Certified Oaks Hater

Dear mom and dad,

Last night when I went to go to bed I heard you talking in hushed voices and in serious tones. My first thought was oh no they’ve finally found some sort of proof that I’m gay, something that I can’t deny this time and I was terrified. My mind instantly started thinking of everything I could possibly say and then I finally thought of something that I wish I could say but there’s are to many risks so I’m going to write it down here:

Look mom and dad yes I’m gay and guess what I’m even non binary and I know you aren’t going to like that. You’ve said all my life that we should love gay people but that doesn’t mean we have to accept them but the thing is I want acceptance because I’m always going to be like this and nothing will change it. All my life you’ve told me that God said that marriage should be between a man and a woman and everything else is evil and wrong but you see I refuse to believe in a God that would create these children that he loves and make them gay but then say no you can’t marry the person you love because if that’s how God works than I refuse to accept a hateful god (not to mention there are so many things about religion that can be disproven by science and logic). The fact that I’m non binary makes it worse, you’ve always been against anyone who’s not cis but oh well.

There’s so much more I could start to say but that’s for another time

Love,

Here's one of the ones you hear less often:

See, like many other Christian sects, the Mormons really do believe that the existence of Christ obviates the existence of Judaism. Judaism was just a placeholder until the "real" church could be established by Jesus.

And the Mormons in particular believe, dead ass, that the entire inheritance of Israel has been given to them, because the Jews failed to recognize the Messiah when he was on Earth. They really do. They have this whole system where people are given a "divine revelation" about which of the Tribes of Israel they're a member of (don't worry, they decided that most people belong to the two tribes that are willing to "adopt" people. Only the most specialest boys and girls are members of the original ten).

Let's sum up so far. The Mormons believe that they are the people of Israel, chosen and protected by God. If Jews want to get back in on that party, they can always repent and convert to Mormonism, the one true church to which God gave all the rights and blessings that were originally bestowed on Abraham's house.

But it doesn't stop there!

The Mormons also believe, in all seriousness, that all Indigenous peoples of the Americas are descended from a small group of Jewish people who left just before the fall of Jerusalem (~600 bc iirc). Their entire weird-ass extra bible is a chronicle of those people's history in [unspecific part of America]. At the very beginning of the book, two brothers in the original family turn away from god, so they and all their descendants are cursed with dark skin, so that the good Nephites (who remain "white and delightsome") will always be able to tell themselves apart from the wicked Lamanites.

So, you've got supposedly Jewish people running around the Americas. And the "good" ones are white, and the "bad" ones are brown. Then, ofc, Jesus comes to visit them (I guess supposedly that's part of what he was doing during his dirt nap? Or possibly after he left again, it's not clear), and they all convert to Christianity, which they think is clearly the natural evolution of Judaism. Well, at the end of the book, all of them become wicked, in a kind of weird pseudo-apocalyptic series of events. They are all cursed with dark skin, until such time as they repent for their ancestors sins and return to the gospel.

But of course, Mormons being the good and kind people they are, they want everyone to receive the blessings of God and be brought into the houses of Israel etc etc. And it isn't the fault of those poor little Indigenous children that their distant ancestors turned away from God and became wicked.

So what's the natural answer? Well, Mormons are real big on missionary work, as we all know. But apparently that wasn't enough in this case.

Because the Mormon church has been one of the big players in abducting as many Indigenous children as possible, in order to indoctrinate them into being good Mormons, so that they can turn white again and be blessed. My mother remembers hearing talks about this in the 70s and 80s. The church literally had a "Lamanite Adoption Program," where families in the church were encouraged to get as many Indigenous children as possible away from their families and not let them be reunited until they were fully assimilated and ready to go back and proselytize about how wonderful the church is.

The church leadership literally talked about how wonderful it was to see these children becoming whiter. Actually whiter. Like, saying that when they finally saw them with their families again, it was beautiful how much paler they were.

I'm pretty sure this program has been officially ended, but it doesn't take a genius to speculate about who might be behind the curtains on the movement in the western US to gut the ICWA....

Yesterday (Wednesday) two of my cats had a vet appointment. It ended up being over double ($820) what I thought it was going to be due to the different vaccines and such that they needed. I had to completely drain what little I had left in my savings for trying to go back to school next year in order to pay off enough of my credit card just to be able to have enough left till I hit my limit that the transaction would be approved.

The problem comes in that my other two cats have their vet appointment this upcoming Wednesday. Its pribably going to be about the same cost and I no longer have any savings left to burn in order to try and be able to pay this, I have $23 left in my bank account I'm not getting paid until the 23rd and that entire paycheck has to go towards rent. I'm desperately trying to doordash as much as I can despite being in the middle of a pretty bad fatigue flare but there's only so much I can do an I don't think it'll be enough.

