Reblog: Frosted Glass

via falena: Frosted Glass, a short story.

Mrs. Mendez fumed. She watched the lights go on at the neighbor’s house. The Mendezes had installed the trendiest windows they could find—frosted glass, cut into identical squares. They could see out, but anyone looking in would see just blobs and shapes. They’d see silhouettes moving in and out of shadows like creatures stretching and curling into their caves. This is why Mrs. Mendez had busted her back for twenty-five years. This is why she had arrived with her one suitcase and cleaned homes for so many years while taking classes at the community college where all her teachers assumed by her accent she understood nothing. Why she’d studied accounting with an English-to-Spanish dictionary at her side and spent years working her way up a ladder full of splinters and snapped legs at every turn. So she could have goddamn frosted glass spy windows she could see out of but nobody could see into.

Definitely worth a read, although ( smol spoilers )

Reblog: Article Rec: How to Start a Conversation Without Throwing Up

shy_magpie posted: Article Rec: How to Start a Conversation Without Throwing Up

The Lazy Genius Collective website posted: How to Start a Conversation Without Throwing Up

Super helpful quick read with examples!

And one of the examples is Park Mom!! omg the number of times I've gone to the park with Rutabaga and was like "omg there are other people, run!!" is .... high.

Reblog: 6 Epidemics That Changed History

You know one thing I really like about reblogging? It retains the attribution of the person you got the thing from. And, unlike linkspams, it's usually a post of a singular experience.

Which is to say -- I've since lost the linkspam post that I got this from, but:
6 Epidemics That Changed History

As usually when I click on these types of things, I'm wary of (a) Eurocentrism and (b) whatever the heck "changed history" means. But this one's not too bad on either of those fronts!

btw, the 6 are:
1. Malaria Outbreak in the Vatican // 1623
2. New England Smallpox Epidemic // 1721
3. Saint-Domingue Yellow Fever Epidemic // 1802
4. Third Cholera Pandemic // Mid-19th Century
4. Fijian Measles Outbreak // 1875
5. African Rinderpest Outbreak // 1890s
6. U.S. Salmonella Outbreak // 1994

(lol, there's actually 7 but the article mis-counted. Although the cholera epidemic one is kind of a gimme, so ... yah)