Saw a post that reminded me of a story my dad told me. He attended the public portion of a dissertation defense. One of the committee members was being a dick. The candidate snapped. He grabbed the committee member's tie, and started to strangle him. IDK the outcome, unfortunately.

I overheard part of a conversation between Older Kid and my husband. Kid was describing an experiment she was working on (I didn't hear the details), but she wasn't sure that she had everything she needed, and she wanted to consult an expert. Husband replied, "Hmmm, I don't know any necromancers." 🧐

This was how I spent at least 10% of my time "dissertating."

But see, in order to build that "nation composed of good and decent people," Reagan actively enabled the devastation of marginalized communities who did not fit his bigoted, straight, white definition of "good and decent people." It says so much about Newsom that in 2025 he's celebrating Reagan.

The flu. Vaccines are ✨Magical.✨

I highly recommend having a very silly low-stakes hobby right now. Yes, I'm keeping up with the news. Yes, I'm actively involved with community safety. I'm also working my way through Hennepin County Library's extensive collection of queer romance novels. It's good for the soul. 💞

Huh. I just realized that this is how I pronounce "drastically." I can't really criticize this, because for the first [IDK how many] years of my life I couldn't hear the difference between a short "E" and short "I", and so I spelled words with those sounds in them interchangeably. 🥴

Not so much something I did as something I said. In the middle of an Arabic exam I was stumped by the question (in Arabic), "What is the capital of Minnesota?" I said to the instructor, "I don't know the answer to this question in any language." His face fell. This was at Macalester College.

It's 100% consistent, because their jargon for themselves is always the opposite of the words' meanings. When they say "states' rights" they mean, "OUR right to force ALL states to do what WE want." They fought a whole-ass war against the U.S. over their "right" to make other states be slave states.

One thing that my HS did right was not having a "gifted" label but instead offering advanced classes piecemeal. Like, they acknowledged that different people are good at different things, and it wasn't part of our identity. This was great for keeping my expectations of myself low. 😌

I guess I wasn't cold enough after running errands this morning, because when we got home the first thing I did was eat a cream soda ice cream float.

When I first saw the original post I assumed it was satire and so I looked for more of her posts and now I know who Susan Hall is and it's not satire.

Anyone else grow up with baking instructions that were just like penance from Confession? "Stir continuously while saying five Hail Marys"

I sure hope my nextdoor neighbor figures out whether it's legal to ride a unicycle through the Downtown Minneapolis skyway BEFORE he actually does it...

Kid said to us over dinner, "I can't wait until I'm older and we'll be having one- and two- and three-hour chats about what books I'm reading in college!" I love my little bookworm.

Haha, remember being a kid and hitting your friends if you saw one of those stupid wood-paneled cars? 🤣 "Woodchuck punch, no punch back!"

Younger Kid: *Lounging in the living room, minding his own business* Older Kid: LOOK MOM, A BABY EXHIBIT, LIKE IN A MUSEUM! *sits and stares at Younger Kid*

The only thing I would hypothetically miss is children running around playing together without adults directing their every move, because national news says that's a thing now, but since I live in a neighborhood* where kids play outside without hovering adults, I don't have to miss it. ❤️ *Field

It is a beautiful day for a walk in Minneapolis. I was well-dressed for it, so I didn't feel the cold, but when I got home I discovered that an icicle had formed on the front of my N-95. 😷🥶

IDK who needs to hear this, but when I typed "gay romance" into the search bar on the Hennepin County Library website, I got 5,223 results.

Older Kid: Mama, is it true that there's an autism camp? Me: Yeah, probably, in summertime. Older Kid: I'm a little bit autistic, so I should go there and learn to be more autistic. Like Little Brother. Little Brother: *Happy squeaky noises*

Yeah, great idea, because there are so many women out there dreaming of marrying a Man in Trouble and having lots of babies with him.

My kid: I'm going to my room to build a robot. It'll be bigger than me. Me: Bigger than you, huh? Kid: Yes, and bigger than you. Me: As big as your dad? Kid: It'll be bigger than this house. Me: You're going into your room to build something bigger than this house?? Kid: It will have to crouch.

Alexey Fyodorovitch Karamazov was the third son of Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov, a landowner well known in our district in his own day, and still remembered among us owing to his gloomy and tragic death, Charlie Brown.

