I am speechless with rage and despair at yesterday’s Supreme Court overturning of Roe v. Wade. I was at work when the decision was announced, and we gathered around someone’s computer to watch as some of us lost the right to make certain crucial lifelong decisions for ourselves, and we listened as part of the crowd around the courthouse screamed in dismay and horror, and part of the crowd screamed with joy and victory, and I was glad of my Pandemic Mask because it helped partially hide/absorb my Dystopia Crying.
There are plenty of places to go and talk about that decision that resulted in the sudden loss of human rights and bodily autonomy for only a certain segment of the population. You can talk about it here in the comments section, if you want. What I am mostly doing is reposting on Twitter/Facebook what other people managed to say about it, because I can’t think what to say but other people are saying things that I wish to say too. I am also deleting (without reading) all emails from the various Democratic politicians I follow, and I sent an “Our leaders have failed us. YOU have failed us” email to my state’s congresspeople. But otherwise I don’t have anything to say; I am still in the silent internal screaming / gentle hopeless weeping stage, which feels like it started in 2016 and never stopped.
It seems stupid to do a grocery store report at a time like this, but it feels like it’s either “post about how it’s all downhill from here and let’s brace ourselves for the loss of marriage equality, contraceptives, religious choice, etc.”; or else the weird Facebook posts I’m seeing from people I know/suspect are anti-abortion-rights, and who know enough not to rejoice openly, but are posting blithe things asking what TV shows is everyone watching / it’s so hot today! / love this fresh garden produce, or whatever. In a sea of people posting about how if you like to GO CAMPING in a state that DOES NOT ALLOW CAMPING you can COME VISIT ME AND I WILL TAKE YOU CAMPING AND NEVER TALK TO ANYONE ABOUT THE CAMPING, it comes across as nauseatingly obvious that some of us feel like walking into the sea and others of us feel like it’s a beautiful day for celebrating the everlasting union of church and state. A nice mild collapsing-systems post about grocery shortages seems like it might be in the vicinity of what we might want to talk about in between sessions of inchoate shrieking: somewhat anxious, so that it’s doesn’t seem perky or oblivious, but not adding TOO much anxiety to the already overwhelming dread and despair.
I don’t know if you heard the news that sriracha sauce is suspending production. I use sriracha sauce at a slow but steady rate, and consider it pretty essential—but it’s in that category where it isn’t ACTUALLY essential, the way reproductive healthcare is essential, it’s just an emotional support food that makes me feel anxious to imagine going without. But I COULD go without, and/or I could find substitutes. But I don’t want to go without or find substitutes, I want the comfort of PLENTY OF SRIRACHA.
At such times, it is important to find balance: one does not want to HOG the sriracha so that OTHER sriracha fans cannot have THEIR sriracha, but nor does one want to run out of sriracha and regret not buying more of it when one had the chance. So, the next time I went to the grocery store after seeing those articles, I bought two bottles: that felt reasonable. And the fact that the grocery shelves were FULL of sriracha made me wonder if I had fallen for a sneaky marketing trick: perhaps this was just a clever ruse to get people to buy more sriracha! Well, it has a long shelf-life.
In the days after that purchase, I heard more and more sriracha stories, and began to feel that I had not purchased enough. This could be an EXTENDED outage! And I have tried many hot sauces, and none of them are sriracha. And so the next time I went to the grocery store, I bought two MORE bottles, feeling TRULY silly since, again, the shelves were FULL of sriracha; they even had BOTH SIZES, which is not something they always have even in normal sriracha-rich times. By the time I was unpacking the groceries at home, I felt sheepish, and thought maybe I should donate a couple of the bottles to a local food pantry. But then the NEXT time I went to the grocery store: NO SRIRACHA! None at Target, either!! And this morning when I went, again NO SRIRACHA. NO SRIRACHA ANYWHERE. THE SHELF IS FILLED IN WITH KETCHUP AND A.1. SAUCE.
