Last song: I only listen to songs when I’m happy and there’s not been a lot of happy things lately, but I am kind of obsessed with the Jessica Jones theme tune by Sean Callery
Last show: The Diplomat (it’s really good, and the ending gave me a real shock. At least it’s been confirmed there will be a Season 2)
Last movie: Ghosted (it wasn’t that great, but the Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie cameos helped)
Last thing I googled: air quality index (I wanted to see just how bad the NYC smog was healthwise)
Currently watching: Jessica Jones S1, The Mandalorian S3 (yes, I’m slow), Springwatch, and Doctor Who S4 Specials
Currently reading: nothing. I recently tried re-reading an old novel by an author I used to like but it just wasn’t happening for me
Current obsession: David Tennant (I don’t find him particularly sexy, but he is an interesting actor and there’s a lot of his work available to watch). Looking forward to seeing him and Michael Sheen in Staged S3 which airs on UK terrestrial TV next week, and then the two of them in Good Omens S2 next month.
Dream trip: a month leisurely touring France and Italy.
[ID: Dr. Frizzle (@Swilua) on Twitter, posting on June 14, 2022, across multiple tweets.
I want to tell a story about pride flags.
A couple years ago, I was presenting at a conference in the Black Mountains of North Carolina. My wife and I drove south from Maryland to get there. When we crossed the border from Maryland into Virginia, we started to notice people were staring at us.
We started to get our gas really quickly. We got in and out of the car as fast as we could. I tweeted about it at the time. “I guess Virginia isn’t for gay lovers,” I said. But it got a lot worse.
It was dark when we got into North Carolina. We had to stop at a Target to grab something before we got to our hotel. In the parking lot, a group of men approached us.
There was something scary about them. One of them said something about dykes. They started to follow us. “You shouldn’t touch me,” my wife said. “Stay three feet away.” I moved away from her.
They got closer and we walked faster. I looked behind me once, and then kept my eyes on the ground. I had never been in fear for my physical safety as a queer person before, but I was afraid that night.
We got into the store and immediately went to the most populated section we could. The men gave us an angry look as they walked by, but the walked on. I was shaking.
When we got to our hotel room and shut the door, I started to cry. And then we fell asleep. The next, we had to eat dinner. It was dark. We had to walk somewhere to find a restaurant. The streets were crowded. No one was happy to see visibly queer people.
And then we found a place with a giant pride flag draped in the doorway. We went inside, immediately felt safe enough to order food. To hold hands as we ate.
People say things about straight pride. They ask why we need a trans flag when the rainbow flag is supposed to be all-includive. They frame it as a question of identity. “Why shouldn’t we celebrate straight people too?” they ask. But #Pride isn’t a simple question of identity.
To us, on that dark night in rural North Carolina, the pride flag was a sign of safety: we would not be in (literal) physical danger in a space. And we knew it because they hung a sign that said that to us.
Being queer is wonderful. But it’s not always safe to be queer. Explicit symbols of safety mean a lot more to us than simple questions of identity. They mean we have the right to be alive. The right to love. The right to exist.
We need the trans flags. We need the rainbow flags. We need them all. We are proud of who we are. But more importantly, we just want to be able to live and not be afraid. That’s not something you can understand if you’ve never been afraid to just exist.
queer people experience the highest levels of violence of any demographic of people. trans women of color are the most likely of any group to be murdered. when this isn’t true anymore, we can talk about straight pride. but for now, it is the reality we live in.
Happy Flag Day everyone.
The last image is a GIF of a waving blue-pink-white-pink-blue trans flag.]
OK Tumblr Geriatric Ward, let’s talk about your posture-
there are things you should be doing now to prevent yourself from starting to look like 🥀
Why does it matter? Future you would like to avoid the pain, limited motion, and fall risk that goes along with worsening posture.
What’s the focus?
1. Keep the flexibility in your spine
2. Stretch the muscles in the front
3. Strengthen the muscle in the back
Here are some simple things you can do daily while sitting and when you get up to go into the bathroom or the kitchen
Keep the flexibility by doing these repeated movements: 10 repetitions several times a day
The goal is to give yourself a double or triple chin. Keep your nose pointing forward, don’t let it tip up or down
Thoracic extension- use a chair with a seat back that comes up to the level of your shoulder blades. Try to bend back over the top of the chair without arching away from the seat back and without extending your neck. If the pressure from the top of the chair is uncomfortable you can place a towel there
Stretch the muscles in the front by using a door frame. This one will feel good afterwards
If this isn’t enough of a stretch you can do one side at a time. If you have the right arm up step forward with the right foot and turn slightly to the left. Then do it on the other side.
Strengthen the muscles in the back by squeezing your shoulder blades together for a count of 10 and then repeating 10 times. You can do this several times a day Hint: Don’t lift your shoulder blades up
There are lots more exercises for strengthening your back muscles but this is a good starting point and easy to do. I like doing it while driving
Tips:
Do the best you can
If it hurts stop
Envision future you saying thank you each time you do one of the exercises
