Karena Virginia

[Karena Virginia @Karenavirginia]

In 1998 he said to me: “don’t you know who I am?” ~ In 2020 I said to him “don’t you know who I AM?” 🌟 It’s a revolution. Time to take our power back. #WomenEmpowerment

[Karena Virginia @Karenavirginia]

@BillKristol Yup, because he is one of them. Over and over again.

[Karena Virginia @Karenavirginia]

Exactly. And stop politicizing it. And stop using shocking and misleading posts for clicks. There are so many women traumatized right now. This happened and it happens way too often. It’s absolutely devastating to watch women defend rapists. Our world will continue to fight and have wars UNTIL women begin supporting one another. #womensupportingwomen

[James Surowiecki @JamesSurowiecki]

From new ABC story on the Cornell case:

"The frat brother who invited Jane Doe to the house that night sent a photo to the chat that appears to show her in the bedroom.

"Another asked, 'Are you guys at least naked??'

"He replied, 'Boys come whip it out.'"

That message was sent without the consent or knowledge of the woman involved. She did not ask for a bunch of strangers to pile into the room she was in, expecting "free pussy." That's the situation she was forced into. It was indefensible, outrageous behavior. Stop defending it, or pretending she asked for it.
https://t.co/wL1tWYKw4X

[Karena Virginia @Karenavirginia]

Women who blame other women for sexual assault are either: experiencing their own trauma, in denial about their own experiences, narcissistic, jealous (yup), looking for clicks @megynkelly or covering up for a father, husband or son. Let trauma be understood. Let it be discussed. @gtconway3d

[Karena Virginia @Karenavirginia]

@JamesSurowiecki It needs to be said. Megyn does this for clicks. To any of you who support the man in the office… she tried to bring him down for sexual assault. How do I know? She called me personally… a number of times. SEE THE GAME. Please see the game. @gtconway3d

[James Surowiecki @JamesSurowiecki]

From new ABC story on the Cornell case:

"The frat brother who invited Jane Doe to the house that night sent a photo to the chat that appears to show her in the bedroom.

"Another asked, 'Are you guys at least naked??'

"He replied, 'Boys come whip it out.'"

That message was sent without the consent or knowledge of the woman involved. She did not ask for a bunch of strangers to pile into the room she was in, expecting "free pussy." That's the situation she was forced into. It was indefensible, outrageous behavior. Stop defending it, or pretending she asked for it.
https://t.co/wL1tWYKw4X

[Karena Virginia @Karenavirginia]

The five levels of healing 🦋 https://t.co/OnNXf56Ctb

[Karena Virginia @Karenavirginia]

@ChrisCuomo Yes. I know Tony Schwartz because I did a play with his daughter and spent quite a lot of time with him. Tony wrote the entire book. All of it… and he regrets it too.

[Karena Virginia @Karenavirginia]

Such a breath of fresh air… tune into my conversation with the inspiring @JoshuaMedcalf on Spotify, Apple or YouTube at The Karena Virginia Podcast.

[Karena Virginia @Karenavirginia]

Tonight, I soften it all

I release the weight of the day
and let it melt from my shoulders
Like a waterfall
and then
from my breath,
from my heart,
maybe from my soul too.

I remember that I did enough.
I was enough.
Nothing more is required of me now.

I place my hand over my heart
and feel its quiet wisdom… the gentle beat…
steady, faithful, tender.

I acknowledge the ache I carry
for a hungry world,
for children who fall asleep afraid, children separated from love. I hold my words back…
for the deep divisions that pull us apart are taxing to the delicate nervous systems.
I honor my tenderness
I honor my love.
I owe no apologies for the love I feel.
I have no words of sympathy to those who shame another for simply inviting a bit more softeness into this heavy world.
Love is a powerful force. There is nothing strong about war, masked individuals or cruelty.
.
Tonight I lay my head to rest early and I place the suffering of the world into loving hands greater than mine, trusting that even as I rest, love continues its quiet work.

I release what is not mine to carry alone.
I am grateful for kindness,
even the small, unseen ways compassion moved today.

I trust that love keeps moving
while I sleep,
flowing where my hands cannot reach.

As my breath slows,
peace moves through me
like warm light through water.
My body rests.
My spirit floats.

I am safe.
I am held.
I am allowed to rest.

May the hungry be nourished.
May frightened children be wrapped in safety.
May divided hearts soften toward one another.
May we be restored through rest
so we can return to the world with love again when we wake.
Again and again.
And when we forget,
May we begin again
May we choose again
May we love again

[Karena Virginia @Karenavirginia]

This life is precious.