So now I feel pretty happy about my bottles. If I find I am going through them more slowly than expected (the frequent news about sriracha shortages have made me crave it and I have been eating it every day, but that isn’t likely to continue), I can figure out a way to get rid of some—by giving it to a fellow sriracha lover in distress, or by donating it to the food pantry, or by putting it in some sort of fundraiser. (I did that a number of years ago when I had some Necco wafers on hand and the Necco factory had shut down production. Four rolls of Neccos raised $25 for charity! …Then Neccos resumed production.)
That was FOUR PARAGRAPHS about sriracha. (The sriracha is not a metaphor.)
Then, a few days ago, I was listening to the radio in the car and they mentioned that MUSTARD is the next anticipated shortage. Well, for heaven’s sake. Pretty soon I am going to need an entire cabinet dedicated to condiment reserves. Mustard is another of my VERY IMPORTANT THINGS (not actually important in the way the separation of church and state is important, but still feels important in its own food-accessory way). Paul makes me a sauce out of mustard, mayonnaise, creamy horseradish sauce, and sriracha, and I go through BOTTLES of it (I use it as a dipping sauce for chicken, steak, pork chops, etc.). (He deliberately makes it a little different each time so that it’ll continue to be a surprise to the palate, but if you want the basic proportions it’s like 48% regular yellow mustard, 48% mayo, and then the remaining 4% is sriracha and/or horseradish and/or spicy brown mustard and/or whatever else he thinks might be good; make sure you get the CREAMY horseradish or else the little shreds will clog up the mustard-bottle spout, assuming you mix it in an empty mustard bottle as Paul does.)
Anyway today at the grocery store I bought six bottles of mustard, and I really appreciated the clerk not remarking or asking questions. (Do you remember the time I was buying chocolate chips and the clerk didn’t know what they were? I had COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN about that until someone mentioned it recently.) I am going to buy another half-dozen bottles the next time I go, assuming there still ARE bottles to buy, because (1) like sriracha, mustard keeps indefinitely, and (2) unlike sriracha, mustard is eaten by other members of my household.
Something we haven’t seen on the news but have seen in our store: no bratwurst. Not for weeks and weeks and weeks now—and we’ve only been LOOKING for it since we started feeling like grilling, so who knows how long they were gone before then.
I cannot bear Twitter right now, and I don’t recall that ever happening in the 13ish years I’ve had an account. We’re at a national soccer tournament this weekend, with literally THOUSANDS of teenaged girls, and I’ve seen so many moms crying/staring blankly off into space. Idk idk idk.
I’ve noticed the brat shortage-I like the frozen brat patties, and I honest to gawd haven’t seen them since before the pandemic.
Same on both fronts – I can’t bear twitter rn. I haven’t looked at it in days and am not sure when I will be able to again. Also at a soccer tournament with a bunch of 12-13 YO girls and it’s the most somber tournament I can remember.
My 12 (almost 13) year-old and I made posters and went to a rally/March in San Jose. It helped us. It was wonderful to be out with all sorts of people who are also upset about this. Keep it in your minds, keep voting, keep trying.
The main thing I’ve been missing on my grocery store shelves and online, other than my constitutional rights, is the Better Than Bouillon No Chicken Base. I’m just starting to see some places online carry it again, so I’m hopeful it, unlike our reproductive rights, will be back in stock soon.
It came back here in MN! We bought 2.
@Matti My MIL gave me a bunch of these and I NEVER use them – if you’re comfortable sending your address to an internet stranger I’ll mail them to you! alicewonderland0 at gmail :-)
That’s such a kind offer! But I just placed an order for 10 online (had to get that free shipping, lol). It’s really a delicious thing to add to sauces, soups, noodles, stir-fries, etc. If you haven’t tried it yet, I hope you love it.
“I am still in the silent internal screaming / gentle hopeless weeping stage, which feels like it started in 2016 and never stopped.”
Well said, this sums up how I feel.
I constantly see posts about “don’t give up, don’t get too exhausted, that’s what they want” and I just …. I am exhausted. I feel like we’ve been fighting and donating and calling and yelling for several years now, I don’t know what else we can do. I don’t think it’s making a difference. I know there are a lot of us in the same boat, and we’re not alone, but I’m still exhausted.
