Yay Kathy! I think the last I remember from you was when you were early in the MLIS -- huge congrats on finishing it! And great to hear about travels and moves, if sorry about the health issues. It's good to see your pixels again.

Kathy! ::tacklehug::

Right now I am watching Band Candy. And it's awesome.

I've always thought we could take something viral if we put our minds to it.

Standing. Right. Here. Please, let me unleash my 26k+ followers on Tumblr. I am all over this.

It's so good to see everyone again. The reason is something I still can't wrap my head around, but seeing everyone post is nice. This place has given me people who I can't even call best friends, because they're family. You folks have given me pep talks, sanity checks, and helped me get a book deal. I cannot imagine my life without you.

In the "no, really, pile more things on" category: I found out at 7am today that I needed to book travel for the last-minute-approved trip to the Copenhagen office. That I thought wasn't happening. I fly out on Saturday, and will be gone for a week. Tomorrow is the work deadline I've been floundering toward for a month.

Hugging everyone back!!

Oh, Band Candy...the ep that got me to return to watching Buffy. I stopped midway through S2 when I saw the promo for the next ep where Buffy lost her virginity. "Oh, how cliched!" I thought, and didn't tune in again.

Um, oops?

I stayed away until the summer before S4, when a Band Candy rerun caught my eye.

Go do something else away from patient care and come back in X amount of time adn we'll see if you still are fit to work with living beings.

This is genius.

And I'll reiterate the love for this place and you people. I don't post nearly as much as I'd like, but I'm nearly always around.

And I'm so comforted that you are, too.

I was looking at something and questioning the font choice and only had the tiniest millisecond of thinking I was being crazy and ridiculous before remembering how many of you would have either agreed or at least engaged in a lively discussion about it. And picking extraneous cilantro out of my lunch I found myself feeling reminiscent of that particular kerfuffle. I love you guys. (And hate cilantro).

Standing. Right. Here. Please, let me unleash my 26k+ followers on Tumblr. I am all over this.

muwahahaha! I mean, yes, it seems likely we could take something viral if we wanted to.

We have lots of writers here. We have a worthy cause. We need a slightly less vague plan than the one I came up with, perhaps.

Re the issue meara raised about the ethics of it, maybe we could work on a draft of something -- if possible, seriously addressing chronic pain management and healthcare worker burn-out and either offering or asking power-brokers to pledge to actively work toward a solution -- and then at some point a few weeks or even months from now, when it's all a little less raw, talk with the LAistas who know ita best, and if possible her sister, about whether this is a fight she'd want fought (or insert fighting words of your choice - are these the heads she'd want to roll, the nuts she'd want kicked?) and what, if any, personal information she'd ever have been comfortable sharing.

It kills me to think of Betsy and brenda's mom and askye's uncle and Zen's friend and all the brilliant or astonishing or just human-and-not-deserving-to-suffer people out there who deserve battles on their behalf, but it's also really clear from poking around on i09 that she shared most of the worst of it just with us.

Kathy! So good to see you, even if it's on a sad occasion.

I keep forgetting to say how wonderful it is to hear about how Betsy's husband's and son's migraines have lessened.

I think, right now, getting anything positive done in this country has to start at the grass roots level. Guerrilla journalism, guerrilla activism.

Suit up. Keyboards at the ready.

HOLDIN'!

"Heat 'em up!"

SMOKIN'!

Let's show this ossified medical community how we do things downtown!

(eep. ETA: Crossposted with JZ's rational and thoughtful 'now hold on a minute' post. She's right, of course)

I believe it's a fight ita would have wanted fought. She might not have told the story herself, out of concern for employment and not wanting sympathy or to be treated as a victim. I wouldn't do anything without the approval of her family and the friends who know her best.

If her sister and the LAistas say yes, then I will cosign like a sonofabitch. And if there are things she wouldn't want generally shared -- we're a bunch of writers and editors. We could protect what needs protecting and still put together something scorching.