Please if anyone can help at all or just share this post I would appreciate it so much I'm freaking the fuck out.

My Venmo is @phantom-mice

Here are the kitties for anyone wondering. Babka is the orange cat in the two pics with just one orange cat Challah is the orange cat in the pic with him and the tuxedo cat. The tuxedo cat is Juicebox and the black cat is Jojo (yes after JoJo's bizarre adventure)

Yesterday (Wednesday) two of my cats had a vet appointment. It ended up being over double ($820) what I thought it was going to be due to the different vaccines and such that they needed. I had to completely drain what little I had left in my savings for trying to go back to school next year in order to pay off enough of my credit card just to be able to have enough left till I hit my limit that the transaction would be approved.

The problem comes in that my other two cats have their vet appointment this upcoming Wednesday. Its pribably going to be about the same cost and I no longer have any savings left to burn in order to try and be able to pay this, I have $23 left in my bank account I'm not getting paid until the 23rd and that entire paycheck has to go towards rent. I'm desperately trying to doordash as much as I can despite being in the middle of a pretty bad fatigue flare but there's only so much I can do an I don't think it'll be enough.

Please if anyone can help at all or just share this post I would appreciate it so much I'm freaking the fuck out.

My Venmo is @phantom-mice

Yesterday (Wednesday) two of my cats had a vet appointment. It ended up being over double ($820) what I thought it was going to be due to the different vaccines and such that they needed. I had to completely drain what little I had left in my savings for trying to go back to school next year in order to pay off enough of my credit card just to be able to have enough left till I hit my limit that the transaction would be approved.

The problem comes in that my other two cats have their vet appointment this upcoming Wednesday. Its pribably going to be about the same cost and I no longer have any savings left to burn in order to try and be able to pay this, I have $23 left in my bank account I'm not getting paid until the 23rd and that entire paycheck has to go towards rent. I'm desperately trying to doordash as much as I can despite being in the middle of a pretty bad fatigue flare but there's only so much I can do an I don't think it'll be enough.

Please if anyone can help at all or just share this post I would appreciate it so much I'm freaking the fuck out.

My Venmo is @phantom-mice

Transcript:

(Speaker is facing a door at the back of the room. They turn around to face the camera in a wheelchair. Speaking begins)

Speaker: “So my neighbour saw me in my wheelchair for the first time today and asked what was wrong and if I was okay so welcome to my new segment-”

(Speaker slowly stands up out of wheelchair)

(A very quick transition and a black cane appears in their right hand. The wheelchair is no longer on screen)

(The title ‘Cane and Ableism’ flashes up on screen in bigger yellow font)

Speaker: “So shocking bit of info up top, I’m disabled. But whether I’m using this”

(Speaker gestures to cane. There’s a very quick transition where the cane disappears and is replaced by two red forearm crutches)

Speaker: “Or this. Or wheelchair.”

(Another transition. The forearm crutches disappear. The wheelchair is back on screen and the speaker slowly sits back down)

Speaker: “It shouldn’t be treated any differently. However whether it is consciously or subconsciously, society has created a hierarchy, a evolutionary chart of disability mobility aids, where wheelchairs, power chairs are at the bottom.”

(A short pause. Speaker stands up. Wheelchair disappears after a transition and the red forearm crutches return)

Speaker: “Crutches, walkers etc. In the middle”

(Right forearm crutch is held up higher and then another transition. The Crutches are replaced again with the black cane in the right hand)

Speaker: “The cane is just above that, and, of course, the alpha….”

(cane disappears, there are no mobility aids in shot)

Speaker: “To nothing at all. Now this is where it can get tricky, and this line of thinking can lead to ableism and internalised ableism, because the people who need mobility aids are doing everything they can to fight against it so they can stay right here.”

(speaker gestures to self, standing without the aid of a mobility aid)

Speaker: “So is here better? Well for me personally, here’s where I have the most pain. Now if I were to go to this”

(Quick transition. Cane pops back into frame in speaker’s right hand)

Speaker: “This (the cane) has less pain.”

(Transition between cane and red forearm crutches. The cane is gone. The crutches are on either arm.)

Speaker: “This (the forearm crutches) is less pain”

(Transition. Forearm crutches have disappeared. The wheelchair is back on screen. The speaker lowers themself to sit in it.)

Speaker: “And this (the wheelchair) barely any pain at all. So when we say what’s better, what we’re really saying is what’s better for society, when we should be saying what’s better for you.”

(Speaker points quickly to the camera)

Speaker: “And you’re the one that matters the most.”