Yes, this post was supposed to go out Tuesday. This is the second week in a row that I’ve delivered Tuesday’s post on Wednesday. If this keeps up, I’ll change the official day, but in the meantime, better late than never.
My Tuesday post (more accurately my non-Thursday post) is supposed to be my opportunity to amplify other people’s things, but honestly I had a busy week and I didn’t read much of anything at all, much less anything I feel compelled to share.
However, in the interest of amplifying other voices, let me share: my friends on Facebook.
On April 19th I posed a question on Facebook:
Question for my friends, if you feel like answering.
Have you gotten the covid-19 vaccine?
If not, are you planning to? Feel free to expand on that as you desire.
If you have, which vaccine did you get?
What was the experience like? During/after.
I hear varying reports about fatigue/arm soreness/flu symptoms, just wanted to take an informal poll among people I know.
Thank you!
I added at the end:
As a note, given my audience:
Please do not attack other people on my threads for their medical choices, in either direction. If somebody says something factually inaccurate you can bring up a counter, but play nice. Remember that you may not convince the person that you are talking to, but by articulating thoughtfully you may convince other people who are observing the conversation.
As of my writing THIS, I have 350 comments on that thread, and ALMOST EVERYBODY PLAYED NICE.
If you follow me on Facebook you know what a rare phenomenon that is - I keep an ideologically diverse Facebook audience with strong opinions and often they possess a fearless willingness to attack others.
I certainly have pro-vaxxer and anti-vaxxers and everybody in between on my threads.
AND PEOPLE BEHAVED THEMSELVES.
Even the ones who did get confrontational actually kept things reasonably respectful (grading on the curve which is an unmoderated Facebook post by me).
If you want to see this miracle which is a respectful Facebook thread about vaccines (including lots of anecdotes from people about their experiences), you can click here.
If you were one of the many who behaved themselves: THANK YOU. You give me hope for humanity.
Since I didn’t prepare to amplify anyone else’s writing I’ll use this space to remind you that it’s been 404 days since Breonna Taylor was killed by police & 1,920 days since Daniel Shaver was killed by police. Their killers walk free. Derek Chauvin was found guilty by a jury yesterday of all three charges (2 counts of murder, 1 of manslaughter) after kneeling on George Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, so at least some semblance of justice showed up on 4/20, 331 days after he was murdered. During the course of Derek Chauvin’s nearly month-long trial, three people a day have been killed by cops.
The situation isn’t fixed by simply turning a weaponized justice system on police officers (no matter how much they deserve it) - reforming law enforcement, criminal justice, and assessing restorative and rehabilitative justice is part of the next steps in dealing with the general mess, as well as promoting the necessity of liability insurance to be held by all law enforcement agents. Another essay, at some point.
Also here’s Justin Amash spitting the truth Libertarians have been talking about for decades (very proud of him) :
Since I’m already here, I’ll remind you:
Feminists for Liberty Video Contest
As you may know, I’m on the Board of Feminists for Liberty, and we’re having our second annual Video Contest. 2-7 minute video, 1st prize is $500 worth of video equipment, Winners are screened at FreedomFest and the deadline is May 1st. Not limited by age, sex, gender or location. I was a judge last year, and it was wonderful, we had so many creative entries! If this is of interest to you, click here to learn more!
Okay, so I guess I had something to amplify.
I’m currently reading A Game of Thrones and listening to the album Silver Eye by Goldfrapp. In case either of those are of interest.
See you tomorrow with another essay!