Monthly Archives: August 2021

like january 6th except august at a school board meeting

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Tonight there was supposed to be a Great Valley School District School Board Meeting. Except it was overrun quite literally by anti-maskers. (Here watch another video sent to me call it “takeover time”: https://vimeo.com/588137331 – not all but a lot of it)

Great Valley School District school board meeting was supposed to be recessed for this evening because of the people who refused to wear masks, which includes Republican Committee of Chester County school board candidates.

The police were called. F-ing ridiculous.

Kids first. Not freaking whatever self-serving politics.

Some random woman then running the meeting because she says that this is “their building” or something. Yeah, so January 6th, it is a little frightening and utterly UNACCEPTABLE. No clue who she was.

And these anti-maskers called those wearing masks “retarded” (their words) and they were wearing “face diapers”. Again, their words.

Chester County Republican School Board Candidate Sallie Campbell was observed flipping out and screaming at people in the audience….before the meeting. Obviously she is quite unstable isn’t she? And yes, Sallie the minute you became a politician as a a candidate for elected office (the school board) we can indeed wonder about you outloud.

Here is what got recorded that I could find so far by school district:

THIS IS COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE. IF YOU PAY TAXES IN THE GREAT VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT, WE SHOULD BE ASKING THE CHESTER COUNTY REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE TO PAY THEM FOR EVERY HOUSE IN THE DISTRICT. IF THEY WANT TO RUN THE WORLD, THEY CAN DAMN WELL PAY FOR IT TOO AND PAY OUR SCHOOL TAXES.

OUR KIDS AND PARENTS AND EDUCATORS ATTENDING PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS SHOULD FEEL SAFE. WHO FEELS SAFE WITH THIS CRAP? AND THE POLITICALLY CORRECT ANT MASKERS, ANTI VAXXERS? NOT VERY PC TO CALL PARENTS WEARING FACE MASKS LIKE GREAT VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT REQUESTED “RETARDED”

Oh and the people who were the anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers were recording this entire debacle. No one is quite sure where.

To the Great Valley School District: if you are going to do these meetings, enforce your policies. If people are non-compliant, have them removed.

Also tonight? People have NO IDEA who was vaccinated or not among the anti-maskers.

This is NOT acceptable. NOT Acceptable!

To the Chester County Republican Committee, and every local Republican committee within the Great Valley School District: these people were out there representing YOUR party’s SUPPOSED values. So are we to assume the Chester County Republican Committee is therefore OK with the events of January 6th in our beloved Nation’s Capitol? This is what being a Republican means? So you are ok with your people doing things like the man who yelled at the school board and called them “little bitches” and someone else calling a school board member a “pussy”?

These are the candidates NOT to vote for: Alex Enderle, Sallie Campbell, Lauren Dicranian.

Here are observations from a parent who was there:

