Some Surprising Responses To My Posts Here
Some coincidences. Some good timing. Lots of good feedback. Keep it coming!
Like you, I don’t read everything that lands in my inbox. So here’s a roundup of some things I’ve written recently and some surprising things that happened after. As always, thank you for the reposts, links, social media shout-outs, texts, FB and X posts and above all, words of encouragement.
Is your electric bill through the roof? Yep. Turns out you are subsidizing tech titans as they rush to build data centers for AI (which will likely put someone you love out of a job.) After I wrote it, I got contacted by folks doing research for some local elected officials (who will remain nameless) who are taking action on this matter at a local level. Honored!
A few days later, Uncle Bernie called for pause on data centers saying they benefited billionaires not utility payers. Ok- coincidence. But I love it!
Like you, I’m sickened by what I see coming out of Minnesota. I wrote that no one will be able to hire these ICE clowns because they are, obviously, poorly trained and badly managed. Because their identities are cloaked. And they are not disciplined when they break the law (or commit a homicide) -each one will bear responsibility for all. They will be a liability nightmare for any municipality.
You can my ferocious column here
Two weeks later, California Assemblymember Anamarie Avila-Farias (D-Martinez introduced Assembly Bill 1627, also known as the "Misconduct Ends Law-Enforcement Trust Act" or "MELT ICE Act” which proposes to ban ICE agents from ever working in law-enforcement or in public schools. Illinois followed.
Yay!
I received a HUGE amount of feedback on a column I wrote about Alex Pretti and masculinity. Lots of encouragement. Thanks for all the kind words.
It’s very touching. Also, a little awkward since as a woman, I am aware of my very limited insight into what it means to be a man right now. I am intending to unpack this weird conflict at greater length in a coming post.
I’ll end by saying that in these trying times, I can’t live without prayer. Or beauty. Or community. Or poetry. I encourage you to engage in what gives you strength. Here’s a poem I am loving right now. You can click on the authors name if you want to buy her book.
Good Bones, by Maggie Smith
Life is short, though I keep this from my children.
Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine
in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,
a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways
I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least
fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative
estimate, though I keep this from my children.
For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.
For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,
sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world
is at least half terrible, and for every kind
stranger, there is one who would break you,
though I keep this from my children. I am trying
to sell them the world. Any decent realtor,
walking you through a real shithole, chirps on
about good bones: This place could be beautiful,
right? You could make this place beautiful.
As always, thanks for reading.