Dear person in my notes who is saying I shouldn’t be mad at people who didn’t vote harris bc the ppl who voted independent wouldn’t tip the scales:
I AM NOT MAD ABOUT INDEPENDENTS TBQH. Independents got a shockingly low percentage of the vote this year tbh, they are not the issue here.
The issue here is EVERYONE WHO COULD’VE VOTED BUT DIDN’T. Because here’s the thing, Trump got about 2 million FEWER votes than last time. But he still won, because of how few democratic/leftist voters SHOWED THE FUCK UP.
What I’m mad about is the fact that Biden won HANDILY in 2020, but this year despite winning TWO MILLION LESS VOTES, Trump won solidly within the day. Which means that FEWER FUCKING VOTERS TURNED OUT.
i give negative shits about the independent votes at this point. I blame every abstaining voter who COULD have voted in this election. You are ALL on the line for the bullshit trump pulls in the next 4+ years.
Anon, ten years ago gay people couldn’t get married in large parts of the US. AIDS was an almost certain death sentence when I was in high school. I was looking at job boards the other day and found a part time gas station job that had health insurance as a benefit, which NEVER would have happened 15 years ago. When I was a kid, hitting your child was extremely normalized in the US and my parents were the weird ones for not doing it. There is a vaccine for chicken pox. I didn’t meet anyone who had transitioned until my 20s because it was so uncommon to transition in the aughts, and now there are some states that protect your right to have gender affirming care provided by your health insurance. It’s not all states, but it’s better than the number of states that had it in 2010, which was zero. THERE ARE TENANTS UNIONS NOW. WE HAVE A VACCINE AGAINST CERVICAL CANCER.
And all of that has been the work of a lot of individuals and organizations and research teams and activists.
Do you know how bugfuck insane the words “Unionized Starbucks” would have sounded to someone in 2005? Baristas getting union-mandated breaks could have been a throwaway joke in part of the Scary Movie franchise as something ridiculous.
RALPH NADER WAS AGITATING FOR A FIFTEEN DOLLAR MINIMUM WAGE IN 2004 AND SHIT IS MOVING SLOWLY BUT MY STATE HAS A TWENTY DOLLAR MINIMUM WAGE FOR FAST FOOD WORKERS. WHEN I STARTED HIGH SCHOOL THE ONLY OPTION FOR AN ABORTION AFTER 7 WEEKS WAS SURGICAL AND NOW THERE’S A PILL.
FUCKING. ELECTRIC CARS. SO GODDAMNED MANY PEOPLE HAVE SOLAR PANELS ON THEIR HOUSES OR IN THEIR PARKING LOTS.
WE DON’T HAVE SMOG DAYS IN LOS ANGELES ANYMORE UNLESS THERE’S A FIRE AND IT’S BECAUSE OF CARB STANDARDS.
LITERALLY MILLIONS OF FUCKING PEOPLE TURNED OUT TO PROTEST POLICE BRUTALITY IN 2020 AND YOU CAN SAY “NOTHING HAPPENED” ALL YOU WANT BUT THE WAY PEOPLE TALK ABOUT IT NOW IS FUCKING DIFFERENT THAN THEY DID AFTER RODNEY KING AND NOW PEOPLE WILL STOP AND WATCH OUT FOR EACH OTHER INSTEAD OF GOING ‘NOT MY BUSINESS’
THERE IS A MALARIA VACCINE THAT HAS BEEN GIVEN TO OVER A MILLION CHILDREN IN JUST THE LAST FIVE YEARS SINCE IT WAS APPROVED FOR USE OUTSIDE OF TRIALS
Something that struck me the other night as truly incredible—I grew up during the height of the AIDS crisis in the ’80s and ’90s. I remember around 1990 or so was when people really started working to bring HIV/AIDS and the search for a cure into public view and begin the really, really long work of destigmatizing it, even a little bit. The homophobic terror people had of even being NEAR someone who had the so-called “gay disease,” I really cannot understate this. A diagnosis was considered an absolute death sentence.
