People Should Have Things

In November my brain is usually 100 percent dedicated to writing, if we assume that 100 percent means of my free time. And that I also eat, clean, socialize and all those other pesky tasks that keep one functional. Oh right, and work a full time job. 

The job is in benefits. And while I do consider myself an expert on USian benefits, I am also a rando on the Internet. And I am not your benefits expert.

But such are things, that it seems necessary to state, people should have food. The federal government provides useful services that should be happening and in most cases right now are not. The ones that are, are not being paid, which sucks. (Not being able to work the job you were hired for and should be getting paid for also sucks.) 

In the US we treat healthcare as a bonus, a buy up, a nice to have, even though not having healthcare makes people sicker. 

Making healthcare an insurance proposition means one of two things. It either works like car insurance, where they make a bet based on your age, zip code and a few other factors and charge you based on that. This is how individual plans and therefore all state marketplace plans work. 

The advantage of employer based plans is that employees of a certain size can offer a large population that likely has a mix of old, young, risky, and unrisky people. So they can negotiate for a rate that is better. 

The more expensive healthcare gets, the more people who don't use it much drop it (to say nothing of those who can't afford it). This means the people still on it are higher users. This means the costs go up for everyone in a vicious cycle. 

And some of those people who gambled or hoped they wouldn't need it will be wrong. And they will show up in emergency rooms for something that probably could have been solved sooner with access to healthcare. 

Basically, all the choices this country is currently making are going to result in various combinations of death, illness, and injury. Sure, some people will be fine.

But we are treating food, paychecks, and healthcare as nice to haves, instead of the necessary things that they are. 

I am sorry for everyone affected by this. Please be kind and generous to your neighbors. This struggle is going to hit everyone on multiple fronts. 

November

I got an alert from one of my discords on Saturday and thought, oh wow, they must be prepping to write for some reason. And then I realized it was November 1st. One of the things that happens when a large group you participated in cracks to reveal all the people it was harming along the way is a odd disconnect. How could this thing that was great for me have been bad for others? Am I an idiot for not realizing what was happening? Are the accomplishments I had while part of this group tainted? 

And those questions often lead people discard the harm. (Witness the former head of NaNo restarting NaNo while putting up a disclaimer that he wasn't there when things got bad so has no idea how it happened and also no apparent reflection on starting a new group with any safeguards to prevent a repeat.)

Writing in community is great. I personally am editing right now because I am so close to done on this story that I can taste it.

If writing in community helped you write, but the community turned out to be flawed, find a new community. If writing in community helped you write, but the community was flawed, you can reflect and learn and listen to try and be more aware. If writing in community helped you write, you are a writer. You did the thing. 

If writing in community didn't help you write, well, now you know more about your process. Also true if it did help. Learning about your process is always good. 

And if you are writing this month, there are tons of great groups you can join, locally, regionally, online. If communities help you, there are plenty to join. 

One Small Thing

One person I follow on social media likes to remind people that small donations add up. Times are freaking hard right now, so if you are already digging under the couch cushions for basic things, I do not mean you. Keep you clothed and fed first. 

But for those of us with just a teeny bit extra, or those with a little more, it can feel like can't you fix anything if you are not a millionaire. And the answer is, yes you can. For me I picked a small amount I can usually swing and then decided I would donate that. That way I don't have to keep deciding how much, when, and where. And I'm going to tell you what I just told myself. It doesn't matter if I donate here, or there, or there. They all need help. Pick one and do it. 

It's funny I showed up this weekend at a local restaurant and the very kind staffer just gave me a total. And I was perplexed but I literally order the same thing every time. So he rang up my order and then asked me if I wanted it to go or to eat outside. 

Now technically this place is a burger place, so they make like two things. But yeah, I get the same thing each time and that meant he didn't need me to order, we just moved to the next step. 

And if course if you knit, or write, or make other things you know that lots of small steps add up. Every hat or sweater starts with one stitch. 

Helping, whether it's donating or something else can be like that.  Need is great. Everywhere you help helps. Just pick something and go.

Digital Collection

With Pocket shutting down I've had to sort of revisit a lot of links from days of yore. I started with Pocket when it was called Read it Later. It made scrolling social media easier, because I could save things and come back to them. I had recipes I referred to frequently in there. I stored all the articles I was saving for Three Interesting Things in there.

But there's also a crap ton of links I never read. Someone once said when your TBR pile isn't speaking to you there's sometimes a mismatch between who you are and who you wish to be. Some of those links just got buried too far down for me to ever find them again. (In the olden days, it told you how many links you had. And then it stopped. Which meant it could be a thousand it could be ten, I have no idea.) 

And while I am always sad when yet another useful digital tool bites the dust, I also recognize that I probably should have cleared out those links anyway. A friend of mine regularly announces digital bankruptcy and says that she's just clearing all her mentions and if she missed you, please try again. And I get it. Sometimes you just can't sift through 400 things to find the three important ones. You just have to move on. 

Tara Kennedy

Note: If you are reading this outside of your normal work hours, feel free to hold off response until your work hours.  

~To the world we dream about, and the one we live in now. 

"Hadestown", book and lyrics by Anais Mitchell

The Truth About Endings

I am a firm firm spoiler hater.  But it is less about thinking that the ending give something away.  I mean occasionally it does.  And sure, I did recently look up spoilers for something, but it was something I already knew I was going to not watch, so I think that's different.  When talking about romance and how the core promise of romance (not all stories, to be clear, just those purporting to be romance) is a happy ending, people often say something silly like, well if you know how it ends, what's the fun.  And they are wrong.  I assume if you are here, you know this.  Because of course we are here for the journey.  Not just the resolution.  I assume people read books about mountain climbers already knowing if they reached the top of the mountain.  

And recently I read Suzanne Collins' Sunrise Over the Reaping, and oh wow.  Now, to be clear, this is not a romance.  This - for those who have not been following The Hunger Games, is the story of Haymitch's hunger game.  So, you know how it ends.  Because (spoiler warning for book from 2008 that has already been made into a movie) Haymitch won his game.  So, see, what is there to learn?  Except of course there is everything to learn.  And it is heartbreaking, and funny, and touching as you follow Haymitch through his game, see him interact with other characters we know, and several we didn't.  I had to take breaks while reading it because I was very stressed out and the book was making me more stressed.  I had to blink back tears at one point.  

And romances are often the same.  Knowing the characters will get together is somewhat relieving, but it doesn't mean they can't or won't hurt each other, surprise each other, and even sometimes just be incredibly thoughtful about each other.  Watching all the things they love about each other, watching them see how amazing the other is, is an incredible journey.  And if the individuality of each wasn't interesting, you would only ever have to read one.  Instead we are blessed with a cornucopia of choices.  

And for people who don't like knowing the ending, there are also books for you too.