Nina

The Ins and Outs of Food Pantries Many people who could benefit from food pantries don’t go. Whether pride holds you back or you think you don’t qualify, with grocery prices higher than ever, you should explore your local food pant…

My latest essay has been published. It's all about how to go to #foodpantries and why you should if you need food. It's also about the intersection of disability and poverty, and how that relates to undemployment and underemployment. Thanks for reading/sharing.

rootedinrights.org/the-ins-and-...

Obsessively checking Submittable to see if @tacobellquarterly.org has accepted my pitch or not.

My teenager finally can get a driver's license. He's not remotely interested. I'm a Gen X and couldn't wait to get a driver's license. My teenager is Gen Z and he couldn't care less about getting one.

My first essay of 2025 is up with Business Insider, and it's all about how I'm fine with my teenager not wanting to learn to drive. Hope you'll give it a read:

www.businessinsider.com/my-teenager-...

I've made it to my 56th birthday. My survival to this point has often been in question, mostly due to chronic illness and multiple major surgeries, so I'm glad to have made it. Please clap, as they say.

I am doing daily informational posts on TikTok each day in Feb highlighting a different person daily for Black History Month. It's a small way for me to be an activist and I'm proud to highlight these amazing people with a little history each day. www.tiktok.com/@rustbeltrants #BlackHistoryMonth

Our annual LOTR trilogy binge watch is this weekend and truly it’s the only thing getting me through this week. The menu will be banging, as usual.

This billboard says it all.

It’s fucked up that some of you are starting accounts on that Chinese social media place. For one, that website might steal your information. For another, it might be owned by a terrible person trying to undermine American democracy. For a third thing, the owner might keep lying about going to mars.

Pete Hegseth has learned his lesson

by Joni Ernst

Senator: I’ll speak in his defense because to err is human. Who among us hasn’t shown up drunk to work? Who here hasn’t cheated on their wife?

Hegseth: Please stop helping me

Senator: Who hasn’t taken off their pants at the zoo?

We may have identified the species of the Cavs frog. The mystery appearance of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ win-streak frog had everyone asking questions. Ours might have an answer.

decided we’re posting this after every Cavs win.

In this Indiana diner, everyone has three questions: How's the breaded tenderloin? Is the quarry hiring? And say darling, could you douse my breaded tenderloin in gin in honor of our next Secretary of Defense?

Edith. She wanted world peace and worked in a soup kitchen.

ON JANUARY 20TH, READ MLK! READ ABOUT THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT! READ ABOUT RECONSTRUCTION! READ ABOUT JIM CROW!

You want to do something for the good of history? Do something constructive and learn from the ancestors.

January isn’t even half over yet, and it’s been a long year.

@julialeebarclay.bsky.social lead for you?

After dinner tonight, my younger sister told me: "When I was younger, I used to sit at the table with the men after holiday dinners, watching the women clean up and thinking--why don't they just sit? Now I realize, if they didn't do it, no one would."

an actually good movie about the empty venality of the american media is of course NETWORK. an actually good movie about blithe indifference to a looming threat is JAWS.

NY Times, June 21, 1936.

I literally think this every year. I thought I was the only one.

Did it for years. That’s a big clap from me.

Cities refuse to take any responsibility for sidewalks bc of liability lawsuits. If yours is broken, icy, pushed through by a tree the CITY planted nearby, tough shit, you the homeowner have to pay to get it fixed/cleared and if someone is hurt you're sued. I hate it.

Of course.

I will never be dissuaded from my opinion that Michael Caine deserved an award for his FLAWLESS and EMOTIONAL portrayal of Scrooge in A Muppet Christmas Carol. No wink/hint of "playacting with puppets," he was ALL IN, every scene, and his transformation was TOUCHING. I will die on this hill.

My Mother Is Still Alive, But I Don't Know Who She Is Anymore "This has robbed me of the woman who was my best friend for more than 50 years."

Got one more personal essay published before we close out 2024 - my first for BuzzFeed. Thank you for reading. #caregiver #dementia #sandwichcaregiving

www.buzzfeed.com/ninamccollum...

I know this will be controversial but…I liked the endings for #WWDITS, and agree that it time to end. I’m happy and satisfied and thank them for 6 of the best seasons of a show I’ve ever enjoyed. Amazing cast, crew, writers and directors. Working w/Matt Berry is now on my bucket list.