Ready for another week of links?

The suffering of children in Syria is so terrible, they need a new term for it. Also in Syria, an article about a Jesuit doing some good work there.

I have been saying from the beginning that Trump voters are not worthwhile human beings- I’m actually not sure we should even consider them human beings at all. You absolutely should not keep Trump-supporting friends and family members in your life. On that note, this.

When everything is so crazy, it’s hard to figure out how to measure the crazy. This is a good guide for that.

I’ve had a really hard time trying to figure out why so many Trump voters refuse to believe real, verifiable facts. This is the first thing I’ve read that actually clicked for me and helped me understand why some of them are that way.

I AM NEVER LEAVING MASSACHUSETTS.

Wednesday was International Women’s Day. While feminism on the Internet often infuriates me, some feminists do say things that really click with me, and one of them is the great writer Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie.  Also, here’s how so many unqualified men end up in positions of power.

I’d never heard of Charley Parkhurst, a stagecoach driver in the 1800s who was born Charlotte and eventually ended up living as a man, but his story is fascinating. I looked it up this week after a friend told me it had come up in a reading she did with her fourth-grade class.

Okay, this is pretty funny.

I am SO excited to see Come From Away in May! Even more so now that I’ve heard the whole cast recording.

Tom Hanks is the man.

I love cursive, and I almost always write in cursive rather than printing (I mean, it’s faster! You don’t have to lift the pen!) so this is welcome news.

This is beautiful and romantic and touching.

This, though? This actually really disturbed me. I mean, if it makes that woman happy, great, but the idea of being in a similar situation is horrifying to me.

Dating is hard and awful, but it sounds like it might be even worse in the cities this writer visited.

I will have to try this.

A couple of links more personal to me- my old high school had a lot of cool murals done by students over the years, and turns out there are pictures of most of them online. Also, here’s a nice article about Stacy DeBroff, whom I interned for in college. (I walked, though, so I wasn’t one of the ones clogging up the driveway!)

Some food for thought:

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Yep. Hate is the coat we wear to avoid the cold.

A post shared by Glennon Doyle (@glennondoyle) on Mar 4, 2017 at 4:28pm PST

 

And let’s end with this- a cool, bizarre, surreal animated short that was nominated for an Oscar a few years ago:

 

 

 

 

The Oscars are tonight! I’m super excited- I’ve seen seven out of the nine Best Picture nominees. I’m not all that invested in who wins, but it was interesting to read the Boston Globe’s annual “Will Win/Should Win/Was Robbed/Shouldn’t Be Here” list.

I laughed so hard at this and I don’t know why. Maybe because my friend who teaches fifth grade is a Lego robotics coach.

In other foreign head-of-state-related news, it’s like Canada is taunting us with Justin Trudeau.

It makes me so angry to hear about the awful way some women are treated at work.

This is a really sweet essay about a nontraditional family.

I recently read Big Little Lies and loved it and started watching the new miniseries next week. I was surprised to hear that the author of the book, Liane Moriarty, is more popular in the US than in her home country, Australia.

This is a fun interview with Hamilton‘s conductor and orchestrator, Alex Lacamoire. I had no idea he used to perform on the Spirit of Boston, the boat where we used to have our office holiday party!

 

I don’t ever want to become desensitized to the plight of migrants. This is horrible. And for the Christians among us, this is a good reminder. (I freaking love Jim Martin.)

This map of Massachusetts stereotypes is pretty funny, and as a lifelong Masshole, I agree with it.

This headline made me do a double-take.

No one can accuse John Green (who’s actually been in Boston this weekend for NerdCon!) of refusing to answer hard questions.

 

 

I can’t believe I’d never heard about this.

Not funny.

The week in Trump: there’s this, from a Muslim White House staffer who quit. Gabby Giffords is braver than all the Republicans in Congress put together. And I agree with this– Trump voters are worthless and reaching out to them is a waste of time.

And while it was kind of nice to have unseasonably warm weather this week, I’m feeling this– I could use a little more snow before winter ends!

Happy (I hope) long weekend to you!

Here’s another week’s worth of links for you.

Lin-Manuel Miranda is a jewel of a human being. I don’t know what I love more- the Galentine’s Day playlist he made or the fact that his Spotify username is his dog’s name plus a Les Mis reference.

Speaking of LMM, here are two original Hamilton cast members singing a cut song from Moana.

And for more on musical theater, I was already excited for Come From Away, an upcoming musical about the town in Newfoundland that welcomed all the people who were on the diverted planes on September 11th, and this gorgeous song has made me even more so.

In awful Trump administration news: this story about undocumented domestic abuse victims being targeted is horrible. And this one about migrants choosing to be arrested in Canada rather than staying in the US. And these horrifying photos of detention centers.

In resistance news: I see no value in maintaining relationships of any kind with Trump supporters, and although I’m past my roommate days, I’d be just like these people if I still had roommates. This is advice I need to remember. This guy has way more patience than me- I’d never be able to handle that kind of environment. Katherine Fritz provides Valentine’s Day cards to send to your senators.

I used to like the “Frog and Toad” books as a kid, but I never knew much about the author, Arnold Lobel.

Little racist comments add up.

On love for humans and love for dogs.

I hate it when people tell me I shouldn’t love the things I love. Someone agrees with me.

Now for some good news! Bill Gates has a lot of it- despite how things may look, in many ways, the state of the world is improving. Melinda Gates also wrote a letter about the importance of contraceptives in improving living conditions. This is a sweet story- I love hearing about nice things people do for others in private. And two awesome people eating together.

 

 

 

I am a bit of an Internet junkie, so I come across a lot of interesting links over the course of the week. In the interest of blogging more, I’m going to try to share some of them with you each Sunday! (Or, let’s be honest, as many Sundays as I remember.)

First, for Valentine’s Day- this Buzzfeed article might be the most romantic thing I’ve ever read, and I mean that sincerely.

In Trump news: Steve Bannon is terrifying. And ugly. Trump advisers’ awful views on Muslims. Conservative Christians who face losing their jobs over opposition to Trump.  Here are some interesting insights on the Democrats’ focus on data rather than emotion. And this great article from Teen Vogue‘s Lauren Duca, who previously wrote the great Trump gaslighting piece.

I know nothing about  Mike Tirico, so no offense to him, but I REALLY love Bob Costas, so this makes me sad.

An infuriating number of guys on OKCupid say that they want their wife to take their names when they get married- but God forbid they consider taking hers, of course. I’d love to see how their heads would explode if their kids had the mother’s last name.

As a card-carrying introvert, I mostly agree with this.

Next time I go to New York, I’m going to try to find this dog!

I love Chrissy Metz on This Is Us, and this article about her made me smile.

For my fellow white ladies, here’s one way we can help others by being ourselves.

SNL has been awesome lately, but funnily enough, my favorite thing from this season David S. Pumpkins from last October, which has nothing at all to do with politics. I haven’t laughed this hard at SNL since Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals.

And food! I just made this recipe, from Bookriot of all places, and it was fantastic. 3-ingredient cookie dough truffles from Running with Spoons- I love her recipes and can’t wait to make these! These, too.