A Few Things

boden skirt and top colorful stripes

Hello, Friends. How are you? I had an unusual week which included a more-than-usual-amount of work hours, but bummer-for-me, not much blogging — and randomly, four appointments for podcast interviews. Here’s the first one: It’s called the Do Justice podcast and the interview is about my Twitter thread on abortion.

Our weekend plans are very laid back. Betty gets back from Girls Camp tomorrow and we’re excited to go see Toy Story 4. How about you? Anything fun happening at your house?

I hope you’re in the mood for some weekend reading, because I have an especially good link list for you. Here are a few things I’ve been wanting to share:

Boden womens silk top and wrap skirt colorful stripes

-Babies in cages is in the news again. It’s overwhelming and discouraging. To get caught up, read this article from Texas Monthly, and try this thread, with reports from a legal volunteer in Border Patrol facilities. Then read Alexandra Petri’s Appropriate ways of describing what is happening at the border in the Washington Post. And read this article from the NYT where a caseworker gives a rare look into what it’s like to care for separated children. Also read about how the Trump administration argued before a Ninth Circuit panel that they don’t need to provide beds, soap or toothbrushes to kids separated from their parents.

In Scotland, there’s a Bookstore you can Airbnb. Guests who book it take a turn staying there and running the shop.

-The history of the Equal Rights Amendment, explained by Teen Vogue.

-If you lose your wallet, the majority of people who might find it will return it, and the more money it contains, the more likely they will be to return it.

-The writer Ta-Nehisi Coates gave powerful testimony about reparations. “Enslavement reigned for 250 years on these shores. When it ended, this country could have extended its hallowed principles — life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — to all, regardless of color. But America had other principles in mind.” I hope you get to read it (or to watch or listen to it).

-A 10-year-old girl from Colorado scaled El Capitan in Yosemite National Park!

-When Donald Trump raped E. Jean Carroll in the dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman.

-The new plan to remove a trillion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere: Bury it. (WP)

-Russia found a 40,000 year-old wolf head that was preserved in ice.

How much wealth should billionaires donate? All of it. “…even if both the proposed wealth tax from Senator Elizabeth Warren and the income tax from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were passed into law, billionaires would almost certainly see their net worth stay the same or even continue to rise.”

-What was the best summer job you had as a teen?

-Thanks for discussing the Alzheimer’s + Menopause connection. Not to freak you out, but in the comments, a reader left a link to an article about the connection between Schizophrenia + Menopause too. Holy cow. Please read it.

-During the last heat wave we wandered around Ikea, and my favorite find was the Behovd Thermos Carafe. So handsome! You can find it on Amazon, but it’s only $5 in-store.

-This week is the 37th anniversary of the brutal hate crime murder of Vincent Chin on the night of his bachelor’s party. But the murderers were only fined $3000 & served no jail time. This happened in my lifetime, but I had never heard about it before.

Do you watch Judge Judy? (NYT) A whole lot of people do. It’s the #1 daytime show. Sometimes I forget how different my media consumption is than it used to be. I watch lots of shows, but almost always on streaming services — we don’t have TV channels and haven’t for the last eight+ years. So I don’t see Judge Judy at home, but it’s often showing on public TVs (like at doctors’ offices).

I hope you have such a good weekend. I’ll meet you back here on Monday. I miss you already.

kisses,
Gabrielle

P.S. — My stripey-colorful top and skirt from Boden arrived! I really love this outfit.

22 thoughts on “A Few Things”

  1. It makes me physically sick how much Trump has gotten away with and continues to get away with. Just another horrific episode that will never take him down. I’m desolate.

  2. All the new articles about kids in cages, being cared for by other, unrelated children is causing me so much anxiety! Why are we not marching in the streets?

    On a lighter note, I love that outfit. If I could fit their clothes and had a larger wardrobe budget, my entire closet would be Boden!

    1. Wendy I agree. I want to drive a Mack truck through the front gate and rescue those children. This is evil and there is no other word for it.

      1. my heart hurts

        Kari, my husband and I were saying the same thing. We should be driving through and storming the gates.
        I am very much struggling with getting through the day thinking about this. I imagine my own children.
        This is criminal and evil.
        In addition, the constant threat and dehumanization of the Latinx community feels mentally abusive for the rest of us Latinx. These are our people. This is how the President and country’s leadership feels about us.
        Yes, Wendy, we should all be in the streets. Lights For Liberty has a nation-wide action planned for July 12 – https://www.lightsforliberty.org/

        We have to stop this now.

  3. Conditions for those being detained at the border are appalling! Simply appalling. And how can America justify going to court over soap, beds, blankets and toothbrushes? What a Colossal waste of money, effort and time. The brain (brains?) behind this kind of abuse are guilty of the grossest forms mistreatment. I challenge any American citizen to endure these conditions for five days and see how they view the leaders who allow this abuse of other human beings to continue.

  4. Heather Johnson

    I really love and appreciate these weekly round up posts- you always share such great reads, hacks and useful items. Thank you!

  5. We’re seeing Toy Story 4 tonight…my daughter’s first time in a proper movie theater and I’m kinda terrified. Here’s hoping for no meltdowns!

    1. Hahaha. Maybe if my blog was a court of law or I was a journalist.

      Her report is credible. As are the reports of the 20+ other women who have talked about Trump either sexually assaulting or raping them.

      On the other hand, it’s been extensively documented that Trump has publicly lied over 10,000 times in just the last three years, and has admitted on tape that he assaults women.

      Trump is a serial rapist and serial assaulter. A person would need to do a significant amount of mental gymnastics to ignore or deny this. There is no excuse for defending him.

    1. 10,000 lies in three years IS a lot. It’s why we should be shocked and reticent to believe a thing that comes out of his mouth.

  6. And I’m not defending Trump but I do think it’s interesting that the woman who is saying she was raped also has a book coming out stating the same. Is that just a coincidence?

    1. She does have a book coming out. And it’s not focused on Trump. She actually talks about a whole bunch of different men.

      I don’t think we should be surprised when these stories come out, as unworthy men try to grasp at more power. If a woman has suffered abuse or assault at the hands of a certain man, and that man is going after a position where he could cause more abuse and suffering, sometimes that’s what makes a woman brave enough to come forward — even though she knows she will have to endure endless negative coverage and threats against her life.

    2. Barbara, you understand that she wrote the book, and of course that’s the part that the media grabbed on to? It’s not like she accused him of rape and THEN announced her book. If you somehow have gotten through the last 3 years without having been convinced that 45 is a serial liar and and serial assaulter, then you really probably shouldn’t be reading this blog.

    3. So when a public figure (a writer!) finally feels ready to disclose her story, 20+ years after the incident, she’s supposed to do what, just file a police report? Tell her therapist? Why shouldn’t a professional writer write about her own experience? Would you feel differently about her motives if all of the proceeds from book sales went to a charity you believe in? If she wrote a blog post instead of a book?

      I wish she had come out BEFORE the election, but a whole lot of other women did, and it made no difference. I am just sick that our sitting President, the moral authority for our nation, defends himself from a rape accusation with “she’s not my type.” Even Cosby, Ailes, or Sandusky wouldn’t have said that, and they are also villainous sexual predators.

  7. I know you are the definition of a busy woman, but can I request an update of your Shop with Gabby feature? I’m finding the world a scary place and need colorful, clever, pretty things to look at!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top