Unambitious Loser With Happy, Fulfilling Life Still Lives In Home Town | The Onion “I’ve known Mike my whole life and he’s a good guy, but it’s pretty pathetic that he’s still living on the same street he grew up on and experiencing a deep sense of personal satisfaction,” childhood friend David Gorman said of the unaspiring, completely gratified do-nothing. “As soon as Mike graduated from college, he moved back home and started working at a local insurance firm. Now, he’s nearly 30 years old, living in the exact same town he was born in, working at the same small-time job, and is extremely contented in all aspects of his home and professional lives. It’s really sad.” Ballet, Cursing ,and Tears | Life Rearranged “Your daughter has suffered oxygen deprivation. It is as if she had a near drowning. Adults with that level of trauma would not be capable of getting much better. But young brains are very plastic and can do amazing things. We can’t know where she will end up, but know that her needs can be that she might never walk or talk and have severe needs her whole life…or her brain might heal itself and she will grow to be completely typical. Or anything in between. We can only wait and see.” And there she was. Standing like a big girl. BEAMING. In a hot pink tutu. And I wanted to scrawl my own F*%^ you to the Universe too. Because We Got This.” Congress should focus on interstate, rather than international adoptions | The Washington Post “Yet no state has been punished for violating that provision. And states often require families to wait one year after their home study has been completed before they are even allowed to look at a child in another state. Barriers to interstate adoption exist because the United States does not have one nationwide child welfare system; each state has its own. Each state’s primary interest is the adoption of its residents. Each state expends resources to recruit and train prospective adoptive families, and it receives nothing in return if that family adopts from elsewhere. Effectively, if a New Jersey family adopts a child from New York, New York wins and New Jersey loses. This is an acute problem for children in metropolitan areas that straddle two or more states, such as New York City, Philadelphia, Washington or Chicago.” Why Sara Palin Is Right About Baptism by Waterboarding- #Americanbaptism | Patheos via David Henson “We baptized ourselves, too. And we died to the old self — the one that at least appeared to value due process, international justice, and respect for human dignity. And in the process, we became new creations that valued security at all costs, even our own humanity. We were all baptized in the waters of torture, and we were complicit in the human rights abuses of our nation through our silence or apathetic statements of protest.” I Can’t Do Baby Showers… and 6 Other Things People With Infertility Want to Tell You | Parenting “The support I received was indescribable, but even with all the outpouring of love and support, some days were still emotionally harder than others. Infertility really does leave you raw. Baby showers and pregnancy announcements were two of the most difficult things for me to face emotionally when I dealt with infertility. It can be so painful to be in an environment where you’re perpetually reminded of the one thing you want more than anything in the world that a disease prevents you from having. If you know your friend has infertility and declines your shower invitation, it’s nothing personal. We are overjoyed for your joy – but it is overshadowed by our own private pain and sometimes we just need the space to cope and heal on our own.” 
Via Design Sponge Counterattacking the Gay Evangelical | Daily Beast “Because America’s evangelical churches have ostracized the GLBTQ communities for far too long, using a dehumanizing doctrine as weaponry, making God into little more than a big invisible bully. But that’s what happens when people are intoxicated with certainty; they sacrifice their faith in favor of control, manipulation, and self-interest. While a growing number of gay-affirming evangelicals are using their influence to promote an inclusive faith for all — the lead singer of Jars of Clay joined the chorus just this week—those of us promoting a more progressive gospel—at least, for now—are very much in the evangelical minority.” 3 Pitfalls to Avoid When Talking About Race | Code Switch: NPR We are often uncomfortable with the idea that it takes a specific focus on racial, ethnic and gender diversity to break down these long-standing traditions in hiring, education, housing and more. We don’t want to believe we could still be living in an America where race makes a difference. I’m convinced we won’t really learn how to deal with these issues until we learn how to talk about them
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