Next week I start my writing class and I cannot wait. This one is about memoir as spiritual practice, which is how I've always seen it ... a balm in this world of "How to Market your Substack" Substacks (gag me). I have not taken a writing class since my MFA in Creative Writing!

Get caught up: SCOTUS rules in the Illinois Nat'l Guard case, some hints the judge in Abrego Garcia's criminal case is actively pursuing claims of vindictive prosecution, & the prospect of accountability for DOJ for its faulty release of the Epstein Files. joycevance.substack.com/p/the-week-a...

Awful, awful news. Bob Kafka, a pioneer in disability rights, is gone. May he rest in peace. www.npr.org/2025/12/27/g...

Alan did not get any of the jobs. The position he had hoped for at the university was slashed. People had asked for an update, so there it is. *Advice will result in a block. Please do not do that.

Julie K. Brown is a reporter for the Miami Herald who did groundbreaking work on Epstein beginning in 2018, including groundbreaking work on the disgusting coverup by Alex Acosta. Her travel itinerary was released with some of the Epstein files. It appears the DOJ was monitoring her in 2019.

Before the lit mag I founded died, we had been planning an issue entitled Empathy for Objects.

I am still trying to raise 500 for Dec. and frankly, just to survive this month. Disabled enby living with disabled mom making way less than 700 on SSI each month. I really need help. PayPal.me/Ambelies or cash.app/$ambelies (150/500) can we please make this happen? I have 30 bux left for the month

www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/... anything from my list would be awesome

So easy to forget that glasses are disability aids until you cannot get replacements for a long time. I can finally see print text again! I read ALL DAY! I was able to edit without so much strain. Yay. I still need my new RX but got some stronger OTC readers in the meantime with holiday money.

RFK: “Where did all this autism come from? It never existed when I was a kid!” “A Christmas Story”, a 1983 movie based on a 1971 memoir about a childhood in the 1930s: “This is my brother Ralphie. He has a ton of sensory issues and behaviors we don’t understand. Every family has a child like him.”

"Circuit court rules that subjective testimony must be considered in cases with disabilities that can’t be detected by objective medical tests" marylandmatters.org/2025/12/24/f...

the other day on the way back from the work christmas party, quite pissed, i thought, hell yeah i'll buy myself WFH lunch stuff for the next couple of days. i bought myself just straight up party food, like a hero

If you were a kid who looked around at the adults in your community, and mostly felt unimpressed, it does not get better 😂

I am struggling with the knowledge that one of the other victims in the case back in Utah has taken his own life. I plan to ask the detective about providing my information to that victim's family. And now, to do what I do and ... agitate for change.

Everyone, Mae needs URGENT help to avoid eviction! Share widely, please!

I am struggling with the knowledge that one of the other victims in the case back in Utah has taken his own life. I do not know when it happened, only that it did. I have spent all day thinking about the reports and wondering which victim ... I only know limited information from the detective.

ah yes, all workers should have the right to hurl racial slurs at black customers

It’s been two weeks since ICE took Yuanxin Zheng from his father. He is six years old. He’s still not home. This has to end.

Jimmy Fallon would host the Hunger Games.

“They’re building these data centers, they’re building the power infrastructure through our homes, and they don’t seem to care,” Subramanyam said.

Ossoff: "This is so much deeper than the politics. What does it say about the moral condition of this Congress that the thing that has them all tied up in knots is a very simple question: Should people's health insurance premiums go up double or triple? This is a policy choice."

There's a post over on Twitter that I've been laughing to myself about. Some right-wing guy is celebrating that a school took down "All-Gender" bathroom signs and replaced them with "Single Occupancy Restroom" signs. And like... it's the same thing, man. You're celebrating a pointless relabeling.

Once again, I need people to stop confusing the order of your awareness with the order of oppression. Ableism is not new. The popularity of ableist beliefs, including those about ADHD, is not new, and it’s pretty insulting to watch you “discover” it like a European guy tripping over a continent.

