Good morning! Currently, it’s -2 degrees Fahrenheit
here. I’m not even sure that’s a real temperature, but I’m glad I don’t need to
go outside in it! I slept pretty terribly last night, so a nap may be in store
at some point today. That, and more exercise. You’ll see why!
Here's what I found interesting online this week!
Home
for the Holidays? Get Off the Couch!
Sitting is bad for you. We know that. But, it turns
out, sitting…is REALLY bad for you. And we’re all sitting way, way too much.
Probably more these days, when a lot of us are stuck in the house because of
weather (hello, -2!) and desperately trying to stay safe from the world of COVID
out there. But there are plenty of ways to remain active when we’re at home.
YouTube has TONS of free workouts (yoga, Pilates, cardio routines, dance-based
exercises. Do a search and pick one that appeals to you. It’s okay to start off
slow and hit pause 23489274893 times to catch your breath. Ask me how I know…);
so many of us have at-home exercise equipment that we use solely to store
laundry (if you don’t, check your local Freecycle! Mine always has equipment
people no longer want); doing chores and being active around the house also
counts, so get that cleaning project done! And if nothing else fails, walk laps
around the inside of your house. Exercise is an important part of staying
healthy, and I’m definitely going to be keeping more of an eye on how often I
get up after having read this.
Intimate
portraits of a hospital COVID unit from a photojournalist-turned-nurse.
These aren’t the worst I’ve seen, but they’re still
hard to look at. If you aren’t aware of how complex COVID treatment can look,
this is a good introduction. And again, I’ll recommend the documentary The
First Wave on Hulu. It's a difficult watch, but it really puts everything into perspective.
A
day after giving birth, I was asked back to work. America needs paid family
leave.
Oof. The United States likes to play pretend a lot. We
like to pretend there’s no racism, that poor people are poor because they’re
lazy, that anyone can succeed and become a billionaire no matter what your
challenges, and we also like to pretend that childbirth is as simple as
clipping off a hangnail. I’ve read stories of women going back to waitressing
jobs four days after giving birth because she couldn’t afford to take more time
off. That’s completely inhumane, not to mention completely dangerous. We need
to do better.
A
Mother Needed Welfare. Instead, the State Used Welfare Funds to Take Her Son.
This is a situation I’ve seen play out in so many of
the books I’ve read on poverty, and in real life. A friend of mine found
herself unexpectedly pregnant, but didn’t realize it until extremely late in
the pregnancy. She was also extremely low-income and couldn’t figure out a way
to make things work financially, so even though she desperately wanted to
parent her baby, she gave it up for adoption…and promptly suffered several mental
breakdowns that required her to be hospitalized. Poverty causes trauma in myriad
ways, and instead of addressing the root cause, we as a country criminalize poverty
and cause more trauma to everyone involved. This is a devastating article with
a story that’s far too common.
A
hockey fan spotted a staffer’s suspicious mole from the stands, saving his
life.
Ending on a happier note! A college student attending
a hockey game saw a funky-looking mole on the back of an assistant equipment
manager’s neck, so she tapped out a message to him on her cell phone to warn
him, enlarged it, caught his attention, and held her phone up to the glass to
show him. He did get it checked out (after dragging his feet a bit), and it
turned out to be early-stage cancer, but they caught it in time before it
spread. I love stories like this!
I hope you’re having a good week. It’s tough out there for everyone, in different ways (solidarity with my fellow parents of young children!), so please be kind- to others and to yourself. Be sure to leave yourself some time for whatever relaxes you and makes you feel whole, and I wish you a calm, peaceful weekend. : )
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