Apparently today is a #medsky day. It’s important to understand that when you have a physician who is from another country, especially here as a resident or a fellow, that they had to be the best of the best to get that spot and also have probably had twice as much training as American doctors.

Married to a cancer researcher and physician. Uh, Mango Mussolini and his army of tech bros have decided that AI is going to cure cancer. It’s not. The idea is completely laughable, but here we are. You know who could cure cancer? The researchers who just had all of their funding cut. #medsky

New reading list just dropped… (I’ve read about half of these. Grapes of Wrath is one of my all time favorites). Reading is resistance.

Exhibit A. Note the tucked thumbs… 😂

I would be interested in how many people have resubscribed. Anecdotally, I haven’t seen a single one. We definitely have not and don’t really miss it, despite multiple attempts from Hulu to woo us back with super low limited time rates after I eviscerated them in a poll about why we had cancelled.

“Sanford asked him about the Mormon bible, the role Jesus plays in the religion, the history of the LDS church and Joseph Smith Jr., the founder of Mormonism and the LDS movement.” “Johns said everything Sanford asked him about Mormonism led to Sanford declaring the religion as "the antichrist.”

“People feel immense social pressure to go along with what others suggest. That’s because if you’ve never been trained in how to say no, it feels uncomfortable and awkward.” Embrace saying no. It’s a hard thing to do, but it has the added benefit of making it easier for others to do so as well.

Solve an argument for us. When flipping someone off, do you tuck your thumbs in or stick them out? These baby exmos can’t agree. 😂

Well, it wasn’t the birthday I thought I was going to have, but my boys really came through on the presents, including these witchy affirmations, which I love. Also, zero of my extended family contacted me in any way, but lots of you did, so thank you all for being my chosen people. Love you guys.

To all of the journalists and posters who keep getting things wrong- Yes. Mormons identify as Christians. The terms you are looking for are talks (not sermons), sacrament meeting (not service), bishop (not pastor), chapel (not sanctuary).

This is quite the picture. Unfortunately, I’ve been waiting for something like this to happen for a long time. So very sad, but also feels inevitable. The innocence is gone now and the bubble has been broken.

Wow. No words. This is horrendous. This violence has to stop. Gun reform NOW.

It’s my birthday! You may all shower me with love and adoration today!!!

Got the most delicious Bahn Mi and gigantic steamed bun from a local place run by a hilarious and lovely Vietnamese immigrant today. Everything was made by hand with love and she’s like a hug when you walk into her shop. Immigrants are the heart blood of this country. They deserve to be treasured.

Fauci snoot pics for a Friday evening. You may boop. We’ve earned it. #dogsky

If you need a little tiny treat today to survive all the madness, the new Reese’s Oreo Cups do not suck. That is all. Carry on.

I feel this in my soul. I’m currently suffering from pure idiocy overload.

Just when I think I can’t get stabby enough this morning. Uh, my homeschooled child was assigned by me at least 20 of them a year for his entire school career. He started reading “full books” when he was three. Now he’s more eloquent and knowledgeable than most adults. For the love. READ!!!!

There’s a lot going on tonight, so much that I really wish I hadn’t picked up my phone, but don’t let this go unnoticed. This is terrible, very dangerous news. People will die. Not hyperbole. #medsky

Same. We could have stayed even if it wasn’t true, if we had found it to still be beneficial for our family. We could not say that after years of desperately seeking out good, so we had no choice but to walk away not just from the LDS church but from our entire support system. So hard but worth it.

Over it. Over it all. What are we all watching for comfort and distraction? Hubs and I are binging Mike and Molly and then Bones and Vampire Diaries for October. We just bought Mork and Mindy and Community to watch with the teen (he doesn’t like scary and asked for some physical box sets).

You guys, one month later and my plants are all very much alive and… thriving?!? I even just fertilized them. I’m not sure what’s happening, but I might actually be a plant person now. Weird world we’re living in.

Reminder to my friends who have left high control religions- all of that wisdom and revelation and discernment that you attributed to the Holy Ghost? That was you. Your brain, your knowledge, your heart. Trust yourself. Have faith in yourself. It’s an important moment to learn to listen to your gut.

Tired of hearing about the power of prayer everytime there’s a press conference after a shooting. Read your own damn scriptures. “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” -James 2:20 It’s the guns.

My mom took Tylenol when she was pregnant and now I can belt 3 1/2 octaves and cite all of my sources.

Yeah. Like I was saying the other day, these boycotts are teaching us to look elsewhere. I’ve already replaced Disney with better options. Nature abhors a vacuum. Not in a hurry to resubscribe and I haven’t seen anyone else who’s chomping at the bit either. They failed the fascism test.

