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Not sure if you have been playing board games or card games during the quarantine. The worst part of learning a new game is having 4 people loudly yell the rules at you at the same time. And they never give the rules in the right order. “EVERYONE GETS 5 CARDS! DON’T EAT THE POTATO […]

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Does anyone remember watching long movies (like ‘Titanic’) on VHS tape and having to switch tapes in the middle of the movie? Like, halfway through the movie it would just stop, and you would have to get up and find the second VHS tape to watch the second half of the movie? Oof, and sometimes […]

QUARANTINE TIP – Get a new plant for your home, to prove to yourself you can take care of something plastic. Yeah, get a plastic plant. Make it easy on yourself. We can all use a win right now. HI! PLEASE DISABLE YOUR ADBLOCKER OR WHITELIST US! IT MEANS A LOT! THANK YOU!!

It’s fun to say “laminating” with an Arnold Schwarzenegger accent, because it sounds like you’re a killer lamb. Wow…why would we write that? We’ve been sitting inside for too long. HELLO! FOLLOW @LAMEBOOK ON INSTAGRAM! THANKS!!

It’s Cinco De Mayo! Stay safe! HI! PLEASE FOLLOW @LAMEBOOK ON INSTAGRAM! THANK YOU!!

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HI! FOLLOW @LAMEBOOK ON INSTAGRAM, PLEASE! THANKS!!

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HELLO! PLEASE DISABLE YOUR ADBLOCKER OR WHITELIST US! YOU’LL SEE A COUPLE OF BANNER ADS, BUT IT MEANS A LOT TO US! WE APPRECIATE YOUR SUPPORT! THANK YOU!!

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HI! PLEASE DISABLE YOUR ADBLOCKER OR WHITELIST US! YOUR SUPPORT MEANS A LOT! THANK YOU!!

The glass is always half-empty if you spilled the first-half down your shirt. HEY! FOLLOW @LAMEBOOK ON INSTAGRAM! THANKS!!

HEY! FOLLOW @LAMEBOOK ON INSTAGRAM! THANKS!

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The Hawai’i State Commission on the Status of Women introduced a ‘feminist economic recovery plan’ that is designed to help women recover from the economic hardships created by the coronavirus pandemic. The plan is the first of its’ kind in the nation. The plan, called “Building Bridges, Not Walking on Backs: A Feminist Economic Recovery Plan for COVID-19,” centers women from the most marginalized groups that have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. The plan not only proposes measures that will help aid in recovery from the economic fallout of the virus, but also introduces fundamental changes to the way women’s work is valued and compensated. “I have not seen any state or nation propose a feminist economic recovery, a recovery that explicitly centers women or attempts to counteract patriarchy,” said Khara Jabola-Carolus, executive director of the commission. “Even proposals from left movements in the U.S. are missing this. They are bold on race and class, but gender is taken for granted. People don’t seem to understand the fundamental role of patriarchy, and how to tie gender in with race and class. So, I turned to the people with real power — women organizing in our communities who are active inside […]

As with most issues in the United States, Black Americans and female Americans are the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. On April 6, Louisiana was the first state to release data on Covid-19 broken down by race. Its report showed that while African American’s make up 33% of the state’s population, they accounted for 70% of those dead from the virus at the time. Other cities and states soon followed suit with their own reports as the federal government remained silent on the issue. These reports showed, one after another, that areas with large populations of Black people have been ravaged with disproportionately high numbers of Covid-19 cases and deaths. Wisconsin reported that while Black people make up 7% of the state’s population, they made up 33% of the state’s deaths. In Michigan, the numbers are 14% of the population versus 40% of the deaths. In New York, Black people are twice as likely to die from the virus as white people. The pandemic has further exposed the stark racial divide in health in our nation. Black American communities face extreme situations of environmental racism which leads to underlying health issues like which make these communities more vulnerable to […]

Arkansas’s only in-clinic abortion provider, Little Rock Family Planning Services, is suing the state to challenge a rule requiring patients to get a COVID-19 test within 48 hours of their abortion procedure. This is the second time Arkansas abortion providers have had to fight a legal battle to protect abortion access during the COVID-19 pandemic. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), representing Little Rock Family Planning Services, argues that the Department of Health rule severely restricts abortion access, especially for patients who are close to Arkansas’s 20-week gestational limit. Little Rock Family Planning Services reports that it has been unable to find any COVID-19 testing location that will test asymptomatic people and provide results within 48 hours. “For women who cannot obtain access to COVID-19 NAAT testing within 48-hours of their procedures, the Directive entirely bars them from exercising their constitutional right to receive pre-viability abortion care in Arkansas,” wrote the ACLU in the lawsuit. Last month, Arkansas tried to halt all but “immediately medically necessary” abortions during the coronavirus pandemic. The ACLU challenged that order, and a federal judge issued a restraining order to allow abortion care to continue as normal. A week later, the Eighth Circuit Court of […]

