Gretchen

My daughter just ate an entire bell pepper (cut into pieces) off the floor. She refused to eat when I put it on her plate, knocked it to the floor, then came back and ate it all. Follow me for more parenting tips.

My child’s Waldorf school ‘s fall performance was on Saturday. It’s put on by the parents, but includes a puppet scene by the pre-K teachers. We just found out my daughter’s teacher’s mom died the day before. She (the teacher) puppeteered with joy for an entire evening. 🥺

Remember when Dawn showed up out of nowhere in Buffy? That’s how I feel about the band Fontaines D.C. They went from not existing to being everywhere all at once.

The party continues for the Ag Secretary while farmers go bankrupt.

There’s a mountain lion on the loose in my neighborhood. 👀👀👀

Meta suspended No Kings’ Instagram account for several hours during the latest series of demonstrations on Saturday, meant to mobilize voters and encourage early voting in the midterms.

“American roads are becoming deadlier for walkers. Between 2009 and 2024, pedestrian deaths increased 72% across the U.S., federal data show. Over the same period, such deaths declined in most other developed nations, according to United Nations data. In road safety, the U.S. is an outlier.” 🎁

"We need a federal programs and funding initiative comparable in ambition to the Works Progress Administration to put Americans back into their communities, empower local organizations, and revitalize the republican virtues that sustain a people tasked with popular government and a free society."

👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼

Between my long run during which I turned out to be under fueled and dehydrated, and getting my Covid shot yesterday, I feel like I’m on another plane of existence right now but I still have a toddler to take care of (and a sick, immunocompromised husband).

We got a smoker/grill. Send us your favorite recipes and tips, especially for anyone on low sodium diets, and for any plant-based/veggie options as well…. Can that even be done? Can you put veggies in a smoker?

I have no egrets about stopping my run this morning to try and capture this beautiful bird:

I love preschool. Currently doing my parent homework, reading on “Nurturing The Inner Life”.

👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼 This is the type of legacy this administration is going to leave:

There’s no A.I. “literacy”. There is only power, to either rebuild or eradicate commonly shared knowledge production. They haz it. Remains to be seen if we haz some too.

I picked up a little friend along my run today:

🤯🤯🤯

I can now say I’m 46 with a 2 year old. I am happy to say that we both celebrated my birthday with a long nap.

The SPEAKER implies. The LISTENER infers. The DUDE abides.

Note to self: Do not agree to be interviewed anywhere unless the publisher will provide a written agreement that my interview cannot be fed into AI. I’d love to hear any advice from journalists/lawyers.

BOMBSHELL: WaPo reports Trump's ads were funded with money meant for slain officers' funerals youtu.be/GwqOZ0eaoDI?...

Lupus sucks. That’s all I’ve got to say right now.

Where does #California’s water go, and how could climate change reshape it? A new UC-led COEQWAL tool helps Californians explore water flows, management choices and trade-offs. UC ANR’s Kristin Dobbin, a #UCCE specialist, is part of the project. ucanr.edu/blog/green-b...

I’m so proud of myself for trolling our neighbors.

This:

The irony:

Update on our canceled family vacation turned staycation: my daughter got to be home for Trash Truck Day!

Norway has solution to this actually, stay at home parents can get their share of the public daycare subsidy as cash, that way parents are not pushed one way or the other. the problem of course is virtually no one on the center or right actually gives a shit about parents

New @nytimes.com piece ranks 30 education interventions on both effectiveness & costs. For me, the key takeaway is NOT about what academics (including myself) rated as most effective or least costly. It is about the decision making process districts use. 🧵 www.nytimes.com/2026/09/28/u...

We’re trying to make lemonade out of lemons and go on a day trip in lieu of a canceled, much larger trip. Any NorCal locals with a toddler recommend either Marin or the Presidio/Tunnel Tops for a workday (ie we know we’ll be battling traffic the entire time).

My dad and brother both went to UC Santa Barbara, and they have both now lost their college BFF’s/roommates to ALS.

I’m looking for recommendations on the best small air purifier that is very elderly-friendly/for a tech averse senior citizen that has simple buttons and is easy to maintain. Please send any suggestions my way.

I ran into a grey fox during my run in the foothills this morning! I initially thought it was a coyote but have since been corrected.

It is insane to me that both Sutter Health and UC Davis Health are pausing their COVID vaccines right now.

I forgot to mention it here, but I managed to podium at a 10K this weekend. I found myself initially not giving myself enough credit, pointing out that it was a small race, and was for my age group, but it did feel good to feel like all of the hours of training I did, almost all solo, paid off.

Maternal mortality has increased dramatically since the overturn of Roe v. Wade. We look at ectopic pregnancies, which stand nearly no chance of viable life, and how women in no-abortion states are seeing death rates rise. A real avoidable atrocity. americaninequality.substack.com/p/charts-tha...

It's #seaotterawarenessweek! 🐬🦑🧪 Sea otters only live in the North Pacific today and are the smallest marine mammals. Frustratingly, they have a very limited fossil record, and their origins are quite murky. We know *much* more about their ecology than their evolution; read more here:

A theatre in Barcelona has been banned from promoting a stage adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own on Instagram and Facebook because the work includes “social topics.”* www.theguardian.com/technology/2... * "any mention of civil rights, feminism or social reform"

I ran a race yesterday, then after naptime I took my toddler and myself to get our flu shots. Today I’m solo parenting, and we’re both out of sorts so… Number Blocks it is. I do have to admit screen-free only lasted until age 2.

Every sea otter deserves a second chance! In 2025, we opened our Sea Otter Conservation Center. Thanks to donor support, this state-of-the-art facility features two new holding tanks and two exam rooms, allowing us to provide critical care to more southern sea otters in need.

"What Happens When Earth Passes 1.5 Degrees of Warming" via @stevecurwood.bsky.social & @livingonearthradio.bsky.social by way of @insideclimatenews.org: insideclimatenews.org/news/1909202...

@aoc.bsky.social just put out a great statement on AI. Refreshing to see a major politician on the left nail this. "Silicon Valley billionaires want us to believe that Al robots will destroy humanity. But the biggest threat to humanity are the tech oligarchs themselves." 🎯

📣📣 Protect vaccines: Make a public comment DEADLINE: TOMORROW (Sun) Bottom line: HHS is asking to change how federal vaccine reccs are categorized Sounds technical. Yes Innocuous? Absolutely not Check out EvidenceCollective easy-to-read primer 🔗👇 Then comment: www.regulations.gov/document/HHS...

This is why I’ve been taking a break and choosing an alternative for my own child: