Support Democrat Marge Doyle, Who Is Running for a House Seat in California’s 8th District

One Thing You Can Do

Support Democrat and registered nurse (RN) Marge Doyle, who is running for a House of Representatives seat in California’s 8th District in 2018. Put Marge in charge!

Normally around this point in the post we’d give the candidate’s biography, but instead, we’re going to quote a section from a Q&A interview Doyle did with Tech Solidarity, because it’s damn near impossible to compete with the radiant authenticity of her own words:

“Q: What was the moment that made you decide that something had to change, and that you needed to run for Congress?

Doyle: After the November election, I realized that health care would be under threat. As a nurse since I was 22 years old, and working within health care and health care leadership, I thought there was an opportunity for me to work with my representative [incumbent Republican House Representative Paul Cook], and maybe make a change…

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Accessories

I placed my pepper spray between my gloves and my sunglasses today.

All three, gifts.

I first thought when I opened it,

What a lovely shade of blue

What precious flowered packaging.

Didn’t bemoan the normalcy

After all, I learned to walk home with my keys between my knuckles

Years before I would learn to drive.

So that was old, old news.

Violence was easier to mention

In hushed voices

In self-defense classes

In between tea time and a manners class at my local Contemporary Club.

At 14, I listened with dozens of other girls

to horror stories, tales of caution

That never did a damn thing for the kind of defense I’d pick up-

Eventually-

Or my understanding of everyday violence

Beyond the basic borders I knew or even in my own backyard.

But I have pepper spray.

It’s on a black box, on a white shelf, the top one on the bookcase in the southwest corner of my room.

It lands in my purse, my backpack, my pocket.

It sits there because I forget it exists.

REBLOG- Your Silence Will Not Protect You: Racism in the Feminist Movement

A brief foreword: This is the first in a series of blog posts on race and racism in the feminist movement. It is not a feel-good piece. Equally, it is not a reprimand. It is a wake-up call – one wh…

Source: Your Silence Will Not Protect You: Racism in the Feminist Movement

All My Love, Bruins

CW: mention of suicide

Help is available to you no matter what your circumstances may be. If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or a mental health crisis, please dial the 24-hour campus crisis line at (310) 825-0768 or contact UCLA Counseling and Psychological Services immediately to schedule an appointment.

http://greatist.com/grow/resources-when-you-can-not-afford-therapy

http://dailybruin.com/2016/10/30/submission-ucla-administration-should-release-statement-on-recent-campus-death/

http://dailybruin.com/2016/10/29/active-minds-seeks-to-provide-support-in-the-midst-of-deaths-on-campus/

Photo by Active Minds UCLA

patience.

why

do we stall

?

I’m not ready

for

freedom.

and they’re counting on that.

#ReadInColor: #WhoTellsYourStory

Help Blood Orange Press hit their Indigogo Goal for the #ReadInColor campaign and remember to share your own story! Take action to correct the invisibility of kids of color in children’s books. Make a donation here: http://bit.ly/bloodorangepress

 

REBLOG- On Activism and Organizing: There is a Distinction

Ideological posturing won’t change the world, and no one should pretend otherwise.

Source: On Activism and Organizing: There is a Distinction

REBLOG-The Gaslighting of the Millennial Generation

I was in graduate school when I first heard the term “millennial.” It was at a conference. The session was about how to serve millennial students, because they have different characteri…

Source: The Gaslighting of the Millennial Generation

#ReadInColor: Our Stories

More interviews from the recent project… Help Blood Orange Press hit their Indigogo Goal for the #ReadInColor campaign! Take action to correct the invisibility of kids of color in children’s books. Make a donation here: http://bit.ly/bloodorangepress #ReadInColor #WhoTellsYourStory

Back to Business

“I am an agent of chaos,” I chuckle to myself as I slyly slide the “Cambria Style” magazine back into the seat pouch in front of me, minus an 8th of a page. That page 8th– sporting a Steven Tyler quote– becomes a bookmark in my latest travel companion on my final flight returning to New York City. Little thrills, ya know. The book in my hands is called tiny beautiful things: Advice on love and life from Dear Sugar. A read long overdue. A gift from a friend who, as most of my dearest friends have done at one point or another, gave me what I needed before I even knew the need was there.

I’m flying out of Palm Springs, but I flew into LAX a week ago. Only about a half a day was spent around my old college campus, but it felt as though I cycled through the last five years of my life. It fucking hurt. It was also wonderful. Some reunions were more painful than I prefer to admit. Some filled my heart faster and more fully than I could believe. Some memories still impossible to swallow. Some go down just a tad more easily than before. It was incredible how quickly I fell back into rhythm with old friends and mentors, but I felt more than enough reminders of why I made the choice to move 3000 miles away when I did. Los Angeles and so many of its people still hold my heart, but I have a long way to go before I can see myself back in that city. Nothing defines us more clearly than our choices. Mine carried me through these places and to these people and now have landed me in an entirely new life. As for that life? My watch is ended.

After the first night, my best friend from my hometown saved my ass (yet again) and drove all the way to LA and back to get me to my family. My sister, my maternal-grandmother, my parents and I then loaded into our mini-van for our lengthy trek up north, aka the actual reason I’d returned to California. My Great-Aunt Dolores, whose bone disease left her in a wheelchair and wasn’t supposed to allow her to live past age 15, was celebrating her 90th birthday. We picked up my brother and his girlfriend from Davis before heading up to our final destination in Northern California: Red Bluff, population 14,104. Dolores has lived on the same 80 square feet of land her whole life. She’s remained a devout Catholic, devout Notre Dame football fan, and devout supporter of the extended family for all this time. Unsurprisingly, her birthday celebration was packed with loved ones. Road trips aren’t new for my family, especially my immediate family. Neither is going to somewhat extreme lengths to make sure we’re physically present for important events or emotionally present for difficult ones. The further my young adult life has taken me, the more fortunate I realize I am with the examples I’ve been given. This is what we do. This is my foundation.

Back to the plane. I “sneakily” coughed through my ripping out a slice of magazine to use as my bookmark. The quote in question, from a recent interview with Tyler, said “I am still dreaming, so I live the life of a twenty-year-old– a very lucky twenty-year-old.” As for me, I remain an exceptionally lucky 23-year-old. Dreams have always dominated my mind, but this is the first time in my life that they’re dominating my actions as well.

More lights than my eyes can comprehend fill my window. JFK, I’m back.