The DIY Scientist, the Olympian, and the Mutated Gene: “Something was “terribly wrong,” as she put it, but she didn’t even bother to tell her parents about it. Other people went to doctors and got solutions. That had never happened for Jill, so she started looking for answers on her own, the way a kid would.”
It took me 20 years to get any answers but my medical journey was far less interesting and revelatory.
I don’t miss pregnancy, PUPPs, or being unable to touch my toes. I don’t miss missing sleep, or having that mildly insane moment when I think “we’re never going to survive this”, or the tantrums we were having twice a day like clockwork last week. I don’t miss wondering things like Mrs Frugalwoods’ “surely five-year-olds can pull up their own pants and don’t walk around with their bums hanging out“. But I do miss my 12-20 month old something fierce. I adore this child with every fiber of my being, except those three toes ze just stomped on while enthusiastically River Dancing to “Let It Go” (yes, it’s invaded our home).
White male managers treat their colleagues worse when it’s not a white man at the helm of their company: Researchers found that white male executives working under a female and/or racial minority were also less likely to provide help to fellow colleagues, with an especially negative effect on help provided to minority status colleagues. Come on, men. I know you can be better than this. I’ve seen better with my own eyes.
Joe talks about inheritances. I want to leave JB *something* but that’s more along the lines of a solid foundation with less debt than the average kid, self respect and skills to make zir way in the world, without being overly burdened by caring for us. And in the end, I know I’m just hoping my hardest that ze will turn out to be a good person.
Yet Another PF Blog asked some great questions recently: Bloggers: Are you transparent about your economic class on your blog? Is your content geared toward readers in your same demographic / level of PF knowledge? How much do you work to make your content accessible? Readers: What level of transparency do you want from your personal finance bloggers? What kind of content do you want to see? Do you feel like the community as it is now has sufficiently targeted your interests and questions?
Stacey Abrams’ debt shouldn’t disqualify her for running for governor. Point one: the life she describes – supporting her parents who took in her young niece, student loans, etc – is a hugely familiar story to me. It’s repeated over and over in my family and doesn’t mean that the person in debt is bad or makes bad decisions. It means that they feel responsibility well beyond what the average American feels to their community and they do their best to step up. Ignoring the fact that many others in our country are burdened by similar kinds of debt is shameful and stupid. Point two: people tend to assume that being in difficult financial straits will push you toward corruption. I point you to our President and countless politicians who don’t have debt and are happily lining their pockets with lobbyist money. At least her debt comes from trying to do the right thing.
Just act like a cat
Raccoon 1: “Here’s the plan, you go in the house, act like a cat and they’ll give you food?
The focus on Vicki Robin as one of the most core referenced people (instead of FIRE bloggers who are newer to the scene and the lifestyle).
QUOTE: Missing is any acknowledgment of the privilege embedded in the ability to save 50% or 75% of your income to begin with. The FIRE movement, to a large extent, remains a culture of “very entitled white men who are very proud of themselves when it wasn’t much of a stretch for them anyway,” says Emma Pattee, 27, a writer based in Portland, Ore., who retired last year at 26 after making successful real estate investments. Many FIRE followers, she says, are already high earners who “disdain all the Midwest minions who can’t get out in front of their truck loan.”
QUOTE: Tanja Hester, a FIRE follower who leans toward the frugal strain of the movement and retired late last year at age 38 from her career as a consultant for political and social causes, realizes she’s in a privileged position. “I feel like one of the luckiest people to ever live, and if I can’t use some of it to help others, it will feel like a waste,” she says. She and her husband, who live in the North Lake Tahoe area of California, volunteer at the local humane society and plan to start teaching financial basics in their community.”
QUOTE: For her part, Robin gives back by investing in local businesses. Aside from using royalties to pay for cancer treatments in the mid-2000s, she says she’s given away a significant portion of the money she’s made over the years from her bestseller. And she still thinks our society places too much stock in paid work.
PRINCE!
Nothing Compares 2 U: Previously unseen rehearsal footage of Prince & The Revolution from the summer of 1984.
Fabulous finch story starts with … “Every year the same pair of finches returns to the bush outside my office window, and every year they have the same debate about whether or not to build their nest in exactly the same place. It is like an Avian Love It or List It.”
Beyonce and Beychella – making hearts sing: “I was supposed to perform at Coachella before, but I ended up getting pregnant,” she explained to the crowd of diehard fans who exchanged knowing laughter and cheers. “So I had time to dream and dream and dream with two beautiful souls in my belly,” she continued, “and I dreamed up this performance.”
These attitudes about women and childbearing have got to go. Assigned childbearing shifts???
What would you spend on if you saved too much in your Dependent Daycare Account? I’m absolutely no help there, I’m just staring wide eyed at the idea of not spending a full $5000 in the DDA for a quarter of the cost of daycare. And frankly somewhat terrified at having to add “summer logistics” to my brainspace.
TSA, get it together. Now they’re thinking about telling us we can’t carry food on planes?? I’m not ok with this. We never travel without food lest one of the three of us become hangry.
We’ve talked failure resumes before, I haven’t done mine but look at Jim’s!
An interview with a nanny for a psychic. This bit caught my attention: “I initially reached out to her because my (deceased) father’s spirit was following me around trying to get my attention. I asked him to stop but she told me that he was there trying to make it up to me for being a negligent father. He was trying to protect me now and wanted me to know that he’s there.”
Haunting runs in our family and is considered run of the mill. But if my dad tried to pull this, I’d be looking into banishment. We don’t typically go in for that in our family but no way no how no sir.
Nicole Cliffe on bigamous marriages in her family. We also have one of those stories. It’s weird.
Slate does a series based on the idea that “Every couple has one core fight that replays over and over again, in different disguises, over the course of their relationship.” Realistic or no? The very idea seems totally exhausting to me. We have had long standing differences of opinion, and backgrounds, but we acknowledge them, discuss why they’re important, and work out compromises based on knowing those things about ourselves. It’s a lot of work sometimes but it sure feels better than engaging in a lifelong tug of war like this couple. Also I think this is a remarkably immature read on risk-aversion, but is this actually common?: “I see risk-aversion as banality, boredom, giving into convention or family pressure or something like that. I hate this idea in our culture that you’re not an adult unless you feel frustrated and stifled and you hate your life. We equate maturity with the wrong things.”
Since when is adult life equated with feeling frustrated? For me, it’s meant freedom and stability and more freedom even with all the responsibilities I choose to take on.