The other night I was watching whatever random thing on YouTube, and I got yet more of the constant ads that irritate the fuck out of me. But this one was for an HIV maintenance medication. It was a long ad, probably 60 seconds, and so help me, I watched the whole thing. It talked about this drug (forgive me, I can’t remember the name) that would let you live a happy and fulfilling life (while mentioning that of course safe sex is important). And it showed queer couples, straight couples (to break the stereotype), people who looked single and happy, different races and genders and presentations and body sizes, going out to lunch or cuddling on a couch or going out for a date, whatever it was the scene was implying. Bright colors, soothing optimistic music and voiceover, physical affection including kissing—you couldn’t even tell who among the actor couples was or wasn’t portraying an HIV patient. It blew my fucking mind to just see a whole minute of this between ads for Pizza Hut and car insurance. I’m not even sure anyone would have shown a gay couple kissing, full stop, on TV in 1990. And this ad was just out here like, if you’ve contracted this illness, there’s help for it, and you can live a good happy life among your loved ones. But also, you deserve to have that happiness, out in the open, and there will be people who love you, unafraid. Even if, and especially if, you’re gay. This is a world where this is possible. Like I’m honestly tearing up right now. I could not have imagined this in 1990. I could not.
You will swim for decades, and suddenly you will look up and see islands that you never would have dreamed of.
If you are a USAmerican in a relationship that might be affected by legislation that dissolves same-sex marriages, who may no longer be recognized as next-of-kin, especially if you have children, get your rights in writing!
Your marriage certificate may not be enough to prove you have rights to make medical decisions for non-biological children or for a same-sex spouse or partner.
Go to a lawyer, get it spelled out as clearly as possible that you have a voice in emergency medical and legal situations.
For those of us who aren’t lawyers or well-versed in law generally, can someone clarify what kind of document, by name, people should be drafting with their lawyers? Is it a type of letter, or is there a name for this classification of document? I’m aware that it probably varies by US state, but a lot of people are likely feeling extremely lost right now and don’t know where to start on this. I definitely don’t. I live in a state that isn’t likely to nullify existing marriages or prevent new ones from taking place, but who knows what they’re going to try at the national level and enforce from the top down.
Power of Attorney should cover most partners and spouses to ensure that they will be making each other’s health care decisions in cases of serious illness. LGBTQ+ spouses and domestic partners must execute proper Health Care Power of Attorney documents listing each other as the highest priority agents for making each other’s health care decisions in case of incapacity.
Oh btw, as far as access to partners in hospitals, you can get ordained for free through the ULC, in MINUTES, and in many (all?) hospitals it is required that they let patients have access to representatives of their faith. I’m not sure how well that works in practice, I have not field tested it, but paying for a badge, a travel copy of your certificate, and some blandly dressy clothes might get you places that “domestic partner” won’t. Hang a cross on there. They don’t have to fucking know.
my student’s mother is waiting outside the academy to pick up her two daughters. she spots a kitten in the parking lot
the girls run back upstairs and scream to the other kids that theres a cat outside
i lose control of the entire classroom. about a dozen teenagers escape. i leave it to my TA because hell if im gonna get sucked into that mess. i dont like bonding w stray cats. its too sad to imagine them struggling later. i elect to ignore everything until it all blows over
i sit there until slowly one by one my students climb back upstairs to give me the pleading eyes emoji and beg me to do something about the fucking kitten
🥺🥺
like that
ITS YOUR BIRTHDAY TOMORROW, they say, big-eyed and sad. you could keep it, right?? didnt u say u wanted a cat, mx truffles?? cmon at least just come and see it. its your birthday
i sigh. i get up. i go downstairs. theres a skinny dirty flea ridden little creature surrounded by kids, rubbing up on all of them and eating right out of their hands. the sisters’ mother went and got the cat some food. its eating like its never seen food in its life. its so fucking skinny
unfortunately the kids all stare at me. i stare back at them. i stare at the cat. the cat stares back
im the adult here, i know. currently i am the authority figure. none of them know what to do. they fucking beg me to at least please do something. and the cat fucking. comes up to me and headbutts my hand
i lose
so i pick up the fucking kitten. teach the kids how to swaddle it and make a purrito. i take it upstairs in a ratty cardboard box. i take it to the portfolio advisors office. i stay with the cat. i use my TA and one of my older students as a messenger back and forth from the office to the classroom. i conduct class from inside the office next to the cat. every single fucking kid in the building passes the glass door and coos at the cat. im stuck in there. the administrators, the other teachers, even my boss the director of the academy all come up to take a look at the cat.