So exhausted.
A fellow pissed off ex-evangelical here. I’ve been sick to my stomach and full of rage. The hate for women and girls in this country seems never ending and I truly do want to burn everything down. Fortunately, I don’t like Sriracha, so that’s one less worry.
I’m still having a hard time finding baby formula and I hate it. I’m sick of thinking about things like that that I should be able to take for granted. Much like my bodily autonomy.
It may give you a clue to my current mental state to know that the sriracha news made me burst into tears.
Thank you for knowing what to say when it is so hard to know what to say.
The sriracha in my store still seems at normal levels, but I hear that it has dwindled to nothing in other parts of the country and that here it is only hanging on by a thread (you know, a lot like my constitutional right to familial and bodily autonomy).
I know that I am going to have to help others from nearby states find necessary sauces, and am girding my loins for new and exhausting but necessary work. (I am now talking about abortion, and sauce)
Brats were available today in Maryland at Aldi.
And YES to all of this. All of it. ALL OF IT.
One thing I am asking of every congress critter I know is to expand the House of Representatives. They can repeal the law that set the limit to 435 and raise it using Wyoming as a baseline to 585 (as of the last census).
This is easier to do than getting rid of the Electoral College, and would not start an arms race like increasing the Supreme Court.
I absolutely understand that you may well not even want to *think* about this right now, but as an English person I would love to hear your perspective as someone from an evangelical background because as an English person (raised secularly) I just find it so hard to wrap my head around.
I can understand the concept of being ‘pro-life’ (I mean let’s not get started on what that would actually mean I’m terms of paid maternity leave, healthcare, subsidised childcare etc). What I can’t comprehend is how/why a relatively small proportion of the community can wield SO much power when it comes to legislating for the bodies of half the population?
I also have real confusion understanding why, if those people (not Catholics, but evangelical Christians) don’t want abortion, they also restrict birth control?! Is this just pure misogyny or is there some kind of religious tenet there? I assume the former…
Cece, I’ve been an active evangelical most of my life, and I cannot for the life of me even begin to wrap my head around it either. One thing about evangelicals is they have a deep foundational belief in male dominance—that is, white, straight males. They believe in this with all their hearts, because they believe the BIBLE tells them so. At the risk of making a sweeping generalization, I’d say evangelicals have made the Bible their God, and that the Bible says whatever their male leaders tell them it says. They say they love Jesus, but from where I’m standing, I don’t see Jesus coming into the picture. As a caricature painted by their leaders, yes. As an actual sentient being who speaks to them personally—who is able to lead and direct and give insight to them personally—no. It’s all the BIBLE, but only as the leaders teach it. I no longer recognize evangelicalism as Christianity; I consider it a toxic and dangerous cult.
I grew up in evangelicalism; more of them have moved away from centering “We can have real life through Jesus, no matter what our circumstances are, and we should try to not sin” to centering “things are bad in America and Trump is the answer and sin is fine if it furthers political goals” and I have been experiencing cognitive dissonance ever since, because these are diametrically opposed, although the book Jesus and John Wayne is a kind of terrifying (but as far as I could tell, accurate) explanation of how a lot of people have made that shift over the last century or so. Anyway. I have known some evangelicals, is what I am saying.
The most will-break-into-tears-over-it anti-abortion women I know have had traumatic miscarriages. In addition to them, there are the people whose parents considered abortion, or whose deeply-loved friend/relative was almost aborted. And some who have experienced infertility are very strongly anti-abortion as well. They see abortions as ending the life of someone (someone like the people they love or the child they wanted), and that makes abortion a Very Big Deal to them.
