https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/03/headway/hoboken-floods.html?unlocked_article_code=1.9kw.gbCb.cy56uUXSa4W2
"A study released by researchers for Rebuild by Design and Ramboll, an architectural engineering firm, suggests that every dollar invested in green infrastructure ultimately yields $2 in “avoided losses” (office closures, waterlogged inventories, flooded basements) and other benefits (improved home values and public health) [...] Just days before the September storm, New York’s mayor, Eric Adams, slashed $75 million that had been slated for the city’s Parks Department to deal with a budget crunch. Disinvestment in parks is going to cost the city in the long run because parks are a first line of defense against climate change."
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yeah i can’t stop thinking about the parallels between hearth and alex’s backstories… they were both born into a life that, under slightly different circumstances, would have offered them a lot of privilege. their families had a ton of money and a good social status, and hearth and alex were, in many ways, set up for success.
but there was a catalyst for each of them, something that ended up setting them up for failure instead - the way hearth’s father reacted to him being deaf and alex’s father reacted to her being trans. both of them, despite being born into a life that would have offered them plenty, ended up ostracized and shunned from their families. constantly ridiculed and criticized and blamed for something they couldn’t control and didn’t ask for, but in a better world should have been able to celebrate. hearth should have been able to celebrate his deafness and alex should have been able to celebrate her transness, but they were both robbed of that. they were robbed of their childhoods, growing up in toxic environments and spending their formative years being abused, all for some of the only people in their lives who understood them or cared about them to die.
and yet, each of them were able to cut ties and make their own way in the world. they both managed to build a better life from the ground up, bringing together a solid group of friends to spend the rest of their life (or afterlife) with. they were both taught to hate themselves, spent every day of their childhoods being mistreated by their fathers and told they were worthless, and yet in the end they both manage to undo all that and learn how to love themselves. they learn how to celebrate the very same parts of themselves that their fathers tried to stamp out, choosing instead to surround themselves by people who care about them.
additionally, they both embody the paradox of wanting to distance themselves from their parentage and yet simultaneously reclaim it. alex wants nothing to do with any of her parents, yet deliberately reclaims loki’s urnes snake symbol. hearth has no desire to be associated with his father or former life, but reclaims the rune of inheritance.
but in reclaiming their past, neither of them return to it. alex doesn't try to go back to her house after being kicked out. hearth accepts the othala rune in the end, but after his father is killed, never returns to alfheim again. they take what's theirs, leave, and never look back. so, both of their journeys ultimately involve leaving their former lives behind - giving up privilege, wealth, social status, and the acceptance of others in order to be themselves. becoming the people they want to be, rather than the people society and their fathers wanted them to be.
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The "2SLGBTQI" cult loves to use any marginalized community to make themselves look inclusive until someone dates to criticize them. Even if that someone is a woman and survived addiction
By Shay Woulahan November 25, 2023
A museum in London, Ontario, has removed a female powerlifter from an exhibit on resilience in apparent retaliation for her vocal opposition to males participating in women’s sports. April Hutchinson said the move quickly followed her suspension from the Canadian Powerlifting Union.
Launched in October at the Museum London, the exhibition, titled “Resilient London: Meet Your Neighbours,” was intended to be an inspiration for the community and featured a diverse panel of locals alongside obstacles they had overcome. Hutchinson was featured not just as a local athlete, but also as a survivor of addiction.
But on November 10, Hutchinson received a letter from the Executive Director of the museum saying they were removing her feature from the exhibit. They stated their reasons were due to Hutchinson’s media appearances where she commented on male athletes competing in female sports. The letter accused Hutchinson of being at odds with the values of the museum, and claimed she was “denying” the existence of “transgender women.”
Signed by the museum’s executives, the letter continued by implying her public comments went against the Ontario Human Rights code, stating: “Misgendering someone intentionally is a form of discrimination.” The letter ended by saying they had made the decision to remove her from the exhibition because her comments were harmful to the “2SLGBTQI community.”
Speaking to Reduxx about her removal from the exhibit, Hutchinson expressed anger and sadness over the decision, which she says was a sudden, decisive move. Hutchinson says museum administrators were already aware of her views prior to her inclusion in the exhibit, and had still sought her out and worked with her on developing her contribution. At the time, the board director reportedly told Hutchinson that they would not police her online activity.
