"A narcissist will never respect a person they own" - oh, THIS. There are so many people who refuse to see, understand, or admit that this is true. Narcissists only see two kinds of people: those they can own, and those who see them for what they are. They HATE the second kind... but they also have a disordered respect for them. They have ZERO respect for the first kind, who are people who persist in trying to placate them. If you're dealing with a narcissist and you think you've placated them, you have not; you've just taught them where the starting line is for the next time they feel like claiming ownership over more of you. If you don't learn the lesson and start resisting, you don't really exist as a person in relation to them anymore. You've become just another one of their toys.
Oh indeed. With a pure narcissist coworker (who owned the boss, so I had to leave), and with an extremely avoidant friend, where the motivation is very different (toxic fear rather than toxic ego) but some of the end result behaviors are the same (they have to control all interactions and environments, nothing you do is ever quite right, anything that isn't to their taste feels like a personal attack on them, etc). I am hoping to promote healing and change in the second case, through my refusal to be "owned," but that is of course up to them.
Which of course is all just practice for this existential battle that it seems clear we're going to have to do more than just angst about. Thanks for your insights and courage in this fight, Ally.
Gosh I have been through all of these variations, too. I couldn’t sustain the friendship with the fear-based person either, though god knows I tried, and loved her like a sister for a decade. Just couldn’t walk on eggshells or deal with the sudden bouts of non-communication. Sigh. I miss her though which sucks. Anyway. Yes, angst won’t get us all the way through this mess, nor will phone calls and emails. We’re definitely going to have to move into some new territory but god knows I’m ready. This has to stop. So, we will stop it. There are more of us, and we care about each other. I believe we will get through this 🙏🏼❤️🔥Thanks so much for being here.
I could talk about that fear-based person for quite a while, bc very similar things. I miss them too, very much. But, i'm no longer walking on eggshells or chasing communication, and it feels so free and positive. Nothing changed with them; something changed in me. I'd be open to renewing that relationship, but i am not anxiously attached to that outcome any longer, and looking back my only regret is that i didn't get here sooner.
If you have a block party, I'll attend. I live by LAX. Hope you get your t-shirt made, I'll buy one. I'm heartsick about Liam, which is my own son's name. I can't stop imagining him in detention in Texas. I hope they kept him with his father, but clearly they don't care about children unless they are white children in a church where people are... yelling. Then they perform compassion for children. But let's be clear. These are sociopaths who think empathy is toxic.
The fury and heartache at this point…I know I don’t have to tell you, it’s just too much. I am also hoping they have that sweet little Liam with his dad. I can’t let myself imagine it any other way. And I have to get signatures for a block party since it requires a permit and closing off the street but I think I can do it. Feels worth trying and I’d love for you to come. We should get a coffee in the meantime. Hugs, love, all the things, Susan ❤️🩹
It’s tax season again and I’m extra furious that any of my money funded any of this insanity. I swear if you wrote a cartoon bad guy this bad, no one would believe he was real. Thanks for always fighting the good fight, Ally. I hope to see you again soon ❤️
Truly could the blue governor states help us withhold our taxes since we can’t do that individually? Could they do anything outside the lines? Why do we have to play by the rules but they don’t? Why do we have to follow the Constitution but they don’t? It is infuriating. I hate a double standard. Thank you for being here though because god knows it helps so much. And I hope I get to see you soon, too. Love and hugs until then ❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹
I know you do because I know your heart. I refuse to go dark, I am staying in the red hot haze of my fury. These are weak, pathetic men working for weak, pathetic men and some ghastly, godawful women. I know this because no good man would ever do that to a kid. Not ever. No good man would ever shoot an unarmed woman in the head or get his ego bruised over two queer women unbothered by him. No good man would do any of the shit these awful, weak, pathetic men are doing. They have guns and masks and want to cosplay tough guys, but we have heart. Fuck them all the way into the sun, that’s where I’m at. We will overcome. They will always have to be the people who chose this path. History will not think kindly of them, and neither will their children. All these pregnant women in the administration. I keep thinking of Rosemary’s Baby. They’re probably all in the White House kitchen eating raw steak together right now.