We're about to get high winds and ice storm after just digging out from a snowstorm. Yay, Midwestern winter. 🙄

For some reason it crossed my mind that we are coming upon Kevin Spacey creepy video season. Ick.

$20/$1300. Pls anything can help us right now to pay for her chemotherapy as soon as possible! We were hoping for at least a good christmas but my mom’s life is at risk more than ever. Pls help! @lilririah.bsky.social @trance.bsky.social @olivebrinker.bsky.social @karriehiggins.bsky.social

According to a new study, members of Congressional leadership perform 47% better in stock market trades than their rank-and-file peers, thanks to access to nonpublic information. Today would be a great day to ban ALL elected officials from trading stock, don't you think?

My spouse urged me to do that appointment. I am sure many couples are having these back & forths about one appt or another and can we do this one or not? It's incredibly stressful. I feel the countdown to the higher premium coming due. Please keep contacting your reps about ACA subsidies, too!

This is exactly what churches should be doing, calling out injustice. 📌 Lake Street Church Nativity: a bold social justice statement with ICE-like Roman soldiers, the Virgin Mary in a gas mask, baby Jesus zip-tied, Joseph on the ground, pushing viewers to think about immigration.

Calling it now that she'll eventually end up at CBS www.wsj.com/business/med...

wtf is a FIFA peace prize? that's like being an NFL laureate in physics

Sabrina Carpenter made the White House delete their fuck ass tweet.

What is everyone reading? I need to check out some new (to me) books!

“Today the Ambassador was craving a grilled cheese. So I made twenty and ate them all myself.”

Remember when he claimed he won the “Michelin Man of the Year” Award when no such thing existed? Somehow this FIFA medal is even more embarrassing.

The USPS posting a NINE BILLION DOLLAR LOSS!!! sounds terrible. Certainly worse than if you said "USPS costs thirty dollars per person per year" even though that means the same thing and more accurately describes a government service

Found out my brother who voted for this shit has Parkinson's. Oh well, too bad.

Reasons my cat is mad at me today: moved the duvet without explicit authorization

Big: www.nbcnews.com/business/med...

Family of Colombian man killed in illegal U.S. strike files human rights challenge The petition from the family of Alejandro Carranza says the military bombed his fishing boat on when he was sailing off Colombia's Caribbean coast, in violation of human rights #Wrldpoli🌐 www.npr.org/2025/12/04/g...

Ever met someone who, after an initial conversation, is like “we’re friends now” and despite the general overuse of that declaration, it turned out to be true? I love it when that happens. And when you try to let them off the hook, they’re like “Didn’t you hear me? We are friends now.”

I need to write something about how when you call survivors coming forward "brave" (and people facing cancer, etc.), you are not actually commending them. You are seeking their compliance. You WANT them to be "brave" because it is easier on YOU.

I was warned that Threads is unhinged ... and that's accurate. There is also MyChart discourse.

Honestly it keeps us going. And marginalized creators get very little of it. I can win all the grants and awards in the world (they are nice), but it's much better to hear from a reader / viewer / however they encounter my work that they just ... loved or enjoyed it or thought it was cool!

Hospital: Here is a "Hunger Vital Sign" survey. We are very interested to know if you have access to enough food. Also hospital: Here is a bill for thousands of dollars even though we wrongly told you the procedure was covered at 100% and no we will not forgive it or

One of the biggest impacts I’ve seen from the unproven idea that people are wrongfully using disability accommodations is that people stop trusting people with disabilities and in fact further restrict, remove, and demonize accommodations for people with disabilities in general

Agents in Key Largo, Florida ripped this woman wearing medical scrubs out of her car as she screamed she is a US citizen. Agents cuffed her and put her in one of their cars. She was eventually let go, per David Goodhue of the Miami Herald, who also took this footage:

I get to give "lived experience" feedback to a DID expert for his next book & it's SO GOOD. BTW...EVERYTHING he says is harmful/traumatizing for us in therapy is the shit I told my previous therapists was harming me & they refused to listen. Maybe LISTEN to your clients? Wild idea. Get trained, too.

White House ratio'd by the smallest possible pop star.