“I was devastated when they told me this information. I’m still so hurt. My friends and family and tons of people came out to support me. I’m still very angry and disgusted,” Hutchinson told Reduxx.
Hutchinson notes that it was only after she was suspended from the Canadian Powerlifting Union for her outspoken stance on women’s single-sex sports that the museum decided to take the opportunity to remove her display.
“The museum is basically telling women they don’t care about us. Our safety or our sports. It’s absolutely wrong. I am standing for truth and saying the things that 99% of society thinks. I will not lie to myself. I will not play charades and I will not give in to delusional thinking.”
After the Museum London removed Hutchinson, another member of the community who was featured in the exhibit celebrated the decision on social media.
Stevie Bees, a trans-identified female, took to Facebook to praise the museum for removing Hutchinson’s contribution.
“I am EXTREMELY proud to be on that wall and I also want everyone to know that Trans Women ARE Women! April Hutchinson SHOULD be deplatformed for spouting garbage like this,” Bees said, providing screenshots showing Hutchinson discussing her suspension from powerlifting for her stance on fairness in women’s sports.
Hutchinson has been outspoken in her defense of women’s sports, both in interviews and on social media. She appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored in August of this year where she argued that males should not be allowed to compete against females in powerlifting due to their inherent biological advantages.
Hutchinson has also spoken about how she approached Canada’s powerlifting governing body, the Canadian Powerlifting Union (CPU), about the issue of males participating in female competitions.
During an event hosted by Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) in June of this year, Hutchinson said the CPU told her the issue wasn’t a concern because there weren’t many trans-identified males competing in female divisions.
Earlier this month, Hutchinson was suspended from competing and is now potentially facing a two-year ban from the Canadian Powerlifting Union for airing her grievances with biological males competing in women’s sports.
The suspension and potential ban follows Hutchinson voicing concerns about Anne Andres, a trans-identified male powerlifter who had bragged about beating women and labeled female competitors “weak.” Anne Andres recently set the all-time record at the Canadian Powerlifting Union’s 2023 Western Canadian Championship after scoring over 200kg more powerlifting points than the top-performing female in the same class.
Despite her removal from the exhibit and suspension from powerlifting, Hutchinson says she’s received an outpouring of support, including from other female athletes like Martina Navratilova. She also explained that her activism is motivated by a desire to ensure safety and equal opportunities for women in sports.
“Women need and deserve their own sports. The female category has always been protected,” she says.
“My platform is about fairness and women’s sports. It has nothing to do with hate or [being] anti-trans. The museum is basically sending the message that trans rights are more important than women’s rights … but women are fighting back and we will send a stronger message: Bodies play sports not identities.”
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ugggghhh ok so I’m reading some books to prep for my student teaching in the fall, the ones that my host teacher knows are likely to be in the curriculum, and first of all why is it a thing that high schoolers are made to read Contemporary Lit Fic that can be summed up as “how many gory explicit descriptions of traumatic abuse can we fit into one book”, like every year it’s just One Standard Shakespeare Play, One Twentieth-Century American Classic, throw in some other shit, and Somebody’s Fucked-Up Memoir From A Decade Or So Ago. Are there any contemporary books that are good but NOT traumatizing? If not, I’m happy to stick to classic lit personally
ANYWAY so I’m reading this book to prep for the fall and I ended up skimming the whole latter 3/4 or so of the book to spoil it for myself so the suspense wouldn’t kill me, and now I’m up late despite being super tired because my brain is just cycling through every horrific thing in the book, plus the reviews I read online, some of which are insanely saying shit like “wah wah, get over it, stop whining, we all had rough times in our childhood” and I’m like... Am I the softest, most naive baby on the planet for reacting to this horrific memoir by feeling bad for the author and thinking that maybe we don’t need to be making high schoolers read this? I’m not saying it’s not well-written- it is well-written, and well-structured, but Jesus Christ.
(also why are we allowed to make students read horrifying memoirs of abuse but god forbid they know that slavery happened in this country, but that’s a different issue altogether)
so yeah I now have managed to make my entire evening about Trying And Failing To Get Some Images Out of My Head, which sucks because I had a LOVELY day and was looking forward to some well-earned sleep, and also I’m gonna have to go back and read the entire book so that I’m able to teach it properly and know all the literary devices in it and shit. Cool cool cool
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