Was trying to make you laugh, not horrify you, but clearly chose the wrong film. It is a terrifying film, so my bad. Probably not the one to choose if I was trying to prevent you from “going dark.” 😬🫤
No, no--you're fine! It is horrifying, but I said it in a lighthearted way. It's an apt comparison. Who needs to imagine a devil when there are so many right here?
The picture of that little boy in his sweet little blue hat broke my heart into smithereens. Fuck these monsters. I am DONE.
Rumor is that ICE has made it to Queens, but they sent the "smart ones". They're all undercover, because they know better than to send their Temu Soldiers here. The second a New Yorker sees some amateur in camo, shit will go down. So they send these ghouls in plain clothing to terrorize my neighbors. I'm attending a meeting soon to see what I can do, what the plan is etc. I know we are not helpless, but sometimes it feels that way.
It’s insanity. He’s just waging a war on blue states and his supporters are like lalalala I voted for this. Like, WHAT.
Hi, citizens are getting murdered out here and tiny little babies are getting detained and deported with their dads even though no one did anything thing wrong. You voted for this?? I just cannot. It’s one thing to be smug and correct (gross, I don’t want to be friends, but do your thing I guess). But smug and wrong? Dang that is hard to take. Smug and wrong and heartless? I just don’t have the makeup to handle that well. Minnesota is showing us how to do it. Glad you’re going to a meeting. Would love to know what you learn. Hugs, love, all the things. They will not win. I just hope we can beat them back before they do too much more damage. The fury, Kari.
That story about your boy - how touching. Like you, I'm horrified by the news, and the fact they are taking children - what an especially dispicable kind of evil. I'm a Minnesota gal, so what's happening there feels personal. I'm so angry.
Oh Nancy, it really is just heartless. I am buoyed by the courage and love of all the Minnesotans out on the streets taking care of one another, though. They are not having it. You come from good people. People who do not deserve to be at war with their own government. It’s all so transparent. ICE is in Maine, they’re in California. He’s sending his masked militia to every state with a governor he hates/is threatened by. I cannot get over the people who find this petty, petulant creature appealing. I’ll never get it. Anyway, we will get through. I am praying with my entire mom heart that little Liam is somehow okay, that he’s with his dad, that his mom has spoken to him, and that he will recover. For everyone involved in traumatizing this family and every other family and for everything they’ve done and are doing to our country, I hope they reap what they’ve sown. Truly. Thank you for being here. Love to you ❤️🩹
Thanks so much, Patricia. Me, too. I fear we’re in for a long haul but I also think people are starting to understand non-participation is not an option. Well, more people, anyway ❤️🩹 Love to you, thank you for caring about the millions of us who never wanted any of this 💔
You managed to do something here that feels increasingly rare, Ally, by naming how all of these forces are connected and pushing past moral outrage toward action.
The narcissism, the institutional cowardice, the money, the cruelty: none of it exists in isolation, and seeing it laid out in one essay makes clear why so many of us feel overwhelmed and stuck. What I appreciate most is that you don’t stop at naming the harm; you identify that leverage still exists in economic pressure, local and state resistance, rebuilding real community, and refusing to outsource responsibility to people who’ve shown us they won’t use it.
We’re long past the point where outrage alone moves anything. Now is the time for sustained, collective action. Early last year, I heard a man comparing what we were up against to giving birth, saying we needed to wait until the right time to push. It was hard for people to hear, but he was right. We hadn't been able to find cohesion. But -- they are murdering people in the street, and they are taking children. And that is ALL STRATEGIC. Chaos fractures our coalitions and feeds their need for a perpetual enemy. Local solidarity, legal coordination at the state level, economic pressure, and not giving into fear -- that's how we move forward.
Best news I’ve heard in a while happened this morning. Liam Ramos is home. So at least we know that loud, sustained, unwavering refusal to tolerate the inhumane will prevail eventually. The wheels of justice move a lot more slowly than any of us would like, but they do move if we make them move. So we have to keep pushing forward. Thanks for being here, as ever ❤️🩹🙏🏼❤️🔥
Can't imagine how you must be feeling today, on January 24th, about the unending horror. They are taking children, and they are executing those brave enough to challenge them. My heart goes out to you, the people of Minnesota, and to everybody who gives a damn.
