Deena Ray

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Excerpt from a public letter Roald Dahl wrote encouraging people to vaccinate their children. Olivia, my eldest daughter, caught measles when she was seven years old. As the illness took its usual course I can remember reading to her often in bed and not feeling particularly alarmed about it. Then one morning, when she was well on the road to recovery, I was sitting on her bed showing her how to fashion little animals out of coloured pipe-cleaners, and when it came to her turn to make one herself, I noticed that her fingers and her mind were not working together and she couldn’t do anything. “Are you feeling all right?” I asked her. “I feel all sleepy,” she said. In an hour, she was unconscious. In twelve hours she was dead. The measles had turned into a terrible thing called measles encephalitis and there was nothing the doctors could do to save her. That was twenty-four years ago in 1962, but even now, if a child with measles happens to develop the same deadly reaction from measles as Olivia did, there would still be nothing the doctors could do to help her. On the other hand, there is today something that parents can do to make sure that this sort of tragedy does not happen to a child of theirs. They can insist that their child is immunized against measles. I was unable to do that for Olivia in 1962 because in those days a reliable measles vaccine had not been discovered. Today a good and safe vaccine is available to every family and all you have to do is to ask your doctor to administer it.

The measles outbreak in Texas is reminding me of the public letter Roald Dahl wrote about losing his daughter to measles in 1962, just before the vaccine was publicly available.

Have you been asked, as a federal worker, to do something you don't want to do? But they won't put it in writing?

DON'T DO IT.

If they're going to punish you? MAKE THEM PUT IT IN WRITING. ALL OF IT.

Document, document, document.

Act confused. Be confused! Go slow. Require clarity. Lots. Document

Where we're all at right now.

This is what dystopia looks like.

Everyone who is going through your normal day without being affected by events, you're the people who are living in The Capitol in The Hunger Games.

GOP pollster says Trump voters ‘tired’ of being accused of racism Republican pollster Frank Luntz said on Friday that President Trump’s voters are “tired” of being accused of being sexist and racist. In a discussion about Trump’s remarks linking diversity, equity…

If you don't want to be accused of racism, don't vote for a fucking racist, this isn't exactly rocket science my dudes

thehill.com/homenews/cam...

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If you’re upset about Michelle Obama’s decision not to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration, wait until I tell you about the time Donald Trump refused to accept the results of the election he lost, plotted a coup & incited an insurrection before deciding not to attend Joe Biden’s.

Sexual Boundaries: How to Spot Sexual Coercion

Thinking about sexual coercion and coercive sexual assault this morning and just how many more women there must be out there who experienced it from NG and how I wish I'd known this term much earlier -- consent is only consent if it's freely given www.plannedparenthood.org/blog/sexual-...

Carrie Underwood has gone from singing disapprovingly about an unfaithful man to singing approvingly *to* an unfaithful man.

hi on January 10 at around 9 pm, someone stole this backpack and a laptop bag out of my car while I was loading up to evacuate from the LA fires. whoever took it please return the sentimental items, particularly a bag with handwritten notes from my parents and my dads lord of the rings books

Manhattan smog: fog + pollutants. From 1971-77, the Documerica project captured 20,000 images of America’s environmental impact. Explore these through the National Archives. The photo below is from Documerica—join the movement! Let’s not forget our past, or we’re bound to repeat it.

5 am seems so early. Maybe I'll try it sometime. My biggest issue is getting to bed early enough.

Hard to process the devastation I’ve witnessed in the last two days. Still in a state of shock for those who have lost so much in such a short period of time. #NoWords 💔

Any suggestions on how to motivate to get up for 5am writing?

Very sad to hear about Derrick Ward. May his memory bring peace to all who loved him. @nbcwashington.bsky.social

You know when your remote stops working and you don’t have any fresh batteries so you grab a loose one from the junk drawer and it works for like two clicks and dies so you open up the battery cover and roll it around and it works for one more click before it dies for good? That’s my social battery.

My friend attachment style is VERY hobbitish, like yes I'll go with you on your ridiculous journey but I'm probably gonna complain the whole time and talk about how much I miss potatoes a lot

👏🏻 make 👏🏻 your 👏🏻 own 👏🏻 joy 👏🏻

It's been a while since I've been on here, but with the influx of new people, seems time to get restarted here. Hi, all!

What an amazing story. Your words sing.

How can I get any work done with this smile taking my attention?

I feel like sharing that infects the next person with the knowledge, leaving us desperate to pass it along...