Fandango’s Flashback Friday: Messages in a Bottle #21 Meteorologic Misanthropy Miniseries Intro flashback

Fandango over at This, That and the Other has come up with a fun challenge to expose readers to some of our earlier blog posts they, "May have missed." Re-post a post from this same date (September 17th) in a previous year. This turns out to also be an excellent excuse to keep posting something …

Brevity Is The Soul Of Apathetically #11: Work Burnout

Ugh. The never-ending lessons in how to create a 'trauma-informed' and 'anti-racist' workplace that somehow manage to involve folks having to relive their own personal trauma(s) continue. (Or, as my Partner succinctly sums them up each week: "the beatings will continue until morale improves!") I'm not even just talking about me feeling work burnout in …

My ‘River of Life’ is the River Lethe

Hi all, Eek! I realized today that even though it feels like just "a couple of weeks ago" that I last wrote a blog post, it has actually been a full month! ADHD: it means all time is either "now" or "a couple of weeks ago." I think I alluded to the fact that my …

The Third of November

Last year, I wrote a poem for our local U.S. election day. It is here. Local elections remain very important, so don't forget to vote for down-ballot races, as well, as you vote for U.S. President. But, for all in the U.S., please don't forget to #MakeAPlanToVote. Election day is November 3rd. Vote. Democracy is …

Never Let a Good Crisis Go to Write

Many things have been said about last night's U.S. presidential debate. The Times in the UK said of it: "The clearest loser from the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden was America." The Guardian described it as a "national humiliation." Dan Rather at News and Guts wrote: "Who won and lost tonight …

Brevity is the Soul of Apathetically #9: Out of Context

The first session of my mini D&D campaign went well. Work, on the other hand, was fairly stressful this week. Because I have an annoying habit of dramatically announcing things that I probably am not entirely prepared to talk about in the most random circumstances possible at that workplace. Because somehow those personal things that …

Trust in Mental Health Treatment #7/Messages in a Bottle #18: Meda-Analysis

Do you ever get handed such comedy gold that it’s actually kind of intimidating? Like, the low-hanging fruit is so low-hanging that you suspect it’s a trap**?  It’s terrifying, isn’t it? I mean, with a joke so easy it writes itself, how can you possibly screw it up?! So, of course, you panic freeze and …

Brevity is the Soul of Apathetically #8: This is What They’re There For

Work has been particularly busy this month because it's budget season. I have recently been reminded that busy times at work are what most people at most functional places of employment consider to be the height of workplace stress. (That does make me kind of wonder what those same people would think if they only …

Compassion is Not a Zero-Sum Game

CW: Descriptions of multiple types of systemic abuse and personal crises. Be safe while reading! The Poor People's Mass Assembly and Moral March on Washington is happening today. It has been planned for two years to draw attention to the plight of the poor and of systemic racism in the U.S. I wish I had …

We Should All Be Tired

"I’m so very, very tired" I first heard this spoken by a colleague of color this week trying to explain the toll that seeing yet one more blatant murder of a black man in America had taken on him. Then I saw it posted by others of color on Facebook. Then, once I'd seen it …