I am sick with grief and rage, and disgust for anyone still supporting this administration. My heart is broken for Alex Pritti’s parents, and everyone who loved him. I am furious for the beautiful people of Minnesota and scared for them and for all of us, but I am also ready to do whatever the fuck I can possibly do as one person to make this stop. And I know there are a lot of us who feel that way and I know we will prevail. I appreciate you so much and I am sending you tons of love and hugs ❤️🩹
Yes, I feel a shift coming… somehow as angry and sad and frightened I feel…for Liam right now, some days one or the other….but reading this feels like hope, Ally. Let’s get our neighbor’s phone numbers, hold a block party, sell tee shirts… I am not crafty but I want one! These gestures grow big and strong and meaningful … like the street corner gatherings that began in Minneapolis/the low temps not stopping anyone ….to the whole world witnessing human empathy at its very best! Great writing, great content, Ally. Bless you and hugs for you and your sweet boy. Mama rage will save us, I can feel it! Love and hugs …and how lucky that I’ve found a new friend!!🥰🫶🩷
I am so thankful to meet you, Joan. Every day is hard right now, but every day I meet someone else who wants the world to be kind and loving and so much better than this. I know we will get through it. I know ultimately they will not win. I just hope we are able to stop them sooner than later. Thank you for being here. ❤️🩹❤️🔥🙏🏼
Yes, I realize what I should have written (perhaps I shall edit!) is I wish our blue state governors would band together and make a blanket statement telling us not to send in our federal taxes. I wish they would tell us to submit our federal taxes to a “Blue state escrow fund” or *something*
I know I am the one who sends in my state taxes and my federal taxes 😉 I was just fired up and should have made that clear, no doubt. I think there are a LOT of us in blue states questioning why tf we are sending our federal taxes in when this president calls us “radical left scum” says he hates us, and shows it, too. Plays games when there are disasters, threatens to withhold funds from sanctuary states, impounds funds etc etc. But individuals will get into a lot of trouble if we don’t pay taxes. I presume a governors’ edict won’t save us from that, but what I am looking for at this point is street fighting. Is leaders fighting back in a way this administration would feel, and they would feel that. So I don’t know if that’s the right approach or how that could be set up or what protections a relatively “mass action” might provide us (it wouldn’t be unanimous in any state, there are plenty of people in CA who support this administration for example and would send in their taxes), but I would like something. Some unity. Some cohesion. Some leadership. Some new ideas. That’s what I was going for there. But thank you because even as I was writing it I thought I should probably say that differently and then I never circled back and did.
Aw thank you. I appreciate you very much and if we lived closer I would have come over after all of that and brought drinks and a blanket lol. And I don’t even drink. But I’m fine now.
We are watching all this unfold from the other side of the world, (Australia) and become more and more startled and incredulous by the day. Goodness knows where it will all end...
Never ever thought I’d live to see anything like this. It is heartbreaking and enraging and astounding. I know we will get through this and I know these awful people will not win, but the damage they are doing is profound and hard to withstand, some days more than others. It is very gratifying to see MN show up this way, though. They are showing the whole country how it’s done. Thanks for being here, Bron. You (maybe) have no idea how much it means that people on the other side of the world understand we are not all terrible and some of us are gutted by all of this 🙏🏼❤️🩹
Hello Ally, I love the tender story of your boy. Such beauty in that moment. Brings it home, mama. They are all our children. Starve the fucking king already.
Thank you so much, Prajna. They are all our children. I cannot fathom how anyone could do this to a five-year-old, or any child, teenager, anyone, frankly. But kids? Smh. And the t-shirt thing, who knows? Just thought I’d throw it out there in case anyone reading has a t-shirt company. I hope your knee is okay and that you are continuing to feel better. So glad nothing is broken 🙏🏼❤️🩹 Thanks for being here xxo
Yes, walking slowly, carefully, without a goal. I managed to publish this am. "Come On Bitches—Show me Your Teeth" I am not as up to date on the news, much appreciation for your coverage and perspective.
