Salutations! :) I'm Caroline (she/her), 30s, living on the US East Coast. Married with two adorable munchkins. Montessori teacher. Vegetarian. Cat-person. Liberal political nerd. Bisexual. Forever fangirl. My fandom loves include: Glee, His Dark Materials, The West Wing, Harry Potter (Ravenclaw), Veronica Mars, Buffy, How I Met Your Mother. Other loves include poetry, vegetarian cooking, baking, crossword puzzles, roller coasters, and getting more than 4 hours of sleep in a row which is impossible in my house because TODDLERS, MAN.
Sometimes I'll have to go to the bathroom while I'm getting ready for work and I'll intentionally wait until I get to work to start my bathroom experience so I can get paid for it
I feel like I should tell you that sometimes at work I think “should I go to the bathroom now or wait till my break?” and then I think “Natalie would tell me to go to the bathroom now and get paid for it,” so that’s what I do.
on a related note: if any of y'all are working from home now because of The Unpleasantness, think about what it's like working in an office. you set all your shit down, maybe log in to your computer, and then most people go get a coffee and then chat about the new Netflix show for 30 minute or an hour.
so if you're working from home now, clock in as soon as possible. and then go to the bathroom, start the coffee maker up, take the dog out to go potty (they're your office mate now), take some time to scroll through Tumblr and ramble on a Trot's post to wake up. whatever you've been doing before you clock in: don't. roll out of bed. put on clothes if that's necessary to access your computer. put on glasses if you need them to be able to see the "clock in" button. and then once you're getting paid, then go and do all the other stuff
I get not wanting to go back to the office before it's safe (or at all really) but don't give them *more* of your labor than you otherwise would. at the end of the day it's nothing to them, but it's 30 minutes of your life you get back to yourself (or 30 minutes of money, if you prefer).
anyway sorry tldr remote workers should slow down too
The point of getting rid of the death penalty isn’t that there are some innocent people on it. The point of prison abolition isn’t that there are some innocent people in prison.
The point is that the state shouldn’t have the power to kill people. The point is that the prison system commits systemic abuses of human rights, doesn’t reduce crime, is deeply racist, and doesn’t take the desires of the victims into account. To argue about whether one individual on death row or with a life sentence is innocent or guilty is just a distraction from the central issues, which is that these institutions are unjust and should not exist
what people think is hard about writing: describing the joy, love, beauty, grief, loss and hope that form the richness of human experience
what is actually hard about writing: describing basic actions such as turning, leaning over, reclining, gesturing, saying something in a quiet voice, breathing, getting up from chairs, and walking across rooms
I’ll spill out a brilliant, wrenching portrayal of a character’s struggle with grief over a loss and his complex regrets and guilt and then a page later I’ll have to write that a character who’s lying prone raises his head and shoulders up to look at something without fully getting up and I’ll get so angry I want to strangle an eagle with my bare hands
Socks for Donna: Holiday 2021 / New Year's Day 2022 Fic Exchange
Hello! As some of you may have noticed, the fics for the Fall 2021 West Wing Fic Exchange were posted yesterday. I hope you were as excited as I was to see so many beautiful, wonderful fics flood our fandom.
Personally, I can't wait to read/review all of them!
Just in case there's any early interest, I wanted to announce the next planned fic exchange. If you haven't guessed by now, it's a holiday fic exchange!
While Socks for Donna is labeled as a holiday fic exchange (including NYE/NYD), we do want to accommodate everyone. So, in part one of the sign up, there is a question about whether you're comfortable/uncomfortable with any specific holidays, and whether or not you'd prefer a general fic.
I also want to note that this fic exchange is open to everyone, absolutely, but it's also likely that most writers will be more comfortable with Josh/Donna than other ships. If your preferred ship isn't Josh/Donna, please still sign up. Give the prompts as you usually would, and I will do my absolute best to get you exactly what you want. I would ask that you do toss in an extra prompt or two (so you don't have to waste any of your primary prompts) that could be used for gen fics. :)
THE BASICS
sign-ups are open now
and continue until october 31, 2021 at 11:59pm
since this exchange does coincide with holidays, there will be a posting range: you can post your fics any time between december 23, 2021 and january 02, 2022
SIGNING UP
the ao3 assignment feature is so nice, but the matching feature got stuck a lot and i had to email them and get them to reset it. to avoid that, we're utilizing a two-step process.
to maximize matching potential, please first fill out this google form. then, because the ability to assign matches is really nice, please also fill out the form on ao3.