[Ben Sasse @BenSasse]

Friends-

This is a tough note to write, but since a bunch of you have started to suspect something, I’ll cut to the chase: Last week I was diagnosed with metastasized, stage-four pancreatic cancer, and am gonna die.

Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff; it’s a death sentence. But I already had a death sentence before last week too — we all do.

I’m blessed with amazing siblings and half-a-dozen buddies that are genuinely brothers. As one of them put it, “Sure, you’re on the clock, but we’re all on the clock.” Death is a wicked thief, and the bastard pursues us all.

Still, I’ve got less time than I’d prefer. This is hard for someone wired to work and build, but harder still as a husband and a dad. I can’t begin to describe how great my people are. During the past year, as we’d temporarily stepped back from public life and built new family rhythms, Melissa and I have grown even closer — and that on top of three decades of the best friend a man could ever have. Seven months ago, Corrie was commissioned into the Air Force and she’s off at instrument and multi-engine rounds of flight school. Last week, Alex kicked butt graduating from college a semester early even while teaching gen chem, organic, and physics (she’s a freak). This summer, 14-year-old Breck started learning to drive. (Okay, we’ve been driving off-book for six years — but now we’ve got paper to make it street-legal.) I couldn’t be more grateful to constantly get to bear-hug this motley crew of sinners and saints.

There’s not a good time to tell your peeps you’re now marching to the beat of a faster drummer — but the season of advent isn’t the worst. As a Christian, the weeks running up to Christmas are a time to orient our hearts toward the hope of what’s to come.

Not an abstract hope in fanciful human goodness; not hope in vague hallmark-sappy spirituality; not a bootstrapped hope in our own strength (what foolishness is the evaporating-muscle I once prided myself in). Nope — often we lazily say “hope” when what we mean is “optimism.” To be clear, optimism is great, and it’s absolutely necessary, but it’s insufficient. It’s not the kinda thing that holds up when you tell your daughters you’re not going to walk them down the aisle. Nor telling your mom and pops they’re gonna bury their son.

A well-lived life demands more reality — stiffer stuff. That’s why, during advent, even while still walking in darkness, we shout our hope — often properly with a gravelly voice soldiering through tears.

Such is the calling of the pilgrim. Those who know ourselves to need a Physician should dang well look forward to enduring beauty and eventual fulfillment. That is, we hope in a real Deliverer — a rescuing God, born at a real time, in a real place. But the eternal city — with foundations and without cancer — is not yet.

Remembering Isaiah’s prophecies of what’s to come doesn’t dull the pain of current sufferings. But it does put it in eternity’s perspective:
“When we've been there 10,000 years…We've no less days to sing God's praise.”

I’ll have more to say. I’m not going down without a fight. One sub-part of God’s grace is found in the jawdropping advances science has made the past few years in immunotherapy and more. Death and dying aren’t the same — the process of dying is still something to be lived. We’re zealously embracing a lot of gallows humor in our house, and I’ve pledged to do my part to run through the irreverent tape.

But for now, as our family faces the reality of treatments, but more importantly as we celebrate Christmas, we wish you peace: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned….For to us a son is given” (Isaiah 9).

With great gratitude, and with gravelly-but-hopeful voices,
Ben — and the Sasses

[Karena Virginia @Karenavirginia]

Snow angels please 🕊️ - https://t.co/pTq6lagkXG

[💕 Brittany Belle 💕 @BrittanyinTexas]

People are harassing this kind, innocent young man with the same disgusting slurs the president so casually uses. Drop a 💙 if you’re Team Gus all the way.

[Karena Virginia @Karenavirginia]

The science we have lost 💫 - https://t.co/vZOffguaIg

[Karena Virginia @Karenavirginia]

The Karena Virginia Podcast - https://t.co/E7NqHFsJyb

[Karena Virginia @Karenavirginia]

I'll meet you there 🌺 - https://t.co/jaqgrGJIoJ

[Karena Virginia @Karenavirginia]

meet you there 🌺

[Gordana Biernat @MyPowertalk]

At the core of my being,
I am always whole.

In the stillness of my mind,
I am always healed.

I own my shadow,
It doesn’t own me.

My true nature is light. ♥️

[Karena Virginia @Karenavirginia]

Healing the broken heart ❣️ - https://t.co/JzcjvfXVlL

[Today in History @TodayinHistory]

Today in 1498, Michelangelo was commissioned to carve the Pietà sculpture.

At just 23 years old, Michelangelo obsessed over this work for the next 18 months.

What emerged was the Renaissance’s defining masterpiece…here’s the incredible story 🧵👇🏼