“My recap of the GVSD SB meeting that almost was:
I got there around 7.10 and went straight inside. There were already 5 other masked people in there, and 3 non-masked. There were posted papers everywhere that said masks are mandatory, and boxes of surgical masks for those who didn’t bring one.
I asked Dr. O’Toole if the mask policy will be reinforced, and I was assured it will be as soon as the board members come in. It was uncomfortable sitting there as the number of unmasked people grew, and I knew at least a couple are not vaccinated.
By the time the board came in, I would say there were about 45ish people in attendance, half masked half not. The masked included 2 of the school board candidates(Andrea Rizzo Region 1 and Tricia Chasinoff Region 3). The unmasked were led by R candidate for Region 3 Sallie Campbell- who before the board came in turned to us and yelled that we don’t have her permission to take a picture of her- some of us had their laptops out doing some last minute work, some had their phones texting etc.
Board came in, and Dave Barratt asked everyone to comply with the mask requirement. Some angry dude called him the ‘p’ word, screamed that ‘this is our building, we pay taxes, we pay your salaries’ (nevermind that the SB positions are volunteer, apparently he doesn’t know such details). Same person insulted another mask wearing parent asking if they were retarded for wanting to wear a mask. It went on in the same style. Barratt called recess and said they will meet tomorrow on Zoom.
Most of the masked parents left. I stood in the hallway for a bit listening to what was going on. Some masked parents stayed. The R crowd decided to hold their own meeting and broadcast it somewhere- there were at least 2 people recording/streaming what people said. I have no idea where.
People were asked to state their name and address like in a SB meeting and speak; it was sickening to hear them and know that this shitshow will go on once school starts. Nurses stood up and spoke against masks and against the vaccine. Sallie C said a prayer and once again spoke against the book that teaches everyone that whites are racist, yada yada same old story as last meeting, and shed a tear as she told people how she had to leave certain FB groups where she wasn’t appreciated.
All had a common theme: the CDC ‘recommends’ and is not saying ‘mandatory’; the PA DOH ‘recommends’ and does not ‘mandate’. The government cannot tell them what to put on their kids(masks) and cannot force them to vaccinate; this is a public school and they can decide what is best for their children.
I am upset the police didn’t come and they were allowed to continue this nonsense, especially considering what happened in other states. I left as I feared for my safety. On my way out I chatted a bit with Dr Goffredo and Dr O’Toole- I don’t understand why the police wasn’t called or didn’t come(I left about 40min after the meeting was cancelled). I
I am so sad with how radicalized some of our own neighbors are, and how political this all is, and it will only get worse.”

~Parent at the meeting non meeting, storming of the school board/school district meeting

Here’s what was sent to me by people in the room (turn up the volume)

Litter some of the anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers tossed aside as they were storming the school board meeting

different slaw

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My vegetable box today had a couple things I was not sure would go together, but actually have quite nicely!

I had some beautiful young fresh red cabbage, and a couple of heads of fresh fennel. So I thought what could I do with them? Then I thought why not a kind of coleslaw? I’m out of carrots so I could use the fennel in place of the carrots.

Well it worked! I also added half of a red onion and a couple of apples.

Here’s what I did:

1. Grate a small to medium size head of red cabbage.

2. Clean a large fennel bulb and grate. Or two smaller bulbs. Save some of the frilly green frond tops for the dressing .

3. Grate 1/2 of a red onion,

4. Grate 2 medium apples with skin ON.

Toss everything together that you have grated into a bowl. Add a little salt to taste. I like Crazy Jane’s Mixed Up Salt.

In a separate little bowl whisk together a little handful of the fennel fronds minced, a quarter cup of mayonnaise, 4 tablespoons of maple syrup, 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard, three or 4 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon of sugar, and salt and pepper to taste.

Add the dressing to the grated everything bowl and mix together. Put it into the refrigerator to chill up and then taste again before serving to see if you need to adjust the salt or pepper.

Enjoy!

willistown and development

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See the above. Disgusting, right?

How

Much

Development

Before

Chester

County

Sinks?

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(Seriously this T-Shirt is a thing. BUY HERE)

I used to think Willistown was like this magical place of rolling hills and horse farms and open space.

Nope. Or sort of. I say sort of because the developments are starting to add up here too aren’t they?

Follow this LINK for Willistown’s neat and tidy link to development stuff.…

I knew about this development. Kept hoping it wouldn’t happen….but well…yep it sure is.

Saw this comment posted in a local group today:

What is being built on Forrest Lane? Huge land area is cleared.

Then I went noodling around and saw this:

(CLICK HERE TO GO TO THEIR INSENSITIVE LITTLE VIDEOS)

Freaking developer is shooting little videos on Facebook live celebrating the clearing of the land for their development.

Binder1_202103310859598326Download

Barf.

They still call it “Troutbeck Farm”. Tisn’t a farm no more, is it?

Years from now, when people ask how all of the development happened, blame those we elected for not being better stewards of where we call home.

Willistown is becoming just as bad as every other municipality. Pity.

Touting yet another school district which is getting very overcrowded, right? Elite? Oh bully for them. Hope they wall themselves off. Read what Berkshire Hathaway had hawked above. They say “we do dirt.” Kind of funny turn of phrase, right? They do dirty perhaps?

Open space and farms. Hallmarks of Chester County. Now more and more just mere memories.

