as i live and breathe – 𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙣?

he habitually forgets about those who will eat whatever comes out of that pot or pan, come hell or high water

I wonder if Tom, as a mainlander, perhaps felt safer with their baby being born in a "proper" hospital with more supports. We've already seen the island's medical staff runs lean. So the two set off on the ferry, and something goes wrong. Tom is consciously adamant that whatever happened to Lauren has a natural, perhaps idiopathic, reason – but subconsciously, I think this is when the seed of Widow's Bay lore starts to germinate. From that subterranean viewpoint, trying to leave hurt his wife and took his son's mother away.

So he operates with this exasperation that overlays the usual mayoral exhaustion. Why? Because the island is a superficially and elementally dysfunctional system, and Tom can feel how nothing he does as mayor will right it enough for what has gone wrong. And engaging with the superficial dysfunction while being ignorant of the elemental (inviting mainlanders to the island) is as much of a kick to the hornet's nest as that fateful ferry ride.

Even with his eye beginning to open, Tom is still caught between the superficial and the elemental, between lying to maintain the natural and fearing the supernatural – while either* can take away Evan, who is around the age at which independence and conformity feel equally imperative. A stranger could sense in 10 minutes that Tom Loftis thinks more highly of the mainland; there's no reason his son shouldn't get to visit or go to college there with his father's full-hearted blessing, and they both know it. But one thinks the reason is natural; the other knows that it's supernatural.

If the Loftis father-son confrontation results in Evan making plans to leave the island, Tom will be heartbroken but relieved that his son technically can.

PATRICIA: "The perfect hostess exudes confidence, effortless and elegant."

WIDOW’S BAY

I am in the middle of a flight to St. Louis to give a reading. I was reading a New Yorker story that made me think of my mother and all alone in the seat I whispered to her “I know, Mother, I know.” (Found a pen!) And I thought of you — someday flying somewhere all alone and me dead perhaps and you wishing to speak to me.

And I want to speak back. (Linda, maybe it won’t be flying, maybe it will be at your own kitchen table drinking tea some afternoon when you are 40. Anytime.) — I want to say back.

1st I love you.

You never let me down.

I know. I was there once. I too, was 40 with a dead mother who I needed still. . . .

This is my message to the 40 year old Linda. No matter what happens you were always my bobolink, my special Linda Gray. Life is not easy. It is awfully lonely. I know that. Now you too know it — wherever you are, Linda, talking to me. But I’ve had a good life — I wrote unhappy — but I lived to the hilt. You too, Linda — Live to the HILT! To the top. I love you 40 year old, Linda, and I love what you do, what you find, what you are!—Be your own woman. Belong to those you love. Talk to my poems, and talk to your heart — I’m in both: if you need me. I lied, Linda. I did love my mother and she loved me. She never held me but I miss her, so that I have to deny I ever loved her — or she me! Silly Anne! So there!

XOXOXO Mom

It's only a 12 hour experience. Oh, my God!

"As I look around this room at friends old and new… I feel grateful. For there is always time to change the course of history. And tonight, tomorrow starts today."

For those who don't know, recently this Bill was proposed in Parliament in Aotearoa New Zealand by an MP from New Zealand First, a right-wing party that makes up part of our current coalition government:

This Bill proposes adding definitions of "woman", "female", "man" and "male" to the Legislation Act 2019, making these the new legal definitions of these terms that apply across all New Zealand Legislation.

This Bill ignores the fact that trans people in Aotearoa have been able to legally amend their gender markers since 1995, and that people can register their legal gender as non-binary. It also fails to account for the existence of intersex people and general variations of sex characteristics that make this binary impractical (and ironic given the use of the term "biological reality"). AND it does not take into account the fact that Māori (the indigenous people of Aotearoa) recognise multiple genders and did not follow gender roles as westerners see them until colonialism happened.

On top of all that, the claims of protecting the integrity of sex-based rights fall short when you realise that the ambiguity of what "adult" refers to here will actually potentially remove rights, especially around reproductive rights of young people.

The Bill was read at Parliament, and the other parties making up the coalition voted to allow the Bill to pass on to a select committee to review the Bill, gather information, and make a formal report for the House with their recommendations. A part of this process is accepting public submissions.

People can make submissions in support of or in opposition to the proposed bill. You can make your submission online here:

https://www3.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/make-a-submission/document/54SCSSC_SCF_9E8E8A14-A51C-4567-AB33-08DE9053A7D1/legislation-definitions-of-woman-and-man-amendment-bill

If you need support with drafting your bill, there is a guide on the Parliament website, and some helpful folks have put together a site of resources including a submission generator. (If people have more resources for support, please feel free to add them in reblogs or comments)

Submissions close on Thursday, 02 July 2026 at 23:59 New Zealand Time.