I will say that the Dax Shephard podcast is the thing that finally made my mom understand why it's totally okay and acceptable to let trans girls participate in sports on the girls' team. Nothing I've ever said has gotten through to her, but hearing Dax be such an idiot really helped her not want to be on his dumb side.
That's my thing too...I think Lyz has often asked how many times people have to rip open their veins and bleed for people to see them as human...over and over and over...
I remember when the pandemic started and I was spending endless hours walking around outside because there was nothing else the hell to do and too many children in my house, I fell in love with Armchair Expert for a little while. I enjoyed many of the guests, and I found the relationship between Shepherd and Padman kind of endearing. But there was a point when I realized that Shepherd, because of his years in recovery, had all of the vocabulary to seem like a very self-aware individual, but at the same time he reveled in being a reactionary, hyper-masculine dude when it suited him. He frames it as being true to where he comes from-- impoverished, rural Michigan-- but it just comes off as lazy. Like, I get to still be these shitty things because I'm bringing "real" life to Hollywood. He's the kind of guy who emphasizes his feminism by insisting he has daughters, and yet expresses his "support" for women by defending them in ways THAT NO WOMAN ASKED HIM TO.
This - same experience (except for all the kids in my house). It makes me sad that on occasion the hyper-masculine still appeals to me. Always more work to be done.
OK, I am reading this at work. My boss is approaching but I can't stop reading it. He sees me reading it. He stops. He says, "Oh, yeah, you've shared her articles with me before." Keeps walking. I keep reading.
Smirk.... it does help that today, my boss is also my son! (I am substitute teaching today!)
"God I am so so tired of carrying the anxieties of “well-meaning” white men on my shoulders."
Fuck yes. I, too, am sick of these dudes not getting it. From trans rights "questions" to feeling like "they can't say anything anymore" to "I've done all the right things and I'm still the bad guy" bullshit. JFC, get a clue, guys.
The news about state leaders seeking the power to more easily clear homeless camps is infuriating. It is so cruel to displace people with no place to go. Every single homeless person deserves better from us and I'm just so sad and angry about this. Housing is a human right.
I tried listening to the Dax Shepard podcast, and I just couldn't for the reasons you note. I've had plenty of students who wanted to derail a class by playing the devil's advocate ("what if Black people were the dominant culture? Would White people be enslaved?") Oh, wait. That's the current GOP...but more accurately this has been a huge issue with certain liberal white cis men, including those who consider themselves feminists.
This is how I found out Diane Feinstein died. Not that I've been super-busy smack in the middle of the Jewish (High) Holiday season. But what a devastating profile by Rebecca Traister, as always.
"Feinstein doesn’t subscribe to this reading of American democracy. She believes those at the top of institutions can help those at the bottom get what they want. But American government has become less democratic in the same years that she and her peers have risen to lead it."
I should not have been so glib in my little joke. I was not trying to imply it was good because she was a bad person, but rather because it was time for her to rest from her work and it didn't seem like that would happen while she still lived.
It is awful that our system is set up in such a way that the senate Judiciary committee was basically waiting for her to die so that it could continue doing its work.
You were not too glib for me, anyway, courtesy of my dark sense of humour. When I saw a headline, I thought it was trolling at first. Because she had stopped being good at her job so many years ago. So send all the judgmental vibes my way and not to Alex.
THANK YOU! Perfectly stated as always. And though I do not and never will actually know her, I can’t help but think that outspoken mental health advocate Kristen Bell might have an easier time with…idk, life at large? If she weren’t constantly battling against a king baby “everything is a joke, don’t be mad at me” man child like Dax Shepard.
I truly want to send your book to at least two beloved, married friends but it’s not kind to basically stand there and yell “get out while you can.” I really want to though.
IDK, if my husband made JVN cry with an anti-trans barrage of non-question "questions," I would have a lot to say both publicly and privately, and would most certainly consider it grounds for divorce.
Just tossing in my agreement as a former high school swimmer - this is supposed to be fun and enjoyable and if the only way someone can have fun is to win by excluding other girls - that's the real problem.
Once again, and always, enjoyed this so very much! Yes, we laugh so we are less inclined to cry (although crying still very much on the table) and YES we are all so very tired of carrying or caring about the anxieties of "well-meaning" white men...
I somehow have followers on Medium, and I think it’s based solely on my proclivity to tell whiny men [who make pathetic and angry comments] to sit down and STFU.