I will look forward to curling up with your piece this evening with a cup of tea. Gives me something wonderful to look forward to, which is essential these days. So glad you are feeling better 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
I'm not feeling especially articulate today, but thanks for another excellent essay.
Those moments discussing death with our children ARE difficult, but who ever thought we'd have to talk to them about the government kidnapping their friends or friends' family members, or worse, explaining why they have to hide away to avoid the monsters roaming their neighborhoods so they themselves aren't disappeared.
I didn't think our situation was going to pass quickly, but I didn't anticipate the lameness of so many Democratic officials. Here's something I read yesterday that might help us gird ourselves and keep up the struggle:
"January 24, 1776 was 250 years ago this Saturday. With Boston under armed siege and morale in some quarters wavering, on that day Sam Adams wrote to a friend. 'Never Despair,' he wrote. 'That is a motto for you and me. All are not dead; and where there is a spark of patriotic fire, we will rekindle it.'"
Was just talking to Emma Tourtelot about parenting through this time. It is so painful, and yet I know people have parented through harder times than these. But we should not have to explain to our children that some people have lost their minds, their hearts and their souls.
That was an excellent quote, and I thank you for sharing. I have not lost hope. I have just started to lose hope in anyone but us. We, the people. All of us. I’ll never lose hope in us ❤️🔥
"A narcissist will never respect a person they own" - oh, THIS. There are so many people who refuse to see, understand, or admit that this is true. Narcissists only see two kinds of people: those they can own, and those who see them for what they are. They HATE the second kind... but they also have a disordered respect for them. They have ZERO respect for the first kind, who are people who persist in trying to placate them. If you're dealing with a narcissist and you think you've placated them, you have not; you've just taught them where the starting line is for the next time they feel like claiming ownership over more of you. If you don't learn the lesson and start resisting, you don't really exist as a person in relation to them anymore. You've become just another one of their toys.
I see you’ve also played this game before! I am
sorry because I know that’s hard-earned knowledge, but it’s such relief when you finally understand the rules. Thanks for being here, Matt ❤️🩹
Oh indeed. With a pure narcissist coworker (who owned the boss, so I had to leave), and with an extremely avoidant friend, where the motivation is very different (toxic fear rather than toxic ego) but some of the end result behaviors are the same (they have to control all interactions and environments, nothing you do is ever quite right, anything that isn't to their taste feels like a personal attack on them, etc). I am hoping to promote healing and change in the second case, through my refusal to be "owned," but that is of course up to them.
Which of course is all just practice for this existential battle that it seems clear we're going to have to do more than just angst about. Thanks for your insights and courage in this fight, Ally.
Gosh I have been through all of these variations, too. I couldn’t sustain the friendship with the fear-based person either, though god knows I tried, and loved her like a sister for a decade. Just couldn’t walk on eggshells or deal with the sudden bouts of non-communication. Sigh. I miss her though which sucks. Anyway. Yes, angst won’t get us all the way through this mess, nor will phone calls and emails. We’re definitely going to have to move into some new territory but god knows I’m ready. This has to stop. So, we will stop it. There are more of us, and we care about each other. I believe we will get through this 🙏🏼❤️🔥Thanks so much for being here.
I could talk about that fear-based person for quite a while, bc very similar things. I miss them too, very much. But, i'm no longer walking on eggshells or chasing communication, and it feels so free and positive. Nothing changed with them; something changed in me. I'd be open to renewing that relationship, but i am not anxiously attached to that outcome any longer, and looking back my only regret is that i didn't get here sooner.
I'm ready for new territory too. Glad to be here.
BINGO.
Yes, another player with her name on the damn board! Cheers to us lol.
If you have a block party, I'll attend. I live by LAX. Hope you get your t-shirt made, I'll buy one. I'm heartsick about Liam, which is my own son's name. I can't stop imagining him in detention in Texas. I hope they kept him with his father, but clearly they don't care about children unless they are white children in a church where people are... yelling. Then they perform compassion for children. But let's be clear. These are sociopaths who think empathy is toxic.