Weep for open space and farmland, Chester County. It’s day is more done every damn day.

Bucolic?

when things seem to be decided ahead of time….

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The meeting recording will stand on it’s own. Yo’ East Whiteland don’t Delco Our Chesco.

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(Yes this T-shirt is indeed a thing.)

Well, East Whiteland did what East Whiteland does best on August 11th: cleared more hurdles for yet another barftastic development plan. What they did about Knickerbocker was essentially bend over. (Read about what meeting was about HERE)

What I found truly fascinating is even Chester County Planning paused on this plan. But nope East Whiteland and the solicitor who speaks for all these days knew better, didn’t they?

This is what Chester County said:

East Whiteland voted unanimously for the zoning changes (you can find the nitty gritty embedded in the East Whiteland agenda) .

(Watch the video.)

East Whiteland’s Supervisors seem led all meeting by their solicitor and well he works for them, correct? Tonight was one of those meetings where it felt like they worked for him, didn’t it? (Again, watch the video, see for yourself.) And is the solicitor ill? He did not look well and Sue Drummond’s Cruella de Ville scaredo-hairdo sure was something, wasn’t it?

Something that was apparent was the fact that every single supervisor acted like they made up their minds before the public hearing even occurred and isn’t that politically pathetic?

Why hold a hearing if you already have made up your collective minds?

Truly, I do not have much to say. I knew it wouldn’t matter what residents felt or said. It never does, does it?

I am glad they were so safety minded with how they did the meeting, however. That at least they did right.

How

Much

Development

Before

Chester

County

Sinks?

And about those Amazon worries that peppered the meeting? Can someone please clarify if Amazon was actually coming to town? And would that have been as bad as all of these whatevers they will be when built?

Again, I ask what do you do with an old landfill? Kind of depends what’s in it doesn’t it? What is even in Knickerbocker? Honestly I don’t know, but I wouldn’t want to live in a housing development where it used to be, would you? The family that owns the landfill wants to sell it and selling it isn’t the problem it’s what the prospective owner a developer wants to do with it and the additional density for the area which presents issues, correct?

This is another overly dense and crappy plan that will clog our roads, stress our infrastructure, and add to the overcrowding of the school district. My gosh, even the mighty Trout Unlimited showed up again, didn’t they? (Watch the video)

East Whiteland just bends over for developers at the expense of residents.

what to do about knickerbocker? even chester county planning commission has hit pause with new letter.

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Landfills are a dirty business. Literally. East Whiteland has good old Knickerbocker as a subject of a public hearing on Wednesday, August 11th. It will be a hybrid meeting which means you can go in person or you can go via Zoom.

So what do you do with an old landfill? Kind of depends what’s in it doesn’t it? What is even in Knickerbocker? Honestly I don’t know, but I wouldn’t want to live in a housing development where it used to be, would you? The family that owns the landfill wants to sell it and selling it isn’t a problem it’s what the prospective owner a developer wants to do with it which presents issues, correct?

So this whole thing presents an interesting development conundrum for East Whiteland. Why do I say that? Because Chester County Planning doesn’t seem too keen on this and basically says pause, yet East Whiteland seems to be full steam ahead?

People have been writing to me about the proposed developer-beneficial zoning changes at Knickerbocker. I have decided to share one message because it’s informative:

📌 Hi here is information regarding the BOS meeting on 8/11 in East Whiteland for the rezoning of Knickerbocker. Our BOS are allowing things ot happen that make me wonder….Things of note – the restrictive covenant will be modifiable. WTH? That means the township and/or developer can change it after it’s approved or TERMINATE it. It’s supposed to provide restrictions and protection. It also allows for stacked townhomes and – wait for it – the former landfill will be placed in the homeowner’s association. Sneaky!!! So the new homeowners will be liable if anything will go wrong with the landfill – and you know it will. Here is the link to it if you would like to share. This is the last chance the residents will have to take a stand against it. Also I have heard that the meeting will be virtual and in-person hybrid. https://www.eastwhiteland.org/DocumentCenter/View/2146/Voluntary-Declaration-of-Restrictive-Covenant-RRHC-clean-7821📌

Oh East Whiteland….sigh….y’all just want to kick every can down the road until someday there will be this giant expensive pile of cans to deal with, right?

So East Whiteland’s Supervisor meeting will have a packed agenda tomorrow August 11th. (Click HERE for agenda.)

This all gives me pause, but will it give the supervisors pause? I think two out of the three will be full steam ahead caution be damned. Because that is what two out of the three supervisors always do. The developer will remind everyone again they are local, and to that I would say well dude then you really should present better plans but I am but a mere mortal and a female blogger, right?

Residents and concerned citizens, you need to giddy-up to this meeting. Especially if you are on the side of the township where this plan would be built.

Once again I will be honest and say there is TOO much development Chester County. And maybe people wouldn’t object to so many plans if there weren’t so many bad plans.

Thanks for stopping by.

awesome idea

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This. See that sign? “Preserved Farm”. Love that. We should do this in Chester County.

We do celebrate land preservation but not enough celebrating of farm preservation like they do in Bucks County, PA.

We were visiting friends in Bucks County yesterday and I saw these “Preserved Farm” signs everywhere.

Bucks County has been besieged by development and developers since the 1980s. In my opinion that was when the major incursions occurred. Like Troll Brothers.

Here in Chester County we are still suffering from development, and at an ever increasing rate. I would love to see a preserved farm initiative with wonderful signs like this. Now don’t misunderstand me, Chester County does believe in farmland preservation and does have a preservation program, but Bucks County just seems to be excelling at it.

When I got home I did a little Googling. Bucks County by all appearances has a thriving agricultural preservation program. And then there is the involvement of the Land Trust of Bucks County and their farmland inspection program which assists with the agricultural preservation program.

I will freely admit I don’t know enough about either the program in Bucks County or Chester County to know if they are equal or unequal, but in Bucks County it seems more visible as a program and I think that makes a huge difference.

And if you have any questions about land conservation or preservation, we do have amazing groups to consult with. One of my favorites is Natural Lands.

Anyway I thought these “Preserved Farm” signs were genius.

Happy Sunday.

in west goshen, the fox wants to be inside the henhouse…

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Seems innocent enough, right? Tinamarie Smith running as a Democrat for West Goshen Supervisor? Butter won’t melt in her mouth and as sweet as cotton candy at a country fair?

Stop the presses.

Here’s a good one for you: A 30+ years employee of Sunoco is running for WGT supervisor. As a supposed environmentalist ( she has a BS in business?)

But it’s West Goshen so what do we expect? But do we have to consider that if this person is a former Sunoco employee is that like letting the fox in the hen house when it comes to pipelines and municipalities in Chester County?

This political candidate removed her post about a valve leak and disappeared overnight. She had been asked questions by local pipeline activists (otherwise known as concerned residents) which she kind of ignored and deleted the entire post as opposed to answering the questions which kind of answers the ultimate question of what residents will get if they elect a former LONG TERM employee of Sunoco to elected public office right? Isn’t West Goshen one of those places which doesn’t need elected officials like this?

So like her former employer she colors outside of the lines and doesn’t answer questions right? Has anyone checked her campaign finance reports to see who (and what entities) have donated to her campaign?

Oh yes…the screenshots:

Now y’all know I don’t vote in West Goshen. And I find West Goshen to be politically problematic most of the time. And a lot of this woman’s local experience has to do with the sewer authority in West Goshen which I seem to recall has had lots of issues over the years?

People meet the fox 🦊. If you let her into the henhouse expect dead chickens 🐓 . No she’s literally not a fox and no West Goshen isn’t literally a henhouse.

Kind of like talking about a Wolf 🐺 in sheep’s 🐑 clothing which I also think applies here don’t you?

The tooth fairy 🧚‍♀️ would be a better choice for supervisor here.

Here is all about her from her fuzzy bunnies Facebook campaign page:

Here’s her LinkedIn:

Here she is all smiles on the West Goshen Democrats Facebook page:

Just say NO. This woman needs to withdraw from the race. Sorry to dump a load of crap on my readers for Saturday but I thought this was too politically wonky to ignore.

just another sinkhole day in west whiteland

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I will open with nobody trespassed to get these photos. I took screenshots off of videos that were shot this morning in West Whiteland. No one asked me to write anything, I am putting this out there because I am so concerned for these people who have to live with this. They live in danger EVERY DAMN DAY.