This. Causation is not correlation. Mothers who had autistic babies took Tylenol, because almost all pregnant women at some point take Tylenol, because it’s one of the only things they’re allowed to take. This guilting and shaming of mothers is a control tactic. Don’t perpetuate this garbage.

Puting this riiiight here, for reasons…

Does this mean we won?!? I’m feeling a bit dubious because I’m not used to winning anymore… I hope Kimmel didn’t budge an inch or do something foolish like agree to apologize.

Another article. Keep calling them out! “In some cases, tradwives’ advocacy extends to white nationalism and nativism. For example, some tradwives will justify the virtue of a large family by alluding to the importance of maintaining a white, Christian majority in the United States.”

“Womanosphere content elevates the joys of the home and motherhood while sidelining women’s mounting social and political disenfranchisement, ultimately reinforcing fascist values such as gender hierarchy and duty to the nation.”

Crazy MIL: But what about free speech? Me: I’m sorry, but rights are not unlimited. Your freedoms end when they are marginalizing and endangering others. We should not platform N*zis, and Mormons should know better. None of this is “Of good report or praiseworthy.” Then she got real quiet…

Sitting under a tree, just me and the bees and gnats, in 80 degree weather, waiting for my boys to come out of a corn maze. New rule, no corn mazes ever again if it’s over 60 degrees outside. Aprils + heat and humidity and bugs= severe overheated grouchiness. 😇

To quote, uh, Disney… This is the way!!! Keep it up, friends!!!

Throw out the word “should” and say “no” a lot.

This. It is not only shaping politics. It has also completely changed the religious landscape and no one wants to admit it. The even scarier thing is that we’ve had these reactionary time periods before (Spanish Flu and WWI come to mind) and they always lead to populism and paranoia and hate.

And this is why we melt down a little when we have to give some of those things up to stand up against a childish authoritarian mango. We’re all in desperate survival mode right now and we know in our souls that our little tiny comforts are all that are keeping us from completely losing it.

Fauci time! He’s in air jail for barking at the neighbors. #dogsky

I interrupt this ongoing hellscape to inform you that I stocked up on Body Shop products before they pulled out of the US only to discover that they expire and lose their scent and potency very very quickly. I have to throw them all away. I am crushed and adding another reason to move to Canada.

Just had the realization that in giving up Disney Plus, I am literally giving up Hamilton the Musical, one of my comfort shows, to do a tiny thing to help save democracy. My disappointment is immeasurable, but it feels like the Founding Fathers would approve.

“Utah is literally the heart and soul of the LDS church; what happens there happens everywhere. That’s like saying the heart pumps poison but it’s fine if you’re the stomach.” @lhamiltonwriter.bsky.social hits it out of the park again. (Also I’ve lived all over the country. Can confirm.)

I wrote my senior thesis in college on McCarthyism and The Crucible by Arthur Miller. I’ve been screaming about modern day comparisons for years and years and now we’re undeniably here and it’s surreal and brings me no joy to have been this right.

It seems to me that teaching Americans to boycott is teaching them to live without and since we are creatures of habit, once we get out of the habit of using something, it’s easy to replace it with something else. Seems like a bad business model… (Other countries are learning this as well)

I felt helpless and like I needed a little cry, but then I canceled Hulu/Disney/ESPN and immediately felt like I had done something, anything to resist. Deep breaths. We’ve had to pivot so many times these last few years, and we can do it again. And again. This is a small sacrifice that is doable.

So do we just cancel everything and go back to watching our DVD collections (that I know all of us of a certain age still have)?!? I don’t know how to proceed. If everything capitulates, we either compromise or have to boycott everything. I’m not great at compromising. What is everyone doing?!?

“Tradwife feeds are full of images of a happy, nostalgic embrace of tradition and motherhood — while making it clear that this requires an explicitly heterosexual frame and exclusion of gender-diverse, trans, and same-sex marriages in favor of promotion of “traditional” family values.”

Very, very disappointed in the royal family right now.

Battle doomscrolling by posting five small pleasures: 1. A tall TBR stack of books by your very cozy bed and a loaded Kindle 2. Doodle snuffles 3. Outwardly grudging but inwardly snuggly hugs from your teen 4. Bubble baths and chocolate 5. Dinner in the crockpot and a spotless kitchen

I wish I could go back in time and tell young, exhausted mom me and young, exhausted med student hubs that life would be so much better without the LDS church and WITH coffee. Seriously. How did we survive without cold brew and second Saturday? And through countless night shifts?!?

There’s a wasp in the house. My teen is terrified of wasps. He put me in charge of watching it while he made a trap (!). We have 20 foot ceilings and it’s at the top, and my eyes are going screwy from watching it, in case anyone is wondering how our day is going. I just wanted to read my book. 😞