Abby Phoenix (she/her)

Elections matter. Your vote MATTERS.

A tidbit from yesterday: my parents’ city council ward election is currently* being decided by 7 votes. A person who makes real decisions that affect your daily life! 7!

*they’re now awaiting provisional ballots and depending where those land, maybe a recount.

Also, it’s a core responsibility of the Secretary of State to effectively communicate about local elections.

If so many of his constituents are confused *on Election Day* about what is and isn’t on the ballot, that’s his failing. Not sure I’d be advertising my incompetence so widely if I was him.

The theme of daring ourselves to not close our eyes to state-sanctioned political violence when it’s so tempting to escape into apolitical beauty felt… VERY on the nose for our current moment.

I winced at “The more you face reality / The more you scar” because I can’t say I don’t relate sometimes.

As one of the handful of people who saw the recent Kiss of the Spiderwoman movie adaptation, I have to wonder if its marketing & release were deliberately mismanaged to bury it?

AND we have mosquitoes now. 🦟😤😭

Is that what now counts as a win? 😬😆

…and I was just reminded that we are age peers and both from Cleveland. I’ve talked about (after a deep sigh) that game/series/season so much in the last week!

Freddy Freeman freeing us from the tyranny of more innings!

Do the poor hot dog vendors have to just stoke their trays of bacon-wrapped treats out there for hours, waiting for the crowds to arrive when the game ends… eventually…? And all those parking attendants who are now working three hours over expectation?!?

Yes!! Absolutely taking the small wins, regardless of how long they last.

I was having lunch by campus today and if things had gone another way… I’d feel obligated to walk over and start yelling at everyone.

USC rejects Trump education compact aimed at shifting the university to the right USC interim President Beong-Soo Kim said in a statement that he had sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education turning down the Trump offer.

Lowest possible bar, but thank goodness I don’t have to disavow my USC degree today. www.latimes.com/california/s...

Hah! Well, know thyself. 😝😉

Doesn’t that mean it IS generational, but not age-based? 🤔

More fuel for that fire: I don’t even think about carrying water, and the kids don’t even think about omitting it. The air we breathe… is different!

Desiccated almost-corpse

I assume something like this.

Tonight, we revealed the *shocking news* to our teenager that when we were in high school, no one carried around their own water bottles.

“What about when you had PE?!?”

“Water fountains? But we also were probably just more dehydrated??”

PS anyone who knows me and is like, “uhhh, you don’t seem to procrastinate or drop the ball a lot?” THANK YOU, that is all the internal work I do to trick myself into just doing my shit. None of which seems to immediately work for a 10-year-old. 😆

A parenting phenomenon I wasn’t prepared for: how to confront what you most dislike in yourself when it manifests in your child.

In my case, an intense tendency towards procrastination. I’ve worked out how to deal with this in myself after 40+ years but to have to go through it again with a kid? ☠️

And we’re updated: isthefederalgovernmentrunning.com

I was 11 minutes late because I forgot it happened at 9pm here. Sorry to the one person who checked before I fixed it

the president of the united states wants to use the american military to kill american citizens on american soil. that's the whole story!

The eternal outdoor concert question: does someone have a s’more-scented vape, or literally s’mores???? The aroma is making me crave toasted marshmallows…

“Grown Ups” is Pulp’s most LCD Soundsystem-coded song and I am so hopeful they play it tonight. Very excited for the Aging Millennials Show that it’s sure to be!!

“That girl looks like Megan,” remarks my 10yo.

“The killer robot?” I clarify.

“Yup!”

And somehow, that makes perfect sense to me, because my kids don’t know one human Meg(h)an who’s within two decades of their age.

Well, apparently, it’s them!

Totally agree!

An easy way for me to suspect someone and I are *not* simpatico: they think most choices others make are 100% fueled by money.

I’m not saying that people don’t get paid to do things, but someone who thinks everyone acts for money only is just too sad & nihilistic for me to engage with meaningfully.

Part of the last election’s heartbreak for me was my (childlike) hope of electing people whom I knew to be smarter than me, policy wonks who’d excitedly pore over legislation.

Every day now, I still mourn how those driving this country are SO DUMB. They’re awful, cruel, & JUST SO ASTOUNDINGLY DUMB.

My mental health right now is so dependent on doing my little puzzles (almost all the NYT ones, plus a few extras) and coffee.

Humbling to recognize the dependency, but also: I’m so glad I have them both.

We need to clasp hard to our sanity and not let go; every tool is necessary.

Kicking off the day before the #TSITP finale with @evanphx.dev declaring, “I just can’t respect anyone who lets people call her Belly. BELLLLY?!?!” 🤣

AP College Football poll after three weeks, showing Notre Dame (!!) ranked above USC after ND started 0-2 and USC 3-0.

At this point, I can only assume USC Athletics is paying off the AP to specifically disrespect the football team to the level where it motivates them to play with the world’s biggest chip on their shoulders.

Let’s hope the maneuvering pays off! ✌🏽

Apparently USC football is all I post about now. Fine by me!!!

Maybe I’ll drop my TSITP thoughts soon too? 😆 If I feel like pushing it.