Something on Sunday: Friends

It's probably cheating to use Thanksgiving as the thing that makes me happy two Sundays in a row, but given that I spent my afternoon and evening with some of my favorite people in the world, eating and drinking and talking, how could I not?

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I'm extremely lucky to have a circle of in-person friends that I see regularly and that values my company. I know so many adults who don't have many local friends, but I managed to land in a place with a few college connections that then grew into the friend group that I have now -- and that still includes some of those same people. My older and more far-off friends are also important to me, of course, but it's not the same as knowing a dozen people who live within easy driving distances, and who prioritize spending time together. I can count on them, and they can count on me, and it makes me so happy.

These folks are my community, and I intend to maintain that community for as long as I can.

Semi-regular political linkspam: Mangate edition

I've been trying not to include too many links about the various sexual harassment and assault stories, even those more relevant to politics, because I know that they're triggering for some people, and I wanted to keep my linkspams more accessible. The downside is that I haven't been able to share a number of articles and essays that I really liked, so I'm going to put a bunch of them together here. I'll continue marking them as I go forward. Obviously this does not cover every single scandal that's broken -- I'm focusing on bigger pictures issues where I can.

The name: a few weeks ago, T and I were out walking around a large local construction site. One of the human-door side entrances had "MANGATE" hand-painted over a white signboard; apparently "Man Gate" is the official term for a construction site gate that's not large enough for equipment (not "Person Gate", ahem), but we didn't know that, and it struck us as funny. Then T said "Mangate" should be the official name of the continuing scandal, and I decided he was right.

• Many of the best takes have come, naturally, from journalist Rebecca Traister. I particularly liked this one: "Your Reckoning. And Mine. As stories about abuse, assault, and complicity come flooding out, how do we think about the culprits in our lives? Including, sometimes, ourselves." Rage, she says, is the defining quality of this moment, that and the fear that in the long run, nothing will really change. It's a long read, and very personal, and so worthwhile. I hope Traister writes a book about all this.


• Speaking of rage, Uma Thurman's response when asked about the Hollywood allegations was both chilling and powerful.


• ThinkProgress reports on the long and awful process that a staffer has to go to in order to report sexual abuse or harassment by a member of the US Congress.


• Roy Moore corner: you may have heard that Roy Moore and his wife fabricated a letter of support from a group of fundamentalist Christian pastors. 60 actual pastors struck back with a letter of condemnation.


• Moore has also threatened to sue a number of the publications that ran stories about his predatory behavior, including the Atlanta Media Group, which broke the story about Moore being banned from a shopping mall for creeping on teenagers. The Atlanta Media Group blasted back.


• Meanwhile, guess who has Moore's back? That's right, the President of the United States. Who is surprised.


• Of course, the Onion gets it right.


• Okay, that's enough Roy Moore. The Myth of the Male Bumbler delves into why men claiming they just don't understand how to behave properly is little more than setting themselves up for plausible (not that plausible) deniability. This includes moments like Jon Stewart being shocked, shocked by the allegations against Louis C.K. when he was specifically asked about them a year ago.


• Ellen Page shares a powerful and personal statement about the harassment she's endured in Hollywood.


• Chef Amanda Cohen writes a scathing piece on the restaurant industry, and talks about how men have gotten away with rampant abuse for decades.


• On the uselessness of the grand public apology, especially from men who aren't facing any allegations themselves.


• Jessica Valenti shares thoughts on why conservative women stand up for sexual predators.