Hello, Friends. How are you? Last Friday we were in Paris (and I shot the photo above), and it already feels like a million years ago. My whole concept of time is just bizarre these days. You two?
We have a very open, very unplanned weekend ahead of us and that sounds exactly right. If we have the energy, I’d like to work on the floors in Oscar’s room over at the Tall House. (We’ve never uncovered them all the way before and I hope there aren’t any negative surprises.) But I would also be fine if we just stay in and have a movie marathon. How about you? Anything happening for you this weekend?
I hope you’re in the mood for a link list, because I’ve got a great one for you. Here are a few things I’ve been wanting to share:
-Austin City Council approves the purchase of a hotel to permanently house people experiencing chronic homelessness. How did they pay for it? by using dollars cut from the police budget. #defundthepolice
–This article gives a helpful overview of the GameStop/Stock Market story in the news this week.
-Pump this kind of news story directly into my veins. Oregon health workers who got stuck in a snowstorm on their way back from a COVID-19 vaccination event went car to car injecting stranded drivers before several of the doses expired.
-Have MLMs (multi-level marketing companies) ever ended a friendship for you?
-The Pandemic Is Breaking Women and Now We Have to Have Babies?
–This essay made me furious. I Left My Career in Prestige Media Because of the Sh**ty Men in Charge and They Are Still In Charge and Still Fu**ing Up.
–The Jewish Case for Abortion Rights.
-My friend Merline, who is from Haiti and is a co-founder of Haiti Partners, has started selling her amazing hot sauce! Hooray! (We’ve been begging her for years!) It comes in 3 options, and proceeds go to support the Haiti Partners community. Go order some. You will love it!
Here are some tweets I saved for you:
-A collection of tweets I saved about the Gamestop/Stock Market story (read the article I linked to above for background).
-Powerful histories of Traveling while Black.
-A hopeful thread on how teenagers have reacted to the pandemic. Worth clicking and reading through.
-This is your permission to run the dishwasher twice!
-I want to reimagine everything.
-Hah! How do you answer these days when someone asks how you are doing?
I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I’ll meet you back here on Monday. I miss you already.
kisses,
Gabrielle
I just screen shot the tar out of that tweet on “no rules”. I want it around and in my pocket for those times when I am too hard on myself, and also as an offering to anyone who also may need it.
Thank you for this most valuable link.
Yes, ditto to what PC said–thank you for the “no rules” tweet! I’ll be sharing that far and wide. Re: the last tweet, someone asked me how things are going and I responded, “Oh, you know.” Separately, a day or so later, someone asked one of my daughters how things are going and she said, “Oh, you know.” That seems to be our family response!
FYI – Incorrect link on the Oregon health workers article. It’s linking to the GameStop article.
Thanks! Fixed now.
For anyone who is relieved with the “NO RULES” tweet, please google KC Davis/StruggleCare – she saved my life when I was struggling with her approach –
Care Tasks Are Morally Neutral
Rest is a Right, Not a Reward
You Deserve Kindness Regardless of Your Level of Functioning
You Can’t Save the Rainforest if You’re Depressed.
Shame is the Enemy of Functioning.
Good Enough is Perfect.
There is the usual greatness and so much to say about all these links – but just a quick heads up – the Oregon Vaccine link is going to GameStop.
THANK YOU! It really makes the week brighter.
Thanks for the heads up! The link is all fixed now.
Thank you for the link on the Jewish view of abortion. I am an Orthodox Jew, and my religious life is inextricably intertwined with who I am; it literally dictates how I tie my shoes, my wardrobe choices, my dietary practices, my sex life, even the first words I say every day when I wake up in the morning. I am currently expecting, and aside from the pre-pregnancy screening for Jewish genetic diseases that is standard in our community, we also elected to do NIPT screening in my first trimester. I am not ashamed that had the results been abnormal and confirmed with an amnio, I would have had an abortion (thankfully the pregnancy is healthy). It is a choice I would have made not despite the fact I am religious, but because of it. Abortion discourse in America is often painted as religious versus secular, but what about those of us whose religion permits it and yet some would deny me that choice? Thanks for sharing this with your readers.
“America, as a place to procreate, is about as sexy as a bed of nails, and each nail has been personally sneezed on by Mitch McConnell.”
This made me laugh out loud. From The Pandemic Is Breaking Women and Now We Have to Have Babies? by Lyz
Thank you, I look forward to your Friday posts every week!
It’s such a good round up of information and news. Reading through many of the tweets makes me realize how much I love both wit and sarcasm- are there any funnier folks than the folks on Twitter?? Don’t think so.