I'll be using #SocksForDonna for updates! (And I'd love if you could use that when discussing it, too!)
P.S. If you're wanting more fandom activity before then, I'm using this as a soft launch for a monthly oneshot challenge! I'll give more info soon, but it opens on October 1, 2021.
Abortion rights are under attack, and it’s time to fight back.
If you think this is just about Texas or ‘red’ states, you’re wrong. Attacks on abortion anywhere are a threat to our rights everywhere.
Today Texas’ SB8 takes effect. This dangerous and extreme law bans abortion as early as six weeks (way before most people even know they’re pregnant) and includes an unprecedent provision that allows private individuals - including anti-abortion protestors - to file lawsuits enforcing the bans. There’s even a monetary reward - up to $10,000 - for successful lawsuits.
There have been over 90 abortion restrictions enacted this year alone - more than any year since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973. It’s time to raise the alarm - keep #bansoffourbodies.
What can you do?
Follow and donate to:
West Fund, @BuckleBunniesFundTX (Instagram & Twitter), Jane’s Due Process, The Bridge Collective ATX, Fund Texas Choice, @LaFronteraFund (on Twitter), Texas Equal Access Fund - TEA Fund, The Lilith Fund for Reproductive Equity, Clinic Access Support Network & The Afiya Center.Sending love and access to all Texans.
“Men and boys are seen as the primary target of racial injustice,” AAPF associate director Rachel Gilmer told TakePart in May. “This has led to the idea that women and girls of color are not doing as bad, or that we’re not at risk at all.”
But studies show otherwise: Black women are killed and sexually assaulted by the police, and incarcerated at almost three times the rate of their white female counterparts. Yet news coverage of these cases are focused largely on the relationship between law enforcement and black men.
From the linked article above. None of this diminishes the importance of any Black Lives Matter protests or the lives of black men.
I haven't seen a lot of people talking about Texas' new abortion laws so I am going to go ahead and bring it up.
Texas has introduced a new bill that would basically incentivize suing doctors who practice abortions, and anyone else who may have helped someone get an abortion after six weeks. It includes first-of-its-kind language that allows anyone, even someone outside Texas, to sue an abortion provider or anyone else who helped someone get an abortion after the six-week limit for at least $10,000 per defendant.
Many are calling it "bounty hunting", as the bill "doesn't outright criminalize abortions after six weeks, but rather encourages civil lawsuits at the municipal, county and state level targeting the process by which a woman might seek abortion care".
Not to mention, the law is designed to disadvantage defendants. "All damages would go right into the plaintiff’s pocket. If a defendant wins, they still must pay their own legal fees, but if a plaintiff bringing a suit wins, the defendant must pay both sides’ legal fees. Individuals who are thought to be helping a woman obtain abortion care can be sued multiple times by different people and parties".
This article goes more into depth-
Abortion advocates in Texas say the law will encourage their opponents to flood courts with lawsuits that will cripple their ability to oper
Texas has already banned abortions as early as six weeks, one of the most restrictive measures in the US already... and now they are putting bounties on women seeking abortions and the doctors that help them. Mind you, there are NO EXCEPTIONS for rape or incest in Texas' abortion ban.
The measure bans abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. And it effectively deputizes ordinary citizens to sue people involved in the
This article specifically talks about how the law allows citizens to enforce the already restrictive abortion ban, and what exactly that entails. For instance, the article explains that "If the barista at Starbucks overhears you talking about your abortion, and it was performed after six weeks, that barista is authorized to sue the clinic where you obtained the abortion and to sue any other person who helped you, like the Uber driver who took you there".
Apparently, even religious leaders who provide emotional and spiritual counseling to patients considering abortion could be liable under the law.
This is a horrifying step backwards in the fight for reproductive justice. The law, which is set to go into effect September 1st, doesn't just target pregnant women, but those that help them seek an abortion, making it harder to find resources, or even leave the state to get an abortion.
This is not just a threat to womens lives and safety, but also the rights of every individual by setting a precadent for private enforcement of laws.
"It would also encourage other states to follow Texas’ lead on abortion, as well as on every other contested question of social policy.
California could shift to private enforcement of its gun control regulations, never mind the Second Amendment implications of such restrictions. Vermont could shift to private enforcement of its environmental regulations, never mind the federal pre-emption implications. And the list goes on"
A court battle has begun over the state’s effort to turn its citizenry into a sort of Stasi.
Please, if you live in Texas, its important now more than ever to stand up for abortion rights. We cannot let this stand.
