yergah

death take me now & spare me the pain, she said. it was difficult for me to get that excited. get a grip, i said, it's only yoga.

[story people]

how many people can live on planet earth?

this bbc documentary is incredible and terrifying all at the same time. i highly recommend this foray into a huge issue that is easy to push to the back of our privileged minds but will certainly arrive at the forefront in no time flat.

for my part, i support women's access to affordable birth control and only wash my hair once or twice a week.

what can you do to help?

[if you have questions about the hair washing - just ask. dry shampoo has changed my life]

more soon. my effervescent brother benjamin came here for thanksgiving and we had a lovely time. 

the christmas decorations are also now up. tis the season!

excuse me while i go study more and listen to some jolly tunes - prolly my go-to: sufjan stevens

xoxo,

k

my blerg

do you know what i like to call my blog? my blerg. yeah. it sounds better than blog. i hate that word, blog. say it out loud and you'll wonder why that word exists. so do me a favor and if you're chatting with someone about what lame thing kate wrote on her blog, call it kate's blerg. you're welcome.

in other news - the leaves just keep falling off the trees around here. watching them drift to the ground makes my blood pressure spike a little bit. i feel like i'm in a race to get everything productive done before they all fall, because once they do i'll really be feeling the winter funk. and you'll hear about it all winter with melancholy posts yearning for spring.

but.

something to look forward to:

my little bro is coming to town for thanksgiving! i am so stinking excited, i hope he will be able to put up with me for a whole week.

and also, something else super exciting:

my aunt cassy aptly pointed out that my dear grandfather, a veteran who we are all so proud of, would have been so happy with this veterans day present.

k-state tailgating in the good ol days - i love this photo

off to do things,

k and e

well said, mr. president

"What makes America exceptional are the bonds that hold together the most diverse nation on earth. The belief that our destiny is shared; that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations. The freedom which so many Americans have fought for and died for come with responsibilities as well as rights. And among those are love and charity and duty and patriotism. That's what makes America great. 

I am hopeful tonight because I've seen the spirit at work in America . . . I've seen it on the shores of New Jersey and New York, where leaders from every party and level of government have swept aside their differences to help a community rebuild from the wreckage of a terrible storm. And I saw just the other day, in Mentor, Ohio, where a father told the story of his 8-year-old daughter, whose long battle with leukemia nearly cost their family everything had it not been for health care reform passing just a few months before the insurance company was about to stop paying for her care. 

I had an opportunity to not just talk to the father, but meet this incredible daughter of his. And when he spoke to the crowd listening to that father's story, every parent in that room had tears in their eyes, because we knew that little girl could be our own. And I know that every American wants her future to be just as bright. That's who we are. That's the country I'm so proud to lead as your president."

[barack obama]

p.s. look, how cute is this little american success story of a pup??

princess eleanor rose 2016

#20mintes, or my last post before the election

the year was 1993. the cast of characters included many prominent republican senators (orrin hatch and bob dole among many others) as well as the heritage foundation who put their heads together and proposed a free market health reform bill dubbed the ‘health equity and access reform today act’. this act held basically the exact same provisions as today’s ‘affordable care act’ (or ‘obamacare’). 

in ’93, this bill gained widespread republican support. today, it has tea partiers screaming ‘socialisim and death panels!’

what is the difference?

the political climate, i suppose. for today’s republicans to support a bill that was birthed by the heritage foundation but proposed by a democrat who they pledged to defy at every step is apparently TOO MUCH TO HANDLE.

that is why i’m casting my ballot for barack obama. regardless of the circus on capitol hill, i believe that this country needs to move forward and put patients over politics. as a healthcare professional, i know the affordable care act does just that. mitt romney (among other things) has promised to repeal the affordable care act. my conscience cannot allow me to vote for a man who would take us a step back into the days when children can be denied health insurance for having a pre-existing condition, or where grandparents have to choose between buying food or their life saving drugs, or where 1 american dies every 20 minutes because of a lack of access to healthcare.

that is not the america i want to live in.

that is why i'm a healthcare voter, and why you should be too.

do you like my bracelet?

me in micro lab today

via

nov 1

hey friendly friends. not feeling great today - hopefully just a transient little viral bug that will go away asap. anyway, i headed to the grocery store to whip up a vegetarian version of my favorite broccoli cheddar comfort soup and i realized how much i miss my family. when i lived at home my dear mother took such good care of me when i felt under the weather. 

photo and recipe via

you know what? even though it is hard to live so far away, i can't help but be grateful for the people whose absence i feel so deeply. winnie the pooh says it best:

How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.

now let's just hope this pharyngitis goes on its merry way.