Another Year of Queer Rage, Thanks to Anti-LGBTQ Legislation Recently, I was chatting on Facebook with someone, and I called 2022 as my “year of queer rage.” Not surprising when 2022 was an epic year for anti-lgbtq legislation with 315 bills filed attacking the queer community. Thankfully, ninety one percent of these bills failed to…
Tag: health
Shooting at Michigan State University
I’m still dealing with lingering effects of COVID right now. Mostly fatigue and pain, with more frequent headaches as a bonus. So shortly after dinner last Monday, I dozed off for a bit, and when I woke up I began scrolling through Facebook and was shocked to see a post telling me that a friend…
Spoonie Life and Sporkie Workarounds
What is Spoon Theory? What is a Spoonie? I’ve been candid about my neuro-atypicality and mental health, and about some of the details about life with chronic illness and chronic pain. Adam’s been candid about his own challenges with mental health and neuro-atypicality, too. We rely on the Spoon Theory a lot, checking with each…
Pain and Palliative Care
COVID: Another Source of Pain… and Anxiety So after nearly 36 months of working so hard to avoid COVID, I’ve got the spicy cough. I’m not actually coughing too much, but I’m congested, I’ve got itchy eyes, I’m aching everywhere and I’m exhausted. Those last two things aren’t all that unusual. Aches and exhaustion are…
Kindness: Be Kind, not Nice
Last week I got a new roommate here in rehab. She’s recovering from some pretty major surgery and really isn’t “alert and oriented”. Her husband has been coming here every day and sitting with her for ten to twelve hours a day. He clearly loves her very much and wants to do all he can…
All I Want for Hannukah is to Keep a Little Oil in the Tank
Some parts of this piece have been percolating for a bit. There are a lot of things here that are just always gnawing at the back of my mind, waiting for the right story to come together for me to share. In fact, I even thought about writing it last week, but the truth is,…
Writer’s Notebook: Year in Review
“Hi,” he said. “How’s it going? Has the world ended yet?” Terry Pratchett, Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch It’s kind of been feeling like that lately. At least for me. And probably a little bit for Adam, too, who has to edit all of my work before it’s posted…
World AIDS Day, Part 2: Stories
Missing the World AIDS Day Gatherings With the COVID pandemic in its third year, most people are starting to meet in person again. That means that people who want to honor and celebrate those we lost to AIDS can do so in person. Carefully and with many precautions, perhaps even more than usual to protect…
Socioeconomic Status and Food: The Conversation Begins at Home
Poverty is one of the biggest predictors of academic success for students. Teachers today are keenly aware of this. Hungry children don’t learn, so we have free-lunch programs, and teachers keep extra apples and crackers in our classrooms in a basket for whoever needs them. We have annual trainings to look out for students who…
After “Don’t Say Gay” and “Stop Woke”
It’s October. We’re celebrating LGBTQ+ History Month. Two weeks ago we celebrated National Coming Out Day. We’re finally starting to feel as though autumn isn’t too far off. And kids have been back in school for a month or two already. They’re well on the way to thinking about their grades–report cards, tests, essays. Everything…