A Few Things

Hello, Friends. How are you? How was your week? I’m writing this from somewhere above 10,000 feet, headed back to Oakland from New York City. We had a fabulous time! What a treat to watch my kids get reacquainted with the city, and to see Maude confidently navigating her way around. You can see all my stories from our trip here.)

This feels like an important weekend. School starts on Monday so this is the official end of Summer Vacation. We were able to get Oscar’s class schedule before we left, but registration for Betty and June happened while we were in New York, so Monday could be a bit stressful as we sort things out.

One happy thing for Monday, while we were in New York, I took the kids on one-on-one back to school dates so they could pick an outfit out for the first day. So even if there’s some red tape to scramble through, they’ll be feeling confident. : )

Ready for your weekend links? The two biggest stories I was following this week were about the El Paso and Dayton mass shootings, and about the ICE raid in Mississippi where 680 immigrants were rounded up. I have separate posts drafted on both of those stories, so watch for those. In the meantime, here are a few things I’ve been wanting to share:

-Jeffery Epstein was found dead in his cell this morning. I’m so furious about this. Now his victims will see no justice, and it’s more likely that the other powerful men connected to his crimes will not see consequences.

-“Free speech does not mean free reach. There is no right to algorithmic amplification.”

-Koch Industries has revenue of around $100 billion, “more than that of Facebook, Goldman Sachs and U.S. Steel combined.” Its workers are operating in terrifyingly dangerous conditions. Too many are dying. The people making the money know it.

-An in-depth investigation about a neo-nazi working at the U.S. State Department.

-In other nazi news, nazis blew up the home of an interracial couple in Ohio.

-But in happier nazi-related news, residents in the German town of Ostritz banded together to buy all the beer in town last week, to ensure the neo-Nazis arriving for a rock musical festival would have none to drink.

-French inventor Franky Zapata has become the first person to cross the English Channel via hoverboard. It took just over 20 minutes.

-Arctic permafrost is thawing 70 years sooner than predicted. Yikes.

-Related. New research suggests that some men avoid “green” behavior — like using a reusable shopping bag at the grocery store — because they don’t want to be perceived as gay. Sigh.

-Did you ever consider having a big family?

-You may remember the luggage we bought back in 2011. The big duffels (similar here) are still going strong, but our last carryon roller bags (we have 3 left) all went kaput on this New York trip. So it’s time to buy new luggage. But it’s been so long, I don’t know what’s good these days. Hardside? Softside? Expandable? Spinner wheels? Right now, I’m considering this one. Would love recommendations.

Five tweets I thought you might enjoy:

-Hah! She was mistakenly invited to speak at a dental conference (she is not a dentist), and should decided to sent in a few suggested ideas for her talk.

-There’s a lot more guessing/imagination in paleontology than I knew. 185 years of Iguanodon reconstructions.

-Who else is having a hard time creating these days?

https://twitter.com/JulieDiCaro/status/1158933729701707776

Freaky! This arrow can’t point left.

Hahahaha! What will your ghost outfit be?

I hope you’re having a marvelous weekend. I’ll meet you back here on Monday. I miss you already.

kisses,
Gabrielle

13 thoughts on “A Few Things”

  1. I read a few years ago that the Koch organisation worked to change the term “global warming” to “climate change”. Now, I ALWAYS say “global warming.” I despise the Koch’s silent and deadly influence on subtle misinformation and incredible political/policy influence in our democracy.

  2. We got tired of having cheap luggage fall apart, so a few years ago we splurged and bought Samsonite expandable hardside suitcases with spinner wheels. Now I don’t think I can ever go back. The ones we got are super lightweight and really durable, and I love the spinner wheels – they make it easy to get through an airport with only one hand if you have a ton of other things to hang onto.

  3. I just wanted to say how much I LOVED your photo tour of NYC. I wasn’t surprised that you went to what looked like all the BEST places, but still envious :) I’ve been there with my husband, with friends, and with my daughter, but our whole family of four has never gone together. I’m starting to think maybe a good week-long trip would be worth it – there’s so much to do, and never enough time to do it in a long weekend!

    I also loved seeing the houses you lived in there – I don’t know that I really ever pictured where you lived when you were in NYC, but it was never a house for some reason. So, I thought that was neat!

  4. Loved watching your stories. They are so simple and I love the description/writing you share. You guys are an amazing family! I was watching it with a friend of mine and we all want to know where that red jumpsuit your daughter was wearing is from? Thank you in advance! (posted it in the wrong place earlier)

  5. Even though my kids wear uniforms, I always love your back to school outfit posts!

    That story about the German town that bought all the beer to foil the Nazis weekend is just what I needed. Thank you!

    I can’t even talk about Epstein. I’ve been angry about him for ten years and how everything has unfolded is just so wrong.

  6. In regards to the suicide of Epstein, I wish the women could see the upside to this. They do t have to be tortured anymore with testifying over and over. They don’t have to be dragged through the media over and over. These issues would have gone on for years for them. This abuse was a horrible life changing event for them. It’s time to move on and rejoice that he cannot hurt anyone ever again. He died guilty and disgraced. What he did does not define who they are!

  7. Pingback: A Few Things – Stumblecup

  8. On luggage: I highly suggest a quality, light-weight hard-sided carry on! They are SO much lighter (which is really helpful with a lot of budget airlines that only allow up to 8kg), they’re sturdy, and they often have four wheels on the bottom which means they’re a lot easier to maneuver.

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