Where I live is where Adelphia wants to do similar things. I am in the blast zone for those pipelines. And East Whiteland Township doesn’t talk about pipelines, it’s like they don’t exist. We aren’t benefiting from what is being done with these new and updated pipelines, and this isn’t comparable to the old petroleum pipeline’s which have been here for 50 years or better. Different breed of cat, and has never put residents at risk the way Energy Transfer has.

So West Whiteland Township, do you care YET what your residents are going through? Township Manager Mimi Gleason, I have to ask would you want to be up all night with the drilling and thumping and boring? Would you want the sinkholes next to your house? A valid question would be do you even have a pipelines running next to your house? Mimi Gleason do you care about the residents you are responsible for keeping safe and aren’t?

West Whiteland Township under Gleason’s leadership, as well as the supervisors, is a disgrace. All they care about is how much new construction they can ruin the township further with, and it’s blatantly obvious when it comes to pipelines vs. people, they choose pipelines. If you don’t like my opinions on this, oh well.

This is what residents are living with. Constant sinkholes. Constant noise. Constant dirt. Constant degradation of their property values. And constant danger.

This is NOT ok. It has NEVER been ok.

And an always amusing aspect of every time residents discover a sinkhole are the pipeline workers who try to block the residents views of seeing said sinkholes or anything they are doing that residents worry about (which is pretty much everything.) That and the fact that they photographed the residents photographing and videoing them. The residents aren’t doing anything wrong and that’s sort of passive aggressive harassment on their part, isn’t it? But what do we expect from Energy Transfer?

This Saturday August 7th at 10 AM join concerned residents in Exton at the Chester County Library. MASK UP PLEASE. Be peaceful and lawful. This is about the safety of the community.

living la vida loca…with covid

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A friend posted this and I grabbed it from her social media. It kind of sums it all up.

Here we are in August 2021, and the COVID of it all still hums around the edges of all of our lives, and threatens to cause uproar in our lives once again. We have not obtained herd immunity in this country because not enough have gotten shots.

Please don’t misunderstand me, there are people who are legitimately UNABLE to get the COVID shot because of health conditions like severe allergies. But then there are all of these people who either just haven’t bothered, or they see it as a Don Quixote political stand.

So now there are these variants of COVID. Delta and Lambda are two. Here is an article from Reuters from the other day:

Aug 2 (Reuters) – The following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19.

Delta breakthrough infections likely contagious

~ Reuters 8/2/2021

Ok so locally and regionally it has been welcome to crazy town over to mask or not mask. And restaurants and other businesses are choosing to not have the non-vaccinated and even just the non-masked in their establishments. That is their prerogative, it’s their business.

A place called Martha in Kensington apparently is causing a hullabaloo over this. I read about Martha and their decision in Philadelphia Magazine first, courtesy of an article by Victor Fiorello. Comments across social media accuses them of being racist to very pointed and funny comments like:

“The government can’t tell them what to do! It’s their individual right as Americans to decide who to let in! Gee…. That works TWO WAYS!”

Let what is happening in Provincetown, MA be a warning via The New York Times.

I happen to agree with the restaurant Martha. What they are doing is both common sense and brave. They represent an industry that took a direct hit across the country and all over the world because of COVID. They are choosing to try to keep their patrons and employees safe. Respect.

Now I read an editorial (also Philadelphia Magazine this by Ernest Owens) that came out yesterday:

The rise in cases caused by the Delta variant could be halted if we stopped coddling the source of the problem. More institutions should follow the lead of the Philly restaurants refusing service to those who won’t get vaxxed.

In one of my all-time favorite films, Mean Girls, there’s a scene in which the alpha-female of her high school, Regina George, decides to wear sweatpants on a Monday — a violation of the code of her inner circle, the Plastics.….I’m reminded of this scene because this is exactly how we must treat those who remain unvaccinated against COVID-19: You can’t sit with us.

