“Don’t mourn, organize!”

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Yesterday my “nauseously optimistic” mood gradually just turned into “nauseous” and here we are again. But worse, because we know about Project 2025. We know the Supreme Court gave him carte blanche. America is so fucked. Women, LGBTQ+ people, minorities, and immigrants are so fucked.

But Hamilton Nolan sent a newsletter yesterday, something with a little hope, telling us to literally don’t mourn, organize:

Fix in your mind, right now, the fact that “resisting” the sort of changes that might come about during four more years of The Bad Man requires not just rage and donations and protests—it requires the construction of competing power centers that can stand up to a weaponized version of the government. Organized labor should be that power center. It is what The Resistance is looking for. You can help make it a reality.

When you win a union and sign a union contract it is not just an act of improving your own life and the lives of your coworkers; it is a battle won in the class war. And the political war that you are stressed about right now is, at its heart, a class war. We must build permanent institutions to fight that class war or it will be lost. The only permanent institution suited to this task is the labor movement. This is the whole ballgame, long term. Not the election. Rather, the question of whether the system that produced the conditions that propelled The Bad Man to the precipice of the highest office in America will be allowed to strengthen, or whether they can be rolled back in the direction of humanity.

Election Day Anxiety Memes!!

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If you haven’t voted yet, you know what to do today. And remember, there’s no perfect candidate; there’s the candidate who can be pressured to do the right thing and the one who wants this to be our last election. Extremely anxious voice: Democracy!

 

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Friday Links

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1. Speaking of women’s health: Is It Perimenopause or the Fascist Death Knell of Late-Stage Capitalism?

Is my insomnia caused by a spike in testosterone, or by the crippling fear that I could be arrested for saying the word “abortion” in 2025? Even if I’m joking. Like now. (This is a joke, for future reference.)

Is my anxiety perimenopausal, or is it a natural reaction to finding out Hulk Hogan might be the new Secretary of Homeland Security?

 

2. When satire is absolutely believable:

 

3. Yes this is true:

Let’s Talk About My Health

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I’ve been having “female trouble,” as my friend puts it, and it turns out it’s uterine fibroids. Let’s talk about it in public!

My issues started in July, I got a transvaginal ultrasound in August, and ended up with a biopsy in September–I didn’t handle that news well and also a uterine biopsy HURTS, even with pain meds. (The gynecologist wanted to make sure the thickened uterine lining was benign and not the beginnings of a tumor.) (It was benign, just thicc.)

Then this month I started noticing that everything at the gym felt REALLY hard and I was getting out of breath doing things like going up the stairs or even just walking. I asked my primary care D.O. for blood work, since all signs pointed to an iron deficiency–which makes sense, given that I’d been bleeding since July. Despite her saying, “It could be stress or perimenopause, you could try acupuncture,” it turns out I AM anemic. Good times.

I finally was able to get an ablation scheduled for the week of Thanksgiving, which should help with the bleeding (most of my fibroids are on the outside of my uterus so only a hysterectomy can get rid of them, which I want to avoid). I’ve also started prescription iron this week. So in the grand scheme of Women Trying To Get Treated, this is a pretty good timeline. (It took my friend twenty years to get diagnosed with endometriosis; another friend’s symptoms of DVT were passed off as perimenopause and now she’s rehabbing her leg after a blood clot wrecked it.)

Why am I blogging about this? Uterus stuff and being taken seriously as a woman is on my mind this election season. One of the treatments for fibroids is a D&C–a procedure also used for abortion. What happens if that’s not available? How many women have already died from lack of abortion care? Why are we still begging to be believed when we say something’s wrong?!

I’ve also been waiting for a chance to post this, which–even with my overall positive experience–is way too accurate:

 

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Goodbye For Now, Upper Canyon

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It was a cloudy day and the leaves were almost all off the trees, so maybe I can think of the canyon as sleeping for the next two years instead of inaccessible and about to be fundamentally changed?

I’m going to miss that stream at the top, but I have to remember the same water will be at the bottom, too.

Friday Links

Karen

1. Jess Valenti burning down the house in her latest newsletter: “Yes, I’m a Single-Issue Voter” (emphasis mine).

I know the phrase is meant to be an insult—a dismissive jab suggesting that women’s political interests are superficial and simplistic—but I’m more than happy to don the label. Because the ‘single issue’ Republican men find so offensive isn’t really abortion: it’s women’s humanity.

That’s why they’re going to lose in November. We are fighting for our lives and they mock us for it.

 

2. I would put the odds higher than 50/50, honestly:

 

3. If you think your job is tricky, be glad you didn’t have to piece together a book found in a bog letter by letter. ‘It was terrifying’: ancient book’s journey from Irish bog to museum treasure.

 

4. Why are people making TikToks about me?

@mamacares9000 is there a hairbrush filter?? we love our quirky doggie !! #dogloversoftiktok #dogsitterlife #dogsitting #longervideos #longervideosontiktok #nobodycaresbutmama ♬ original sound – nobody cares but mama