannreed/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@babblings20

Podcast Links: https://babblings.substack.com/podcast

Hello my lovelies! It’s me sunburnt on a beach in Puerto Rico but never forgetting about the craziness of the world. There’s just so much going on I felt like we needed to dedicate a whole episode to current events. While this is just skimming the surface I found it interesting to see how many things weave together and dissect where we are but really…. where we’re going. As always go deeper below, and after the supreme court ruling yesterday I would start carrying your passport with you everywhere. The police state is only beginning.

xoxo, Ali Ann

GO DEEPER: https://babblings.substack.com/p/current-events-extravaganza-dc-jd

Petition To Stop The Landover, MD Data Center: https://www.change.org/p/stop-data-center-at-former-landover-mall-site

Time Stamps:

16:33 Data Centers

24:41 Trump Death Hoax, JD Vance, Peter Theil, Venezuela

31:57 Trump DC Takeover, Threats To Other Major Cities

38:49 Florida Removing Mandated Vaccines For Schools???????

44:48 Department of War???

45:57 Largest ICE Raid in Georgia, 300 South Koreans Detained

46:38 Arkansa Farmers Begging for Emergency Aid

47:20 Recent Climate Catastrophes

Links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aliannreed/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@babblings20

Podcast Links: https://babblings.substack.com/podcast

Blog: https://babblings.substack.com/

Hiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!! Finally the long awaited and probably over hyped *by myself* climate change episode! I actually had a lot of fun diving into this one even with the bleak info I got. If you’ve caught yourself wondering what climate change even is or trying to conceptualize what that really means for you, this is for you! If not you share with a friend or family member who would really benefit from having it all laid out.

kisses! Ali Ann

‼️The Future of Congo‼️Send Donations to:

The Future of Congo PO Box 2032 Rockville, MD 20847

The Future of Congo Linktree: https://linktr.ee/futureofcongo?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAadb3oqCX-UVjPDyBazpMZjm0D0XDoQmk8E9v7xUTQ53nvp4lQFRJFj-jCPW3A_aem_7P6cEAZlp_J1tkBXVLxJig

Amie video: https://www.tiktok.com/@amieboakye/video/7540958306597195039

GO DEEPER: https://babblings.substack.com/p/wtf-even-is-climate-change

Time Stamps:

0:00 Welcome Back!!! Quitting my job to focus on summer

7:38 Tarot Card Reading: You’re Being Rewarded For Your Restriction???

14:50 Current Events Corner: School Supply Drive For Congo

17:58 Unprecedented Climate Disasters

22:56 The Water Crisis

26:30 What Actually Is Climate Change?

28:10 Climate Is Not Inherent

31:12 Effects of Climate Change

33:48 Conceptualizing the Climate Changing

42:25 What We’re Really Facing

46:15 Suppressed Information

50:47 What Can We Actually Do?

53:12 Both Mitigation & Adaption Are Essential

Links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aliannreed/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@babblings20

Podcast Links: https://babblings.substack.com/podcast

Blog: https://babblings.substack.com/

Hello beautiful people! I have missed recording the last two weeks but I’m super excited about some of the things coming on babblings. If you’re new welcome! babblings has a lot going on so tap in and out of what you want: podcast, blog posts, LIVE FROM THE END TIMES, tarot, etc. all on substack!

Each podcast episode has a tarot reading time stamped below, take it if it resonates leave it if it doesn’t :) This week: following your heart is causing a major internal transformation!

In this episode let’s catch up, confront in real time where the changes I’ve made in my life have taken me, and what it takes to show up as your real self.

xoxo, Ali Ann

Time Stamps:

0:00 Hi! Life/babblings Updates

1:32 Quitting My Job To Focus On Summer

3:57 New Chapters of Adulthood

6:13 going through a metamorphosis

8:26 afraid of failure

12:30 my series of failures

13:11 Pivoting through Life

19:47 recognizing growth and change

23:10 tarot: following your heart is causing a major internal transformation!

Links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aliannreed/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@babblings20

Podcast Links: https://babblings.substack.com/podcast

Blog: https://babblings.substack.com/

happy babblings day! I know I said every Monday but it seems Tuesday is working out the best so far but tbd, at least it’s been weekly!! let’s chat about my upcoming solo traveling, enjoying single life, and what it actually looks like when you decenter relationships. I also snuck in at the end a little love tarot reading for those that are interested! Skip if it’s not your vibe, just trying out some different things ;) I briefly touched on the texas floods, resources below to go deeper. But we will be diving deeper into the floods, climate catastrophe, and what even is climate change next week. hugs and kisses - Ali Ann

Go Deeper | References & Resources:

Texas flooding

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/04/weather/texas-flooding-climate?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc

Support flood victims:

-Kerr County Flood Relief Fund: https://cftexashillcountry.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=4201

-Texas Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster: https://www.txvoad.org/how-to-help/

Time Stamps:

0:00 intro

01:46 what the f*** are labubus?

3:10 solo travel plans

7:47 not waiting for someone to live your life

8:39 enjoying single life

10:56 why I haven’t dated in a year

18:54 wanting to have shared values

20:39 decentering men

22:48 IT’S OKAY TO NOT BE IN A RELATIONSHIP

27:27 tarot reading

More babblings!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aliannreed/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@babblings20

Podcast Links: https://babblings.substack.com/podcast

Blog: https://babblings.substack.com/