~ Philadelphia Magazine, Ernest Owens 8/3/21

I am with Ernest. Read the rest of the op-ed. He also remarks on the unvaccinated by choice who wanted everything to open up, but didn’t do their part (get vaccinated or at least wear a mask.)

I am still leery going out. I still carry and wear masks. And I also carry my vaccine card with me. Sorry not sorry, I do not have a problem if someone asks me I am vaccinated, and would show my card. Do I like still wearing a mask here and there? No of course not, it’s no fun. It kind of sucks and we are all tired of the COVID games, but if we don’t pay attention, we will go back to lockdown.

Of course to mask or to not mask is also a hot topic with school districts. To me it is kind of maddening. What is the big deal? Little kids especially are among the most vulnerable of our population so why are masks such a big deal? The option is we can go into lockdown again and kids will not be IN school if that happens. And for those who can’t grasp students wearing masks, this just in: Penn State is requiring masks indoors on ALL campuses. And even Vanguard is offering employees $1000 bonus if you get vaccinated. Genesis Healthcare is making a COVID shot a job requirement. They own nursing homes, and people in nursing homes are SO at risk so who has a problem with that? Seems kind of positive to me.

To follow are THREE video snippets. Two are from a very recent West Chester Area School District School Board meeting. One speaker is the QAnon WCASD school board candidate Ada Nestor (@AnonymousAda on Twitter and yes she was in DC January 6th, correct?), and the other is some woman who was just good theater because she was so off the rails. Apparently she is the IHOP mom (as in International House of Pancakes) because she lets people of different races, etc into her home. The third video snippet is that delightful nutbag martyr running in Great Valley School District for School Board, Sallie Campbell. What makes her profoundly disturbing other than she is utterly clueless, is she used to be a nurse.

I just don’t understand. I don’t. Yo’ put on a mask already (you’re a long time dead). I had to miss a funeral of a friend because I knew there are too many who don’t want to wear masks or get the vaccine, and was afraid to run into that in an enclosed space with questionable ventilation.


For those of us who live immunocompromised and more, it’s not a political conspiracy, and I don’t care if you “don’t get COVID as bad if you have the shot” I don’t want to get COVID at all.

People are legitimately terrified of COVID. As a cancer survivor and still active cancer patient I live an immunocompromised life every day. It’s not discriminatory to want more to have shots or wear masks in certain situations, it’s just life as we know it for now even if it’s unpleasant to some. Just my humble opinion.

Your personal freedoms will enjoy you surviving COVID much better. So just wear a mask when you are out. And yes, I know of people who have gotten COVID who are fully vaccinated. And these were people who were careful.

And for those who think you are wearing a Superman and Wonder Woman costume with “natural immunity”? Natural immunity is not enough. Getting COVID and recovering (known as “natural infection”) doesn’t appear to generate protection as robust as that generated after vaccination.

Don’t believe me? Check out what National Geographic published today.

Don’t try to tell me that everything about COVID is “all political.” That is a bunch of happy horseshit. And I am very unapologetic in my opinion. TOO many people have gotten and/or died from COVID. Mortality ain’t politics. It’s being dead in the morgue. I know someone who couldn’t say goodbye to an immediate family member because they hadn’t gotten a shot. That will weigh on them for years to come.

The COVID shot is FREE. Death, however, is expensive.

Sorry, not sorry but I am low on patience and becoming increasingly leery of going out again because of all of the people who can get shots and don’t, people protesting safety protocols in schools, and who are telling me COVID is as real as the tooth fairy.

Just stop. Because if y’all don’t stop, we are going to be back on stay at home orders faster than whiplash. I like being at home, and don’t have to gallivant, but these people who put the rest of us at risk, and I do have a problem with that.

I don’t want to infringe on anyone else’s rights, so kindly stop infringing on my right to live. Being careful and wearing a mask and getting a shot are still not a big deal. But getting COVID is a big goddamn deal, often leading to death.

Yes, this was somewhat of a rant, but no one has a gun to your head saying “read this blog.”

xoxo