A federal judge dealt a significant blow to the U.S. Women’s national team’s fight for equality on Friday. While the U.S. women’s team’s claim of unequal working conditions can go forward, a federal judge rejected the player’s claims of pay inequality. In March 2019, the USWNT filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation. The suit alleges the U.S. Soccer Federation’s has federally discriminatory payment practices, arguing that they pay women less than men “for substantially equal work and by denying them at least equal playing, training, and travel conditions; equal promotion of their games; equal support and development for their games; and other terms and conditions of employment equal to the MNT.” Judge R. Gary Klausner wrote in his decision that USWNT members did not prove wage discrimination under the Equal Pay Act because the women’s team played more games and made more money than the men’s team. Furthermore, the women’s team also rejected a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) where they would have an identical pay structure to the men’s team in favor of a different CBA. This CBA guarantees players are compensated regardless of whether they play, while the men’s CBA does not. “This approach — merely comparing […]

Amidst great economic and political pressure to reopen in the fall, American colleges and universities must choose between enormous risk and liability if they do open and bankruptcy if they do not. Colleges and universities are among the most vulnerable institutions to disease outbreaks and would serve as efficient grounds the spread of coronavirus as students on campus share close spaces. Students are in close contact in classes, dining halls, clubs, sports, dorms, parties, events, games, assemblies, and meetings. Students could bring the virus to campus upon arrival and bring it home during breaks and holidays. Schools are worried about lawsuits in the case of outbreaks on campus, adding to the risk of reopening in the fall. If schools choose not to reopen this fall, they could lose half of their revenue and ultimately not recover, either filing for bankruptcy or closing permanently. Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are being hit the hardest by the financial burden of the pandemic and because African Americans are bearing a disproportionate share of the pandemic, school populations of HBCUs are more likely to be impacted by Covid-19. In response to political pressure from the GOP to reopen in the fall, schools are […]

Covid-19 is shining yet another spotlight on American systemic racism as African Americans face higher rates of death from coronavirus, as well as policing in the form of social distancing patrols, which are often racially disparate, inequitable, and aggressive. A majority of businesses have reduced operations or closed, but the NYPD has not slowed operations at all during the pandemic. Even in the midst of a historic crisis, the police oppression of Black and Brown communities perseveres. Earlier this week in New York City’s East Village, the violent arrest of a Black man allegedly defying social distancing orders was captured on camera by a witness. This was one of three arrests in the area that day by unmasked officers breaking the very social distancing rules they were ostensibly enforcing. All of these arrests have been condemned by the Legal Aid Society which is asking the NYPD to reconsider their selective social distancing enforcement. The NYPD is currently investigating the incident. In Philadelphia last month, mask requirements on public transportation led to the accosting of a Black bus rider by eight or nine police officers who then forced him off the bus instead of handing him a mask as they have […]

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will consider yet another case regarding whether employers can decline to cover contraceptives in their health care plans. Reproductive rights groups warn that depending on the outcome of the case, tens of thousands of American women could lose vital contraceptive coverage. The case, Little Sisters of the Poor and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania, involves a 2017 Trump administration rule change that significantly broadened who can claim an exemption to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) contraceptive coverage mandate. The 2017 rule change, issued without a notice of proposed rulemaking or public comment opportunity, expanded the scope of religious exemptions and added an additional moral exemption claim. States had successfully challenged the rule, calling it a violation of the constitution, federal anti-discrimination law, and the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). A federal appeals court issued an injunction, preventing the Trump administration from enforcing the rule until the case was decided. Both the district court and the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed that states were likely to succeed on their APA claim. The court will now consider whether the Little Sisters of the Poor have standing and whether the Trump administration lawfully exempted religious objectors from the […]

On Sunday, May 3rd, the body of 28-year-old transgender woman Nina Pop was found in her apartment in Sikestown, Missouri. She had been stabbed multiple times, according to police. While police have not determined a motive, they are looking into the possibility of a hate crime. The LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign reported that Pop’s murder is at least the 10th violent death of a transgender or gender nonconforming person this year, and the fifth in the past month. All five of the recent victims were transgender women of color. Tori Cooper, director of community engagement for HRC’s Transgender Justice Initiative, wrote in a blog post, “for the past four weeks, we have seen the deaths of five transgender women of color in this country. We are seeing an epidemic of violence that can no longer be ignored. Transgender and gender-nonconforming people, especially trans women of color, risk our lives by living as our true selves — and we are being violently killed for doing so”. Transgender and gender nonconforming people lack expansive, explicit federal legal protections to safeguard against the vast discrimination they receive. While they are covered under the state’s hate crimes legislation, they are not explicitly […]