But there’s also a ton of plain ol’ misogyny. On average, the ones supporting better access to prenatal care generally care more about those pregnancies making it all the way to childbirth than the ones *not* supporting better access to prenatal care. And the straight-up all-misogyny do-not-care-about-pregnancies group, the desperately-wanting-to-save-those-they-see-as-children group, and all the people in between are often more concerned with closing possible loopholes to abortion than with sanity and compassion; obviously, the misogyny group doesn’t care at all about the women, and the fetus-focused group often cares more about maximizing the survival of the “babies” than the women, and therefore will agree to some “collateral damage” (often only until they know a women – especially one who is already a mother of children – who would have died as “collateral damage”, though, so there’s, uh, slim shreds of hope there?). (I have multiple friends who simply would have died if ectopic pregnancies could not be removed, so I’ve been attempting to strategically tell people those stories, esp. with the proposed law in Missouri!)
In regards to birth control, the majority of evangelicals I have known are fine with birth control for married people who have as many children as they want (at least, the forms of birth control that prevent conception, not the forms of birth control that prevent a fertilized egg from attaching or that flush a fertilized egg, because Fertilized Egg is the line for some), but many think that free/easy access to birth control for everyone results in greater sexual promiscuity and therefore consider it Bad. There’s a blend or continuum within that group between “I want people to not do things I think are harmful for them” (like having sex outside of marriage) and straight up regular ol’ misogyny.
In terms of the power: this is one of the things Single Issue Voting does, if enough people can be convinced to do it (added to the base of conspiracy theories and xenophobia and appealing to the lowest human impulses and misogyny et al). We ended up with Trump, and Trump appoints Supreme Court justices, and this is what we get.
And legislatively, the Democrats don’t have enough of a majority to push through laws, in general, without some Republican cooperation, and the Republicans are largely toeing the party lines including on abortion (which is why the gun control bill was partially neutered, so as to actually get *some* minor restrictions in place)(and why very little is getting done in a positive direction). It’s bad. The direction of the situation is less bad than it was with Trump as president and the senate Republican-majority – that is how we got these Supreme Court justices, and this is one of the results of that time – but it is bad.
If we could impeach and remove the Supreme Court justices who lied under oath – but we can’t yet because that requires a 2/3 majority for removal – that would be nice. Maybe someday. But at present, it is bad, and while it could be worse if the Rs gain control of the senate, it’s still… bad.
Thank you guys, the context is so helpful to me. Unsurprisingly, my Instagram feed etc is full of people who share my horror. But it’s so hard to put myself into the mindset of women voters (ones who may have experienced miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, infertility, pracental abruption etc) who would support this.
Also GOSH I was very tired yesterday (insomnia. Possibly dystopia induced.) Apologies for the many typos.
This was very educational! Thank you.
I am seeing things on Twitter about how the original anti-abortion laws basically came down to “How do we white Protestants out-reproduce the Catholics and immigrants,” and I think that is a bigger part of it than gets acknowledged. In my very demographically diverse & changing hometown, I have been congratulated by elderly strangers on the whiteness of my babies (“You don’t see that anymore!”), which is an absolutely sickening feeling. There is an underlying fear of “good American stock” being constantly in danger of dying out, and women are either good patriotic mothers or traitors.
I can speak to your last paragraph: some forms of birth control are considered abortion tools. IUDs allow fertilization but prevent implantation, so for someone who is obsessed with THE BABIES and doesn’t think too much about the rest of it, not allowing a fertilized egg to implant is akin to abortion.
And “not thinking too much about the rest of it” is the real key here. I know many MANY people who are staunchly anti-choice and it is ALL about the babies, saving the babies, what about the babies. They have never sat with a 17-year-old who was offered up as a toy to her stepfather’s friends and is worried she’s pregnant, or talked to a 14-year-old who went along with what her boyfriend wanted because he said if she loved him she would, or cried with a mom of three who is pregnant again and knows her family can’t afford another mouth but she can’t afford birth control either and doesn’t want to deny her husband sex because he is their breadwinner and she doesn’t want him to leave. (Those are all real stories, told to me by real women, in a pregnancy crisis center.)
They don’t bother to think out the very real, very awful consequences of these abortion laws. They just think, “Oh well, you shouldn’t have sex if you don’t want a baby!” not remembering the times she had sex with her husband when she didn’t really feel like it, or the time he said he’d use a condom but didn’t, or the time she said yes to her boyfriend when she really meant no. They just don’t bother to think.