the cat is sweet. its well-behaved. its affectionate and loves people. its hungry and thirsty and tired. it keeps asking me to pet it. its so skinny you can feel all its ribs. it keeps trying to nap. it keeps bonking me on the hand. it keeps meowing
the children beg me to keep the cat. its your birthday, they plead. your thirtieth birthday. happy birthday, mx truffles. doesnt it feel just right??
the sisters’ mother leaves me her phone number, just in case. they have two cats at home. if i cant take her, they will.
im acting on instinct now. i take the cat into my car. i drive to a pet supply store as soon as work is over. i bring the box with the cat inside with me. as soon as i walk through the doors, a nice lady freezes, points and goes, so it looks like theres something alive in there
and i go. yeah 😦
and she’s like. well. what is it??
and im like. uh. i think its my new cat????
she helps me pick out some stuff. i get some food. dry and wet. i get a litter box. some treats. i get advice. the cat keeps trying to escape me to explore the store. i realize that its a fucking rascal
i come home. with the cat. obviously my family doesnt fucking believe ive done this
i set up the litter box in my bathroom. it figures it out in two seconds. i wipe the cat down with wipes. i clip her front claws. i give her the shittiest shower job ever. it is indeed horrifically difficult to bathe a cat. but the cat is very fucking sweet. it doesnt hiss or bite or claw. it trusts me even after that bath. it keeps fucking purring. i towel it down and start to brush it. it fucking loves it. it offers body parts to be brushed. it wont stop fucking purring. it lets me handle it and put it wherever i want. it let me clean inside its ears and take its eye crusts off. its currently purring in a circle on my fucking lap
ive never done this before and i have no idea what to do
she’s a calico. nobody can decide how old she is between three or six months old. she’s got gold eyes. pink nose. pink toe beans. she’s sweet and soft and she wont fucking stop purring
and the sisters’ mom, the one who found her, her name is lily. and thats a hilarious name for a cat because lilies are poisonous to cats. and thats good enough for me
These are art in themselves, in a some of them point out what lockdown was like for us, they’re expressed themselves in a really cool way. But I think these are going to be talked about in the future.
Banging on the walls chanting “OPEN ENROLLMENT FOR ACA THRU JAN 15” like some deranged town crier. Election results aside, you have options to access healthcare as a RIGHT through the ACA. NO one can dismantle the Affordable Care Act in less than 4 years, so SIGN UP! GET YOUR CARE! USE THE SYSTEM!
You have options RIGHT NOW that will be stable thru the next year, the one after that, and I’d be shocked to see them shrink even the year after that. That means RIGHT NOW you can get signed up for next year to gain 100% covered preventative care (your annual check ups, pap smears, dental cleaning, vision check). You have the option to get checked and screened as you need, do NOT be dissuaded from exploring ACA choices. They are SOLID, LEGISLATED, and WORK BEST WHEN PEOPLE USE THEM.
I can’t change most things around me, BUT I CAN tell everyone I know that THEY CAN GET LIFE SAVING CARE. THEY CAN GET PRESCRIPTIONS. THEY CAN GET PREGNANCY CARE. THEY CAN GET CANCER CARE. AND THEY WILL GET THAT CARE!!!!!!
SIGN UP BY DECEMBER 15, 2024 FOR COVERAGE TO BEGIN ON JANUARY 1, 2025. ENROLLMENT AFTER 12/15/24 WILL HAVE COVERAGE BEGINNING FEBRUARY 1, 2025.
amhrancas 