 A 57-year-old man from El Salvador who was being held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in California died from Covid-19 on Wednesday. This is the first confirmed death from the coronavirus at an ICE detention center. Carlos Escobar-Mejia has been detained at the center since Jan. 10 after having lived in the U.S. for 40 years. While at the detention center, he was on a list of people who are medically vulnerable to the virus and are therefore eligible for immediate release but was hospitalized before the list was fully put together. According to ICE, 705 out of 1,460 detainees tested positive for Covid-19. At the Otay Mesa center alone, there are 140 cases of Covid-19 out of the 649 detainees there, making it the facility with the largest number of positive tests among detainees. The Otay Mesa center is owned by the private prison company CoreCivic, which has not commented on the situation there. ICE maintains that it is caring for its detainees in light of the pandemic, but detainees have said that they do not have enough space to socially distance, that they do not have enough clean masks, and that guards are not adhering to CDC […]

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has issued the final version of a new rule governing how schools must handle allegations of sexual assault and harassment under Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in education. The new 2,033-page regulation increases privileges for students and faculty accused of assault and requires colleges to conduct live hearings to adjudicate allegations, a drastic change from the more survivor-friendly Obama-era policies. “This new regulation requires schools to act in meaningful ways to support survivors of sexual misconduct, without sacrificing important safeguards to ensure a fair and transparent process,” said DeVos in a statement. But women’s rights and survivor advocacy groups have condemned the rule changes since they were first proposed in 2018. They argue that the new rule unfairly favors those accused of assault, reduces schools’ responsibility for addressing harassment, and discourages survivors from coming forward. The regulation gives college students accused of assault the right to have representatives cross-examine their accusers in a live hearing, which advocacy organizations say will discourage survivors from coming forward. The regulation also reduces colleges’ responsibility to investigate allegations, only requiring investigations for complaints made to certain designated employees such as Title IX Coordinators, through a formal process. […]

Sumo deadlifts against increasing tension. It is Jan 2 and the gym is not yet full of new year’s resolutioneers. https://ift.tt/37wIcUa

Habanero miso ramen. Mmmmm. https://ift.tt/2N6KDVK

Oswin sleeping on my desk. #cat https://ift.tt/30d1MCx

Oswin: a portrait. #cat https://ift.tt/3adw6l1

I love them both about as much as they love each other. We were extraordinarily lucky with this generation of cat friends. https://ift.tt/3alml4y

Oswin enjoying her first supervised enrichment activity. It ended when the nearby construction made a loud upsetting bang. #cat https://ift.tt/2TSjmef

We made it a lot further into the yard in our second try. https://ift.tt/2GldjH7

Trapped! https://ift.tt/3aDPZSz

Oswin is starting to enjoy her backyard walks. #cat https://ift.tt/2uRzodQ

Watching the Superb Owl with this magnificent fluffer Frank. https://ift.tt/2Ok6r0O

Is there a cat in the sink?
YES. https://ift.tt/2SXh7Ux

Current status: no power at home, so an early dinner out with David instead of our planned cooking. https://ift.tt/2T0Cx3j

A bowlful of Fezzik. #cat https://ift.tt/2SWBbrF

A bowlful of Oswin. #cat https://ift.tt/380irvF

Warming up with some light deadlifts. Hashtag flex https://ift.tt/39qt7oR

Gradually putting more on the bar… https://ift.tt/2To1Nlt

Violent mutual grooming #catsofinstagram https://ift.tt/2wGSDaB

I bless your timeline with inside out Fezzik! #cat https://ift.tt/39Q0Esz

Oswin’s in the laundry basket. https://ift.tt/2IWsKXi

Today’s walk ended just as a few drops of rain fell. https://ift.tt/2xhdL7X

Thanks to Crayola for animating one of my Broken Crayon pieces! Special thanks to Crayola's Kate Loffio for being so supportive of me and my work.

Meanwhile, I am sooooooo excited about the upcoming launch of GURPLE & PREEN, a broken crayon picture book written by Linda Sue Park and illustrated by me, published by Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers! I'll be posting more info on my Broken Crayon resource page when it's available.