I always thought I'd be a lawyer, but on the morning I was supposed to take the LSAT, my alarm didn't go off. When I woke up too late, I decided that this was a sign. I decided I was done with education, but my fiancé told me that some PhD programs don't charge tuition. So. Here I am.

My kid is writing a graphic novel featuring a little girl in pigtails. Her name is "Murder." I suggested that maybe that isn't a great* name, and asked her if she might change it. Kid said, "How about 'Martyr?'" *It's metal AF, but doesn't fit the bright, cheery aesthetic of the illustrations

Reading Lolita in Tehran

gif that pops up when I type my name.

I wasn't enthusiastic about going for a walk this morning, but I did anyway, and a lady who was out walking her dog told me, "You are just too cute!" This is the first time in years that a stranger has complimented my appearance, so I'm really glad I went for that walk. 😄

My kid is currently writing a fanfiction comic, in which Dog Man investigates the murder of Abraham Lincoln. I didn't tell her that it wasn't a mystery; I want to see where she goes with this.

I had an appointment with a new doctor today. My husband came with me, which is good because I wondered if I had misheard the doctor when she said, "We don't know what's in chemtrails," but my husband assures me that she really did say that.

Your last saved meme is your moral philosophy.

My husband and I played a video game set in a high school during the White Terror. My mother- and father-in-law were schoolkids in the 1960s, when the events in this game take place. It is a horror game. We're discussing whether we can talk to his parents about it, or if it might upset them.

Oh my Lord, no. I would end up on a watchlist.

I'm in my mid-30s, finally reading Moby Dick for the first time after avoiding it for years because I heard from everyone, everywhere that it is boring. I LOVE it. Even the cetology digressions. ESPECIALLY the cetology digressions.

I've been thinking about volunteering with LibriVox to record audiobooks. But my kid just told me that I sound like Yoshi, so, maybe not a great fit for reading the classics out loud?

Reason #384 Why I don't want the light rail crawling with security: One time when I was on the green line, an elderly woman a few feet away from me dozed off in her seat. A security guard came up to her and touched her, waking her up. An old lady can't nap on the train? Yes, she was Black.

It's true, I haven't done drugs in the Midwest. But I'm pretty sure that I got a few contact highs as a teenager in Cleveland.

I've been away from social media for a few days, because of a death in the family. He lived a long, upright, and fulfilling life. He had many friends and a loving partner. He was my dad's favorite uncle, and the last of his generation.

They say that they're covering their faces so that they don't get doxxed, but actually it's because they know they're committing human rights violations, and that they could be tried & convicted by a future tribunal. I learned this from reading about late-20th century fascist governments.

Congratulations, Becka.

I accidentally clicked the link, so I figured I might as well read it, and I could only make it about 1/5th of the way through it. Now I feel like I need a bath. It is bad. These two guests are bad people. Douthat is a bad person, too, but we knew that already.

When the reckoning finally comes, I dearly wish that the press will be held accountable for its enthusiastic production of fascist propaganda.

A mansion murder mystery / romance set in rural Minnesota. 😍 Book release is in June 2026. DAE have recommendations of books like this that I can read in the meantime? It's like the confluence of all my favorite tropes. 💙📚

Looking on the bright side in the mayoral election results: Troy A. Peterson, lynching advocate, received fewer votes than "WRITE-IN." Only half as many, in fact. electionresults.sos.mn.gov/results/Inde...

IDK if Older Kid is feeling contrarian today, or just trolling (both are equally possible with her), but she argued vehemently first that November is 28 days long, and second that a graphic novel she wrote about sentient bath toys is nonfiction.

I am delighted that this is the photo she went with. Surely, there is nothing that children trust more than hunched-over sullenness.

Leaves of Grass The Deadly Grimoire, by Jones Death of a Cad, by Beaton The Pearl Harbor Murders, by Collins The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall, by Nothwell The Tattoo Murder Case, by Takagi The Anatalian Soldier, by Mikkelson Moby Dick We Dream of Honour: John Berryman's Letters to his Mother

I didn't find it hard to get through House of Leaves. It was very entertaining. I took about six months to finish Ulysses, though. (My dad read it in 36 hours without sleeping or eating, what does that say about him? 😆)

Day 7 of my immune system mistaking a flu shot for a real infection and fighting it tooth and nail. I've gotten the flu vaccine every year religiously for more than 2 decades and it has NEVER been this bad. 😩