stuff! things!

"It would have been easier if you'd just said yes."

TJ MIKELOGAN's HALLOWEEN HORROR 2025 EVENT DAY 2: Horror icons — Sidney Prescott, Scream (1996)

Taylor Dearden as Dr. Melissa King in

That’s funny, ‘cause if I’m being honest, all week, I’ve just been so sad. I just feel like my expectations were too high, or… I just feel like, as you get older, you have to justify your life, you know? And your choices. And… when I’m with you guys, it’s just so, like… like, transparent what my choices were, and my mistakes. I have no belief system. And I… Well, I mean, I’ve had a lot of them, but… I mean, work was my religion for forever, but I definitely lost my belief there. And then — And then I tried love, and that was just a painful religion, just made everything worse. And then, even for me, just, like, being a mother, that didn’t save me either. 

If you live in a represented territory in the U.S., here is a script from a beloved friend and ex-USAID staffer that you can say to your Congressional reps. Find their numbers here.

"Hello Representative [XYZ], My name is [XYZ] and I live in [XYZ]. I’m calling to urge you to reclaim Congressional power and ensure USAID's continued operations. The agency has broad bipartisan support, positively impacts US businesses and domestic security, and is crucial to US influence abroad.  Protecting this agency and its mission from biased political interference during your tenure will impact my vote in the next election. Thank you.”

I understand that a phrase like "US influence abroad" might feel distasteful to those of us who think US influence abroad is, and has been, Bad Actually. I think of it like I am playing a part where I have to pretend that we all agree this country is good so that fewer people die. USAID is one of the few agencies that is redistributing this country's resources globally in a useful way; I believe that is worth making an effort to protect.