“They just don’t bother to think.” This sums up…. so much.
Another factor the “just don’t have sex if you don’t want a baby” crowd is forgetting is how often men respond to sexual rejection with violence. And that the most dangerous time for a person in an abusive relationship is when they are pregnant. More homicides happen then from men who don’t want babies/ families anymore, etc. Sometimes not having sex to prevent pregnancy is not a good option either.
Truth.
Upthread, someone mentioned the myth that IUDs inhibit implantation of a fertlized egg, which is at best a misunterstanding, and at worst a myth perpetuated to scare women off of birth control (not the commenter’s intention). The copper IUD (Paraguard is the only one available in the US) works because the copper acts as a spermicide. I have one, and I like to think it makes me a bionic woman.
Hormonal IUDs work the same way as the pill/ring/patch/shot. People get all upset about hormonal bc, too, because of a persistent myth that it can cause miscarriage if you get pregant on it. It can’t. It’s important, especially now, to be informed about these things. The more you know!
Thank you for the thorough info! My older daughter has one and loves it.
Oh Leigh this is just heartbreaking to me. As someone who’s not been camping but has accompanied a friend, who’s seen it unfold and watched the process and the recovery and the life she was able to have after having choices at age 19… my heart breaks for these women and rages at the stupidity and the cruelty.
Yeah, I can name at least a dozen girls off the top my head, girls I went to school or church with, that “had” to get married in the late 80s. Camping was not even discussed as an option for them.
Many white evangelicals see the U.S. as a Christian country, and I think this attitude explains a lot. They believe America was founded as Christian, and that unbelievers are trying to take the country from them, and that they have to get it back. They have no concept of America as a pluralistic country with equal rights for people with different beliefs.
Yes, this too. My step-mother-in-law is a firm believer that Christians are persecuted in the US. *eye roll*
I can report that the peanut butter and tampon shelves at my Target were nearly bare. I ended up with brands of both that I’d never tried before, and those are two products for which I am particularly loyal to my regular brands.
Given your love of postcard-ing and general disdain for the phone, perhaps you’d consider writing with Postcards To Voters? They tell you exactly what to write, and you can have fun with pens and handwriting. It’s been a positive outlet for my sadness and rage.
Seconding this about Postcards to Voters; it feels very much like Doing Something without having to use the phone or (God forbid) knock on someone’s door. If you would like to work for a particular candidate this fall, I also recommend signing up for their texting team. It’s something that can be done from a phone or laptop and they give you responses to use when someone asks a question.
Please add your congress critters to your postcard list. Request the following: Statehood for DC; Increasing the number of members in the House to 585 (using Wyoming as a baseline); a new and more effected Voting Rights Act; a new and more effective ADA (including public enforcement, not individual civil enforcement); and codifying Roe, Lawrence, Obergefell, Griswold, Loving, and Brown.
It’s so completely awful. I naively thought that everyone on my FB had the same feelings as I did, then I saw a “it’s a glorious day” post and you know what, I don’t unfriend people very often but that’s a deal-breaker.
I had no idea about the sriracha, and I only have one bottle in the fridge. Ditto with mustard. I do remember the cashier who had never heard of chocolate chips, and rereading that brightened the day somewhat.
Coming back here to say that I popped into the grocery store this morning and casually went to peek at the sriracha, AND IT WAS COMPLETELY OUT OF STOCK. The mustard was pretty sparse too. *insert wide eyed emoji here*
While I am grateful I live in a state where camping is welcome, I am so, so sad for … women in all the other states. I can’t even right now. On a different note, i have to stop by Walmart before flying to France tomorrow and I will be picking up a bottle of sriracha. I had no idea.
I had no idea about the sriracha shortage or why there is one? However, I do have an idea why MY RIGHTS are being taken away by an illegitimate court. Why is it I wonder that guns are given more protections than my uterus?
Anyway, and I say this with all my heart, my door is always open for anyone that wants to go camping. We can sit around the fire and discuss how horrible Mitch McConnell is.