Fetterman is one right-on fellow. Wherever you may be on his political compatibility, he's humanized the US Senate like none of the founding fathers intended, preferring instead a sinecure home for pod people, billionaires' lackeys, and Clarence Thomas enthusiasts. Maybe now get some more women and persons of color? Every American organization would be improved by their active inclusion.
I fucking love John Fetterman. From the start- that guy’s all heart. He’s funny as hell. He’s kind. He’s not afraid to stand up to bullies. Go John!! You Water Buffalo 🐃 you! And wft with Diane Feinstein dying on the job. She’s like RBG- didn’t know when it was time to bow out, all ego and surrounded by sycophants. And gross 🤮 Dax/ dude bro- a-hole/ transphobe. Brene always kissed his ass and I couldn’t figure out why?! He’s like Joe Rogan lite- Elon fanboy.
"I think it's going to devalue the Senate as an institution," Iowa U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said Wednesday about relaxing the dress code, according to the Des Moines Register. "And it's going to lead to further things that detract from the decorum of the United States Senate."
I hate to be the one to tell you, senator, that ship has sailed. The institution was damaged plenty when Grassley refused to even consider then President Barack Obama's supreme court nominee in 2016.
One of the things Elon took from us when he ruined Twitter is that I stopped following Fetterman and his wife, the former Second Lady of Pennsylvania, when I deleted my account. (Every picture she takes where his head is just out-of-frame is gold.)
Hahaha! He really looks like Uncle Fester- but what he says and does means infinitely more than how he looks. I loved his interview on why he doesn’t like to wear a suit... they’re expensive, uncomfortable, it’s hot in DC in the summer, they don’t pay interns much and pressure them to follow suit (pun intended!). He’s absolutely right as usual. I love ❤️ that he’s there. He’s has the most chutzpah of anyone there. Give ‘em hell John!!
I will say that the Dax Shephard podcast is the thing that finally made my mom understand why it's totally okay and acceptable to let trans girls participate in sports on the girls' team. Nothing I've ever said has gotten through to her, but hearing Dax be such an idiot really helped her not want to be on his dumb side.
THIS IS GOOD!
I'm glad her mind is changed, but sad it took JVN's tears to do it. The pain of queer folks shouldn't be the price we pay for understanding. :(
That's my thing too...I think Lyz has often asked how many times people have to rip open their veins and bleed for people to see them as human...over and over and over...
I remember when the pandemic started and I was spending endless hours walking around outside because there was nothing else the hell to do and too many children in my house, I fell in love with Armchair Expert for a little while. I enjoyed many of the guests, and I found the relationship between Shepherd and Padman kind of endearing. But there was a point when I realized that Shepherd, because of his years in recovery, had all of the vocabulary to seem like a very self-aware individual, but at the same time he reveled in being a reactionary, hyper-masculine dude when it suited him. He frames it as being true to where he comes from-- impoverished, rural Michigan-- but it just comes off as lazy. Like, I get to still be these shitty things because I'm bringing "real" life to Hollywood. He's the kind of guy who emphasizes his feminism by insisting he has daughters, and yet expresses his "support" for women by defending them in ways THAT NO WOMAN ASKED HIM TO.
This - same experience (except for all the kids in my house). It makes me sad that on occasion the hyper-masculine still appeals to me. Always more work to be done.
Lyz, thanks for being great. I’m a non-binary trans person and it means a lot to revel in dingusry with you here.
ily and no one is gonna just ask questions in this comment section ❤️
OK, I am reading this at work. My boss is approaching but I can't stop reading it. He sees me reading it. He stops. He says, "Oh, yeah, you've shared her articles with me before." Keeps walking. I keep reading.
Smirk.... it does help that today, my boss is also my son! (I am substitute teaching today!)
you have a good boss!!
"God I am so so tired of carrying the anxieties of “well-meaning” white men on my shoulders."
Fuck yes. I, too, am sick of these dudes not getting it. From trans rights "questions" to feeling like "they can't say anything anymore" to "I've done all the right things and I'm still the bad guy" bullshit. JFC, get a clue, guys.
Happy Friday, Lyz. You rock.
The news about state leaders seeking the power to more easily clear homeless camps is infuriating. It is so cruel to displace people with no place to go. Every single homeless person deserves better from us and I'm just so sad and angry about this. Housing is a human right.
I tried listening to the Dax Shepard podcast, and I just couldn't for the reasons you note. I've had plenty of students who wanted to derail a class by playing the devil's advocate ("what if Black people were the dominant culture? Would White people be enslaved?") Oh, wait. That's the current GOP...but more accurately this has been a huge issue with certain liberal white cis men, including those who consider themselves feminists.