The fury and heartache at this point…I know I don’t have to tell you, it’s just too much. I am also hoping they have that sweet little Liam with his dad. I can’t let myself imagine it any other way. And I have to get signatures for a block party since it requires a permit and closing off the street but I think I can do it. Feels worth trying and I’d love for you to come. We should get a coffee in the meantime. Hugs, love, all the things, Susan ❤️🩹
Would love to meet IRL. Hugs right back.
It’s tax season again and I’m extra furious that any of my money funded any of this insanity. I swear if you wrote a cartoon bad guy this bad, no one would believe he was real. Thanks for always fighting the good fight, Ally. I hope to see you again soon ❤️
Truly could the blue governor states help us withhold our taxes since we can’t do that individually? Could they do anything outside the lines? Why do we have to play by the rules but they don’t? Why do we have to follow the Constitution but they don’t? It is infuriating. I hate a double standard. Thank you for being here though because god knows it helps so much. And I hope I get to see you soon, too. Love and hugs until then ❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹
I feel sick about all of this. I am trying not to sink into darkness. I love your sign. I love you.
I know you do because I know your heart. I refuse to go dark, I am staying in the red hot haze of my fury. These are weak, pathetic men working for weak, pathetic men and some ghastly, godawful women. I know this because no good man would ever do that to a kid. Not ever. No good man would ever shoot an unarmed woman in the head or get his ego bruised over two queer women unbothered by him. No good man would do any of the shit these awful, weak, pathetic men are doing. They have guns and masks and want to cosplay tough guys, but we have heart. Fuck them all the way into the sun, that’s where I’m at. We will overcome. They will always have to be the people who chose this path. History will not think kindly of them, and neither will their children. All these pregnant women in the administration. I keep thinking of Rosemary’s Baby. They’re probably all in the White House kitchen eating raw steak together right now.
That's a horrifying thought. Rosemary's Baby (both the book and the movie) tripped me tf out. No, this would not surprise me.
Was trying to make you laugh, not horrify you, but clearly chose the wrong film. It is a terrifying film, so my bad. Probably not the one to choose if I was trying to prevent you from “going dark.” 😬🫤
No, no--you're fine! It is horrifying, but I said it in a lighthearted way. It's an apt comparison. Who needs to imagine a devil when there are so many right here?
The picture of that little boy in his sweet little blue hat broke my heart into smithereens. Fuck these monsters. I am DONE.
Rumor is that ICE has made it to Queens, but they sent the "smart ones". They're all undercover, because they know better than to send their Temu Soldiers here. The second a New Yorker sees some amateur in camo, shit will go down. So they send these ghouls in plain clothing to terrorize my neighbors. I'm attending a meeting soon to see what I can do, what the plan is etc. I know we are not helpless, but sometimes it feels that way.
It’s insanity. He’s just waging a war on blue states and his supporters are like lalalala I voted for this. Like, WHAT.
Hi, citizens are getting murdered out here and tiny little babies are getting detained and deported with their dads even though no one did anything thing wrong. You voted for this?? I just cannot. It’s one thing to be smug and correct (gross, I don’t want to be friends, but do your thing I guess). But smug and wrong? Dang that is hard to take. Smug and wrong and heartless? I just don’t have the makeup to handle that well. Minnesota is showing us how to do it. Glad you’re going to a meeting. Would love to know what you learn. Hugs, love, all the things. They will not win. I just hope we can beat them back before they do too much more damage. The fury, Kari.
Hi Ally,
That story about your boy - how touching. Like you, I'm horrified by the news, and the fact they are taking children - what an especially dispicable kind of evil. I'm a Minnesota gal, so what's happening there feels personal. I'm so angry.
Thank you for writing this.