The sriracha shortage is because the company that makes it uses a type of pepper that’s grown only in a specific part of Northern Mexico. That area was deeply affected by the drought in that part of the world, resulting in the crop failing. They can’t make more right now because there’s nothing to make it out of.
In other words: climate change, though the company is carefully only stating that as a “possible factor.”
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/22/business/sriracha-shortage.html
I’ve said what I want to say about abortion elsewhere. Here, I will just say that I really hope that enough people stay ticked off enough to vote against republicans at both the state and federal levels. I’m ready for an “enough is enough” spirit to sweep things.
I looked at the perspective map on WaPo and discussed with my not yet 13 year old daughter that there were now only about 10 states where she could go to college (or perhaps virtually any other 1st world country that isn’t falling into barbarism). It’s too late for Oldest who started last year a college in a place where camping is virtually certain to become illegal and all I could do was stress (for the 1,000 time) how important it is for him to use condoms. I feel like rage crying having these conversations.
We are lucky to live a place where camping is legal and likely to stay that way, but like 40/50 states are a no go now? Shit. Youngest and her friends are already furious and appalled (and not yet tired like me) that this is going on. My heart is breaking for them all because what kind of country is this going to be by the time they are adults? I’m so so tired of being angry but events are just not giving me a break.
Hi Maggie, I am so glad that you raised the concern you have for your Oldest, being a ‘him’. This is not just an issue for women, but for the (primarily young) men who may be the contributing partner to any unwanted pregnancy. They also might wish to go camping for any number of reasons, the same as their partner – likely with the same keen interest on camping as their partner. I agree this is horrific for women and their bodily rights and autonomy, completely agree and am terrified. However, I do think it needs to be recognised that many men’s (your Oldest’s) futures and livelihoods will also be at risk if they are compelled to be party to an unwanted pregnancy. I’m a bit surprised that more male people aren’t marching as well – they are about to find themselves in very difficult situations.
I hate to say it, but my impression as to why more male people aren’t getting more upset or marching is not just because they don’t have to go through with the physical carrying and bearing of children, but because they have spent their lives seeing men in society get away with dumping unwanted pregnancies and children on their mothers and walking away scott free. It’s not right and it’s not technically legal, but it happens all the time.
yep. and it’s not like any new repercussions are coming for those who cause pregnancy in the first place. sigh.
You always put things so well. The despair since 2016, the use of the word inchoate, the caveat that it actually IS about the sriracha. I’m not feeling so coherent. Last night hubby and I had a weepy (also wine-y) fight about WHEN the situation warrants having a plan to move elsewhere. I’m all for having a plan to leave the country altogether, but unfortunately his work makes that almost impossible. I’ll have to settle for planning to move to a state with excellent camping before our older daughter reaches camping age.
I can’t help with the sriracha, but you can actually make your own mustard at home from mustard seeds and vinegar if you have a blender with enough oomph (or a mortar and pestle and a lot of RAGE to work off). I am glad you have sriracha!
I am tired. I feel badly for those who are at greater risk than I am, and for people who have been dealing with gross and fatal injustice even longer (see the James Baldwin quote https://www.npr.org/2020/06/01/867153918/-to-be-in-a-rage-almost-all-the-time). (unless one includes the systemic problems with sexual assault and domestic violence which are both often fatal and usually towards women, in which case: a loooong time)
And I don’t have the foggiest idea how to respond, other than to keep trying to convince people – I still am in contact with some single-issue voters – that outlawing this Is Really Really Bad (especially when you have state-level idiots who know less than they think they do about pregnancy making the rules without consulting doctors; our state is at least better than Missouri, but still VERY BAD). And that we need to help people. And do… something? And DEFINITELY ALL VOTE because it could be yet worse but *man* “it is terrible but it could be worse” is… not what we’d like, shall we say?
I am sickened and horrified. Every day we are inching ever closer to living in the Handmaid’s Tale. And, sadly, I have no idea what is going to happen in this split state. Our current governor, I’m sure, would keep abortion legal. But he’s nearing the end of his term and when I look at some of the other buffoons that have been elected recently, I’m not feeling very encouraged.