This is how I found out Diane Feinstein died. Not that I've been super-busy smack in the middle of the Jewish (High) Holiday season. But what a devastating profile by Rebecca Traister, as always.
"Feinstein doesn’t subscribe to this reading of American democracy. She believes those at the top of institutions can help those at the bottom get what they want. But American government has become less democratic in the same years that she and her peers have risen to lead it."
I am impressed at the restraint not putting the news about Feinstein's death under the "in good news..." heading
I am trying to remember her tenacity following the murder of Harvey Milk and fighting for accountability for the torture during the Iraq War.
I should not have been so glib in my little joke. I was not trying to imply it was good because she was a bad person, but rather because it was time for her to rest from her work and it didn't seem like that would happen while she still lived.
It is awful that our system is set up in such a way that the senate Judiciary committee was basically waiting for her to die so that it could continue doing its work.
You were not too glib for me, anyway, courtesy of my dark sense of humour. When I saw a headline, I thought it was trolling at first. Because she had stopped being good at her job so many years ago. So send all the judgmental vibes my way and not to Alex.
THANK YOU! Perfectly stated as always. And though I do not and never will actually know her, I can’t help but think that outspoken mental health advocate Kristen Bell might have an easier time with…idk, life at large? If she weren’t constantly battling against a king baby “everything is a joke, don’t be mad at me” man child like Dax Shepard.
I got a book for her…
🧐 What's a non-stalkery way to send a celeb a book. Asking for a friend...
I truly want to send your book to at least two beloved, married friends but it’s not kind to basically stand there and yell “get out while you can.” I really want to though.
IDK, if my husband made JVN cry with an anti-trans barrage of non-question "questions," I would have a lot to say both publicly and privately, and would most certainly consider it grounds for divorce.
Just tossing in my agreement as a former high school swimmer - this is supposed to be fun and enjoyable and if the only way someone can have fun is to win by excluding other girls - that's the real problem.
Once again, and always, enjoyed this so very much! Yes, we laugh so we are less inclined to cry (although crying still very much on the table) and YES we are all so very tired of carrying or caring about the anxieties of "well-meaning" white men...
So fucking tired.
I somehow have followers on Medium, and I think it’s based solely on my proclivity to tell whiny men [who make pathetic and angry comments] to sit down and STFU.
Let her rip, Lyz, such a great read. Have to love Fetterman and his mastery of a great burn. so funny!!
Fetterman is one right-on fellow. Wherever you may be on his political compatibility, he's humanized the US Senate like none of the founding fathers intended, preferring instead a sinecure home for pod people, billionaires' lackeys, and Clarence Thomas enthusiasts. Maybe now get some more women and persons of color? Every American organization would be improved by their active inclusion.
I fucking love John Fetterman. From the start- that guy’s all heart. He’s funny as hell. He’s kind. He’s not afraid to stand up to bullies. Go John!! You Water Buffalo 🐃 you! And wft with Diane Feinstein dying on the job. She’s like RBG- didn’t know when it was time to bow out, all ego and surrounded by sycophants. And gross 🤮 Dax/ dude bro- a-hole/ transphobe. Brene always kissed his ass and I couldn’t figure out why?! He’s like Joe Rogan lite- Elon fanboy.
Another great Dingus column.
As for the Senate dress code, your former coworker, Todd Dorman, has an excellent column on it today:
https://www.thegazette.com/staff-columnists/talking-hoodies-and-shorts-as-a-federal-shutdown-looms/
Here's a great snip from it:
"I think it's going to devalue the Senate as an institution," Iowa U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said Wednesday about relaxing the dress code, according to the Des Moines Register. "And it's going to lead to further things that detract from the decorum of the United States Senate."
I hate to be the one to tell you, senator, that ship has sailed. The institution was damaged plenty when Grassley refused to even consider then President Barack Obama's supreme court nominee in 2016.
I loved Crockett’s “where is the crime?” repetition.
she barely even paused for breath
One of the things Elon took from us when he ruined Twitter is that I stopped following Fetterman and his wife, the former Second Lady of Pennsylvania, when I deleted my account. (Every picture she takes where his head is just out-of-frame is gold.)
Hahaha! He really looks like Uncle Fester- but what he says and does means infinitely more than how he looks. I loved his interview on why he doesn’t like to wear a suit... they’re expensive, uncomfortable, it’s hot in DC in the summer, they don’t pay interns much and pressure them to follow suit (pun intended!). He’s absolutely right as usual. I love ❤️ that he’s there. He’s has the most chutzpah of anyone there. Give ‘em hell John!!