Oh Nancy, it really is just heartless. I am buoyed by the courage and love of all the Minnesotans out on the streets taking care of one another, though. They are not having it. You come from good people. People who do not deserve to be at war with their own government. It’s all so transparent. ICE is in Maine, they’re in California. He’s sending his masked militia to every state with a governor he hates/is threatened by. I cannot get over the people who find this petty, petulant creature appealing. I’ll never get it. Anyway, we will get through. I am praying with my entire mom heart that little Liam is somehow okay, that he’s with his dad, that his mom has spoken to him, and that he will recover. For everyone involved in traumatizing this family and every other family and for everything they’ve done and are doing to our country, I hope they reap what they’ve sown. Truly. Thank you for being here. Love to you ❤️🩹
I'm buoyed up the courage of Minnesotans, too, and by my fellow Substackers like you who write with such passion, clarity, and conviction.
I hope one day they reap what they've sown, too. Love back.
My heart is heavy. Sending so much love across the border. I pray the insanity ends soon.
Stay strong and safe.
🇨🇦💜🇺🇸
Thanks so much, Patricia. Me, too. I fear we’re in for a long haul but I also think people are starting to understand non-participation is not an option. Well, more people, anyway ❤️🩹 Love to you, thank you for caring about the millions of us who never wanted any of this 💔
You managed to do something here that feels increasingly rare, Ally, by naming how all of these forces are connected and pushing past moral outrage toward action.
The narcissism, the institutional cowardice, the money, the cruelty: none of it exists in isolation, and seeing it laid out in one essay makes clear why so many of us feel overwhelmed and stuck. What I appreciate most is that you don’t stop at naming the harm; you identify that leverage still exists in economic pressure, local and state resistance, rebuilding real community, and refusing to outsource responsibility to people who’ve shown us they won’t use it.
We’re long past the point where outrage alone moves anything. Now is the time for sustained, collective action. Early last year, I heard a man comparing what we were up against to giving birth, saying we needed to wait until the right time to push. It was hard for people to hear, but he was right. We hadn't been able to find cohesion. But -- they are murdering people in the street, and they are taking children. And that is ALL STRATEGIC. Chaos fractures our coalitions and feeds their need for a perpetual enemy. Local solidarity, legal coordination at the state level, economic pressure, and not giving into fear -- that's how we move forward.
Best news I’ve heard in a while happened this morning. Liam Ramos is home. So at least we know that loud, sustained, unwavering refusal to tolerate the inhumane will prevail eventually. The wheels of justice move a lot more slowly than any of us would like, but they do move if we make them move. So we have to keep pushing forward. Thanks for being here, as ever ❤️🩹🙏🏼❤️🔥
I am grateful for your voice against this madness.
Oh Mary Beth thank you and same. So grateful to know you ❤️🩹🙏🏼
Can't imagine how you must be feeling today, on January 24th, about the unending horror. They are taking children, and they are executing those brave enough to challenge them. My heart goes out to you, the people of Minnesota, and to everybody who gives a damn.
I am sick with grief and rage, and disgust for anyone still supporting this administration. My heart is broken for Alex Pritti’s parents, and everyone who loved him. I am furious for the beautiful people of Minnesota and scared for them and for all of us, but I am also ready to do whatever the fuck I can possibly do as one person to make this stop. And I know there are a lot of us who feel that way and I know we will prevail. I appreciate you so much and I am sending you tons of love and hugs ❤️🩹
Yes, I feel a shift coming… somehow as angry and sad and frightened I feel…for Liam right now, some days one or the other….but reading this feels like hope, Ally. Let’s get our neighbor’s phone numbers, hold a block party, sell tee shirts… I am not crafty but I want one! These gestures grow big and strong and meaningful … like the street corner gatherings that began in Minneapolis/the low temps not stopping anyone ….to the whole world witnessing human empathy at its very best! Great writing, great content, Ally. Bless you and hugs for you and your sweet boy. Mama rage will save us, I can feel it! Love and hugs …and how lucky that I’ve found a new friend!!🥰🫶🩷
I am so thankful to meet you, Joan. Every day is hard right now, but every day I meet someone else who wants the world to be kind and loving and so much better than this. I know we will get through it. I know ultimately they will not win. I just hope we are able to stop them sooner than later. Thank you for being here. ❤️🩹❤️🔥🙏🏼
States don't pay federal taxes, Ally. Period.