Even though we’ve known for a couple of months this was coming (SC leak) and have had a couple days to process that it is actually happening, I am still in shock. I’m glad to hear others feel exhausted as well because I am overwhelmed with a sense of defeat and hopelessness. I live overseas and have so many friends telling me how lucky I am not to live in the US right now, but I want to be there so I can fight. I want to PROTEST! I want to feel like I am helping in some small way. I can vote, and I can send money to abortion funds (I am doing both) but it just doesn’t feel like enough.
As for sriracha and mustard: where I live overseas those items were easy to find and always stocked on the shelves pre-pandemic. For the past year or so, the stocks have been very spotty to the point that I always get excited when I see them back on the shelves and stock up. I had assumed this was just due to supply chain issues, but now there will be an actual shortage?! For me it specific to the sriracha with the rooster on the bottle, and HEINZ American yellow mustard. No other brands will do!
So many feelings, mainly disillusion with politicians and this system that lets extremists hold so much power and indoctrinates enough of the population to let them push an agenda that benefits no one (except the extremists and their power)? Then said politicians say we need to keep focusing our efforts (and $) on this broken system. The key will be not letting our frustrations sink us into depression and inaction. It’s the only way, right? Fight fire with fire. I need to focus my energy on the things I can do in my community.
Interesting about the bratwurst, because I haven’t been able to find my preferred brand of honey-garlic sausages for the BBQ this year, yet I’m in a completely different country than you.
As for the other matter, I’m truly discouraged about how our neighbour to the south seems to continue to slide into a radical, right, non-democracy, despite having kicked 45 out of office. I’m discouraged for all the women there, but also for members of the gay, trans and BIPOC communities, for whom they will likely come next. And I’m also worried for my own country, because your influence often spreads north. Right now we’ve got someone running for leadership of one of our major political parties that is clearly taking his cues from worst players in the US, and I cannot imagine what will happen if he wins because the country is pretty ripe for a change at the top level and there’s a danger of the vote defaulting to his party in the next election.
Two things:
This was perfectly written. Well done, you.
This resonates SO MUCH: “I am still in the silent internal screaming / gentle hopeless weeping stage, which feels like it started in 2016 and never stopped.”
Grocery Report from the PNW corner: paper products are weirdly dwindling. Cannot find Dixie Cups for over a year. Crackers and their ilk have been hit and miss. Prices have increased A LOT. But I think I miss a lot because I don’t go into the grocery to shop/browse but to hunt and gather. I’m sure there’s more missing.
*constantly rending at my clothes until November 8 2022*
Plan B is still legal and OTC in my state. I have a teenage daughter and have purchased 3 packs so far. I will continue to buy them periodically as long as they are legal. If she or her friends ever need to go camping, it might help.
I am just going to take some time to focus on the fact that Paul makes sauce for you, because I need to believe something good about him.
Greetings from the magical zone where I just told a friend of 40 years that she needed to hush with the cutesy posts about “camping” and why and she pushed back. I feel like we are never going to have enough awareness on Team Bodily Autonomy to move this issue forward.
Swistle, I hope you don’t mind me posting this, but I’d like to share a resource that might be useful for people with uteruses that might/will soon be living in places where they don’t have any, well, camping facilities: http://www.womenonweb.org.
It’s an online service to get what’s needed to camp in your own home, only available for people living in places where camping is illegal. It’s free (there’s a suggested donation to cover the costs but from experience I know they will send what you need even if you can’t donate anything at all). It’s the online part of an organization called Women on Waves, who used to provide camping facilities on a boat in international waters (maybe they actually still do, not sure). They are factual, compassionate, and to the point with their advice before going camping (and also what to do in case the camping trip doesn’t go as expected).
I know the concept of “getting camping supplies from a random internet site” may not sound great, but having camped once in an official campsite (in a country where those exist) and having camped at home once with supplies from this organization (in a country where camping is highly illegal), I can tell you both worked fine. I’d say at the very least it’s a resource worth knowing in case of emergency.