Friday links: 27 May, 2022

Good morning, and happy Friday!

It’s been raining and raining and raining here, at those kind of weird intervals that make it impossible to mow the lawn. It’s super long, but my son and I are going to tackle it tomorrow (I’m going to do the square in the front; I don’t like how he mows that. He’s going to do the sides and the back). It’s going to get really hot here for a few days after tomorrow, so best to get on that while we’re not going to melt!

Not much in the way of plans this weekend, except getting my daughter the booster shot (she’s going to be *so* angry. Tough luck, kid!). I’ve got a stack of library books and a back porch swing calling my name, so I plan on spending a lot of time out there. It’s been a week, and I’m looking forward to diving into those books and entirely dissociating from the world.

Here’s what I found interesting on the internet this week!

 

13 Final Texts from Loved Ones Lost to Covid

This is a tough one, so skip it if you’re not in the right mental space (and ugh, who is these days?). We’ve officially reached 1,000,000 Americans dead from COVID. That’s like wiping Austin, TX off the map entirely. THAT’s how many people we’ve lost. It’s insane. And here you can see their final conversations with their families.

 

Barnes and Noble Being Sued in Virginia Beach Over Gender Queer, Court of Mist and Fury

It’s beyond school libraries and public libraries. Now these control freaks don’t want private businesses to sell books they don’t agree with. Folks, this is bad. This has nothing to do with ‘protecting the children.’ (Like it ever was. Let’s get real. As we’ve seen, these people don’t give a flying fig about elementary school kids being slaughtered during math class.) This is because these people can’t wrap their miniscule brains around the idea that some people are different from them, and thus they want to make sure they don’t have to think about things they refuse to understand. That’s it. It’s all about power and control and making sure they can feel bigger than gay and transgender people. What a sad, pathetic bunch these book banners are. Stand up to these bullies every chance you get, because they don’t deserve anything even resembling power.

(I’ve read Gender Queer. It’s fascinating and I very much enjoyed it!)

 

It’s happening here: Massachusetts has a growing neo-Nazi movement

Because I don’t have enough to worry about.

It’s not just Massachusetts. It’s everywhere. These people are everywhere (especially on the internet; it’s nearly impossible to be Jewish online and not encounter them), and they’re super vocal about how I shouldn’t exist.

Teach your children better. Teach your friends’ children, teach anyone you can that this isn’t the way to go. Because these people are violent and scary.

 

The Annihilation of Florida: An Overlooked National Tragedy

Eep. This is a long one, but it’s worth the read if you have time. Basically, we took Florida, an amazingly diverse natural paradise, and we ruined it. (Sing it with me: “We paved paradise and put up a parking lot…”) All that biodiversity, all those animals and their habitats, gone. And we continue to ruin it every day. And we KNOW we’re ruining it, and still we put our heads down and charge forward, because hey, all that matters is the money we make!

The consequences of this are going to be massive…but we’ve shown we don’t care about the consequences of our actions, because they never seem to affect the people with the stacks of cash in their pocket, right?

And on a lighter note…

 

Spring Decluttering is Better Than Spring Cleaning

It felt *so* good to get that box and two bags out of the house this week and off to the thrift store. I have plans for a LOT more decluttering this summer; I’m tired of having so many belongings to care for, so I’m going to be brutal when I go through things like my kitchen (buhbye, old cups from restaurants we went to eight years ago and mugs we never use) and my laundry room (which doubles as storage). I’m ready to feel less beholden to my possessions. Now, if only I could get the rest of my family feeling that way…

 

And that’s it for this week! I’m about to go hose down my daughter and then clean other things around the house. We have her counselor today, and then I’m going to make potatoes in the air fryer for my son, who is making some sort of breakfast…thing…for dinner. Hopefully I’ll have some time to finish the YouTube video I started yesterday while knitting, but if not, I’ll definitely have time over the weekend.

Take some time for self-care this weekend. It’s been a really difficult week, and there’s work to be done to make things better, but make sure you’re getting some rest in there. This is going to be a long road. Shalom, friends. : )