Yes, I realize what I should have written (perhaps I shall edit!) is I wish our blue state governors would band together and make a blanket statement telling us not to send in our federal taxes. I wish they would tell us to submit our federal taxes to a “Blue state escrow fund” or *something*
I know I am the one who sends in my state taxes and my federal taxes 😉 I was just fired up and should have made that clear, no doubt. I think there are a LOT of us in blue states questioning why tf we are sending our federal taxes in when this president calls us “radical left scum” says he hates us, and shows it, too. Plays games when there are disasters, threatens to withhold funds from sanctuary states, impounds funds etc etc. But individuals will get into a lot of trouble if we don’t pay taxes. I presume a governors’ edict won’t save us from that, but what I am looking for at this point is street fighting. Is leaders fighting back in a way this administration would feel, and they would feel that. So I don’t know if that’s the right approach or how that could be set up or what protections a relatively “mass action” might provide us (it wouldn’t be unanimous in any state, there are plenty of people in CA who support this administration for example and would send in their taxes), but I would like something. Some unity. Some cohesion. Some leadership. Some new ideas. That’s what I was going for there. But thank you because even as I was writing it I thought I should probably say that differently and then I never circled back and did.
ps fuck all those FB people who took you on (listened to your podcast earlier)
Aw thank you. I appreciate you very much and if we lived closer I would have come over after all of that and brought drinks and a blanket lol. And I don’t even drink. But I’m fine now.
We are watching all this unfold from the other side of the world, (Australia) and become more and more startled and incredulous by the day. Goodness knows where it will all end...
Never ever thought I’d live to see anything like this. It is heartbreaking and enraging and astounding. I know we will get through this and I know these awful people will not win, but the damage they are doing is profound and hard to withstand, some days more than others. It is very gratifying to see MN show up this way, though. They are showing the whole country how it’s done. Thanks for being here, Bron. You (maybe) have no idea how much it means that people on the other side of the world understand we are not all terrible and some of us are gutted by all of this 🙏🏼❤️🩹
Hello Ally, I love the tender story of your boy. Such beauty in that moment. Brings it home, mama. They are all our children. Starve the fucking king already.
Your research and clarity are appreciated widely.
Thank you for your heart and wisdom.
I can't do a t-shirt but whne it comes, I'm in.
xoxox P
Thank you so much, Prajna. They are all our children. I cannot fathom how anyone could do this to a five-year-old, or any child, teenager, anyone, frankly. But kids? Smh. And the t-shirt thing, who knows? Just thought I’d throw it out there in case anyone reading has a t-shirt company. I hope your knee is okay and that you are continuing to feel better. So glad nothing is broken 🙏🏼❤️🩹 Thanks for being here xxo
Yes, walking slowly, carefully, without a goal. I managed to publish this am. "Come On Bitches—Show me Your Teeth" I am not as up to date on the news, much appreciation for your coverage and perspective.
I will look forward to curling up with your piece this evening with a cup of tea. Gives me something wonderful to look forward to, which is essential these days. So glad you are feeling better 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
I'm not feeling especially articulate today, but thanks for another excellent essay.
Those moments discussing death with our children ARE difficult, but who ever thought we'd have to talk to them about the government kidnapping their friends or friends' family members, or worse, explaining why they have to hide away to avoid the monsters roaming their neighborhoods so they themselves aren't disappeared.
I didn't think our situation was going to pass quickly, but I didn't anticipate the lameness of so many Democratic officials. Here's something I read yesterday that might help us gird ourselves and keep up the struggle:
"January 24, 1776 was 250 years ago this Saturday. With Boston under armed siege and morale in some quarters wavering, on that day Sam Adams wrote to a friend. 'Never Despair,' he wrote. 'That is a motto for you and me. All are not dead; and where there is a spark of patriotic fire, we will rekindle it.'"
Was just talking to Emma Tourtelot about parenting through this time. It is so painful, and yet I know people have parented through harder times than these. But we should not have to explain to our children that some people have lost their minds, their hearts and their souls.
That was an excellent quote, and I thank you for sharing. I have not lost hope. I have just started to lose hope in anyone but us. We, the people. All of us. I’ll never lose hope in us ❤️🔥
🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