Good morning! I’ve already got the dishwasher going, but there’s so much more to do. We’ve got my daughter’s counselor today, which is good, but it breaks up the day in such an awkward way that it’s hard to get things done (especially dinner, but I think we’re just doing leftovers of the curry we had yesterday, so that helps). And now that we’re back to doing math (per my daughter’s request, though she hates it)? Busy, busy! Always so much to do, but that’s okay. : )
Here's what I
found interesting online this week!
New
Florida law allows officers to ticket drivers who play music too loud
Now, I’m no
fan of pulling up at a stoplight and being treated to an earsplitting concert
of someone else’s music, of any variety, but this? This seems like a very
slippery slope. It’s going to be primarily used to target Black and brown folks,
and it’s going to be used as an excuse to get a foothold to search their vehicles,
because they’re targeted far more for that than other folks are. And let’s face
it, no one’s going to pull me over because I’ve got the Brandenburg concertos or
Norwegian pop music blaring. We have a very specific idea of what we find
suspicious in this country, and I’ve always said I would make a great criminal,
because no one ever suspects me of anything solely because of the way I look. (I’m
not a criminal. I’m too tired and busy cleaning things to have time to do
crimes. Also, I’m too boring.) Anyway, this is bad news for a lot of reasons.
Kansas
City area health system stops providing Plan B in Missouri because of abortion
ban
*sigh* I’m
sure we’ll see more of this, and it’s going to do no one any favors. I’ve
supported friends in the aftermath of rape, and this is about the last thing
they need. (Especially since we’re STILL seeing cases where judges award
visitation and/or custody to rapist fathers. There was a story recently where
the father was an adult in, I think, his thirties when the baby was conceived,
and the mother had been 16 when the child was born, making her unable to
consent to any kind of sexual activity in her state and thus making that rape.
The judge still awarded the rapist custody of the child. Not the first time I’ve
read one of these stories.) I’ve even taken Plan B before during an ‘oops’ when
my daughter was very young, I was getting up 6+ times a night with her, and was
so tired that I was crying and yelling all the time, running stoplights and
stop signs when I drove, and hallucinating (there was literally no one else who
could help, either. All family members like grandparents still worked, and we
couldn’t afford daycare). I was in a bad mental state at the time; another baby
would’ve done me in. This is going to harm women who have already been harmed.
Man
with gun turned children’s reading book event to chaos in Sparks library
I have a
friend who regularly takes her daughter to drag queen events for kids. They’re
fun. The costumes (seriously, if a drag queen offered a sewing class, I would
be there! Their sewing skills, especially for fancy things, are beyond compare.
I wish I had their skills!), the makeup, the pageantry, the acting, it’s
basically a form of theater, and she and her daughter love them. (And let’s
face it, drag has been a thing for centuries. Shakespeare not only had men
playing all the female roles in his plays, he constantly uses drag as a plot
device, as I was reminded while reading Shakespeare with my daughter this
winter. Bugs Bunny? Mrs. Doubtfire? It's everywhere. This is nothing new.) The
fact that these people think it’s okay to bring guns into a space with children
in order to make a political point? Yeah, if you do that, your argument sucks
and you’re a horrible person. This country has lost its damn mind.
Spoon
Theory, and How to Start a Good Conversation
Right up my
alley! Migraines take a LOT out of you, for days after the migraine ends, and I
wish that’s something more people understood. (Although we can’t even get most
people to understand, “Hey, please don’t infect me with this highly contagious
virus that may kill or disable me long-term,” so I suppose I’m asking too much
here. And as a side note, the woman mentioned in the article had twins and
serious migraines. I’ve struggled to care for my daughter with my occasional
migraines; I can’t imagine having two of the same age, especially young twins,
and having more frequent migraines. That poor woman.) But this is a good
article, using spoon theory – there’s a linked explanation in the article, if
you’re not familiar – to describe migraines and their aftermath and what we should
and shouldn’t be expecting from those who suffer from migraines.
And finally,
because I want you all to be careful out there…
“We’re
playing with fire”: US Covid cases may be 30 times higher than reported
And this is
in New York, which has, as the article states, better access to testing than
elsewhere, so it’s possible COVID levels could be even higher in other places.
I’ve been following this current surge and it’s not good (if you follow the
right people on Twitter, it’s easy to get a good sense of exactly how bad it is
out there, but the information isn’t really making it into mainstream sources
on a regular basis, because collectively, we’ve all just decided we’re done
caring about COVID and its effects. I’m not saying this is a conspiracy or
there’s any kind of effort to hide this information; it's out there, but it’s
not getting the attention it deserves because people aren’t interested anymore,
to their detriment). My son and I are often the only ones wearing masks
anywhere we go, so I’m not surprised that cases are likely way higher than the
numbers say. We’re supposed to get updated boosters in the fall, though, Omicron-specific
ones, so that’s something to be happy about! Anyway, be careful out there. Long
COVID scares the pants off of me, and I don’t want to see anyone else I care
about dealing with it.
And that’s
it! We’re back to doing outdoor stuff with family, so we’ve got a bunch of that
planned this weekend, including a picnic and kayaking with my mom, and taking
my daughter to watch the fireworks from a parking lot with her cousin on
Monday. We’re also going to try to get her an outdoor playdate with a friend
from school, but it’s supposed to rain on and off throughout the weekend
(though not Saturday, our picnic/kayaking day), so we’re crossing our fingers.
Whatever you
do this weekend, wherever you’re at, be safe about it. Take care of yourself
and others. Wishing you all a peaceful weekend. Shalom, friends. : )
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