Co-founder of People Who Don't Care About Y2K. ENFP. HSS-HSP. 2008 Obama organizer in CO, more lefty now. Travel. Art. Dogs. Inclusivity. Exploration. She/her.
Today is the 20 year anniversary of the Indian Ocean tsunami, triggered by a 9.1 magnitude earthquake. It impacted 14 countries with waves up to 100 feet. It killed 227,898 people making it the deadliest natural disaster of the 21st century, and one of the deadliest in history.
@MicahBeckwith Aww, Micah, the Indiana Daily Student is financially and editorially independent from the university. It is funded by advertising and the IDS Legacy Fund. Tax dollars are not at work here. Hope this helps!
I see people saying “why should we give free lunches to schoolchildren?” and I think some folks truly have no idea what it’s like to grow up in poverty, never knowing where your next meal is coming from, forever being one paycheck away from eviction.
Let me explain some things.
@Pat06433597@SketchesbyBoze The process to select who’s and who isn’t in poverty is complex, expensive and feeble. Paradoxically, the most efficient way is to give “free” (yeah I know what that means) lunch for everyone. It’s faster and cheaper.
Last night on the trail I saw the father of an OB-GYN. He wanted to talk to me after my stump speech—I’d mentioned his daughter’s peer, Dr. Caitlin Bernard, who was targeted by the Indiana Attorney General after she gave an abortion to a 10-yr-old rape victim living under an abortion ban in Ohio.
Obviously, the dad’s very proud of his daughter in the city. But as he tells me about her, his face falls. He says her son is a junior in high school, and that when he graduates, they’ll probably leave the state.
“She can’t do her job.”
Another generational line calling it quits on Indiana. Our best, taking their talents elsewhere. It’s a heavy moment, but I have a feeling—
I ask his daughter’s name, then I pull out my phone. There is his daughter in my online campaign donations.
$500.00.
I tell him I spoke with the doctor that morning. That she was kind enough to step out of a meeting to take my call.
We talked about the harm her profession faces—the threats against Dr. Bernard and her family—and that her friend Dr. Bernard still shows up every day. I thank her for what she does. She tells me to please win.
I make her dad take a photo with me—he’s embarrassed—I text the photo to the doctor.
“Hi, Dad!” she responds, with a couple of heart emojis.
Before I leave that night, I tell the crowd:
Whether you agree with it or disagree—this is about more than abortion. You see, I’ve seen this movie before—serving in Afghanistan while the Taliban subjugated women through religion… Same story now—just different place, different religion. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to come back home and have my rights taken away, too.
They applaud. They get it. For a moment I feel I’m where I’m supposed to be.
Most days running for office, I simply strive to be seen by my community for my humanity—regardless of the political label. It’s something that has weighed on me tremendously this campaign—I think about Afghanistan, often. I sometimes break down to my mom on the phone—
“How did we go back?”
To put it lightly—I’ve been called a lot of names. Coworkers walk up to my dad now at the factory, asking why they talk on the radio about his daughter that way.
A Republican whose party left him—he supports me. My dad understands.
The OB-GYN’s dad back in a union town, he understands.
Every day come November, I pray Indiana understands.
@wttsfm Hi, at the end of last week, I went to several Kroger stores but couldn't find the QR code for the Avett Brothers show. Can you give me a hint about which stores I should visit? Or is it too late? :(
I often talk about the children's books that shaped adult me (The Phantom Tollbooth, A Wrinkle in Time, etc.) and I was just put in mind of another major one: the surreal absurdist humor of Sideways Stories from Wayside School. I hadn't realized this was written in 1978!
@ASFleischman If this were true thousands of us would be Billy Maddisoning that shit.
We can't get the VA under a Democratic administration to pay for our healthcare after serving in Iraq, but these people are ready to believe that the Department of Education is transing 11 year olds. 🙄