Dana Ray
@danaray.bsky.social
Writer. Idea Wrangler. Chronic Illness and Disability Justice Advocate. Your most assertive friend.
www.danaray.substack.com
www.danaray.substack.com
Pediatrician asked me today if I worked in healthcare. Nope. "Oh. Something in how you talked made me think you do this work."
Just my chronic illnesses, sir. Just the illnesses.
Just my chronic illnesses, sir. Just the illnesses.
December 7, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Pediatrician asked me today if I worked in healthcare. Nope. "Oh. Something in how you talked made me think you do this work."
Just my chronic illnesses, sir. Just the illnesses.
Just my chronic illnesses, sir. Just the illnesses.
Flu A for kiddo and myself. And a fucked tailbone from falling down the stairs. Only slightly-very panicked about deadlines.
December 7, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Flu A for kiddo and myself. And a fucked tailbone from falling down the stairs. Only slightly-very panicked about deadlines.
Learning to ask for help. Learning to say yes when its offered. Because I know this is true: I have always wanted more help than I had.
December 5, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Learning to ask for help. Learning to say yes when its offered. Because I know this is true: I have always wanted more help than I had.
This is the caregiving crisis: spouse across country w. mother while she recovers from lung transplant. While sil navigates highrisk pregnancy. While I soloparent sick kid. While snow days from insufficient road treatment rather than actual snowfall. While I watch my career stall before it starts.
December 3, 2025 at 4:54 PM
This is the caregiving crisis: spouse across country w. mother while she recovers from lung transplant. While sil navigates highrisk pregnancy. While I soloparent sick kid. While snow days from insufficient road treatment rather than actual snowfall. While I watch my career stall before it starts.
I will never get over how Jason and Caroline Zook "zig" when the industry says "zag". WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU ARE SELLING LIFETIME ACCESS TO A GREAT PRODUCT THAT ANYONE ELSE WOULD USE TO EXTRACT EVERY LAST OF YOUR PENNIES? #affiliate but yes I use Teachery for many things I've made.
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November 26, 2025 at 4:56 PM
I will never get over how Jason and Caroline Zook "zig" when the industry says "zag". WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU ARE SELLING LIFETIME ACCESS TO A GREAT PRODUCT THAT ANYONE ELSE WOULD USE TO EXTRACT EVERY LAST OF YOUR PENNIES? #affiliate but yes I use Teachery for many things I've made.
I’m so grateful when books can be strong enough to take us somewhere else when we need to exit. When our feelings are too big for our bodies trapped as they are in space/time unable to express how they need to.
What book was there for you?
What I Read Fall 2025
danaray.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:30 PM
I’m so grateful when books can be strong enough to take us somewhere else when we need to exit. When our feelings are too big for our bodies trapped as they are in space/time unable to express how they need to.
Unclear how I birthed a child who is obsessed with holidays and holiday decorations. Christmas happens earlier every year.
November 19, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Unclear how I birthed a child who is obsessed with holidays and holiday decorations. Christmas happens earlier every year.
What books were there when you needed them? Maybe they weren't even "on topic". Maybe they were just... there.
November 19, 2025 at 5:47 PM
What books were there when you needed them? Maybe they weren't even "on topic". Maybe they were just... there.
Living in the same metaverse timeline with Pizzagate / Wayfair AND Epstein is fucking with my brain.
November 18, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Living in the same metaverse timeline with Pizzagate / Wayfair AND Epstein is fucking with my brain.
Didn’t read in time for Book Club? Don’t worry. Word Parties are a sweet alternative.
Instead of a 300-page novel, bring a paragraph, a poem, or a sentence. Share what it means to you and see what unfolds.
Shared language leads to honest, transparent conversations. Connection through sharing.
Instead of a 300-page novel, bring a paragraph, a poem, or a sentence. Share what it means to you and see what unfolds.
Shared language leads to honest, transparent conversations. Connection through sharing.
To Hosting a Word Potluck
A blueprint for bringing people together through paragraphs, poems, texts, and conversation.
open.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Didn’t read in time for Book Club? Don’t worry. Word Parties are a sweet alternative.
Instead of a 300-page novel, bring a paragraph, a poem, or a sentence. Share what it means to you and see what unfolds.
Shared language leads to honest, transparent conversations. Connection through sharing.
Instead of a 300-page novel, bring a paragraph, a poem, or a sentence. Share what it means to you and see what unfolds.
Shared language leads to honest, transparent conversations. Connection through sharing.
A middle aged couple was making out in my local coffee shop. Taking up two tables to do it.
Two other middle aged women came in, spread their papers and purses into the making out space, and proceeded to discuss the curriculum for their Bible Study on Old Testament prophets.
I love the world.
Two other middle aged women came in, spread their papers and purses into the making out space, and proceeded to discuss the curriculum for their Bible Study on Old Testament prophets.
I love the world.
November 17, 2025 at 3:19 PM
A middle aged couple was making out in my local coffee shop. Taking up two tables to do it.
Two other middle aged women came in, spread their papers and purses into the making out space, and proceeded to discuss the curriculum for their Bible Study on Old Testament prophets.
I love the world.
Two other middle aged women came in, spread their papers and purses into the making out space, and proceeded to discuss the curriculum for their Bible Study on Old Testament prophets.
I love the world.
My chronic illnesses began when I got mono in 2017. This will change everything for so many.
November 15, 2025 at 3:30 PM
My chronic illnesses began when I got mono in 2017. This will change everything for so many.
The linguistic INNOVATION of BIPOC folks getting around algorithm censorship! It is historic, profound, hilarious, on point. PDF FILE? Please. So good. I could never!
November 14, 2025 at 4:52 PM
The linguistic INNOVATION of BIPOC folks getting around algorithm censorship! It is historic, profound, hilarious, on point. PDF FILE? Please. So good. I could never!
It is a tough time to parent. She lives in an alternate timestream, fights against the Adult Time I live in service to. And behind us both, off stage behind the curtain, screeching like ghosts haunting a production of the Scottish Play, is The World and all the death that wrenches us apart.
My Kid is in a Time Portal
It is a tough time to parent.
open.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 3:26 PM
It is a tough time to parent. She lives in an alternate timestream, fights against the Adult Time I live in service to. And behind us both, off stage behind the curtain, screeching like ghosts haunting a production of the Scottish Play, is The World and all the death that wrenches us apart.
"Nothing discounts the old antifeminist projection of men as all-powerful more than [men's] basic ignorance of a major facet of the political systm that shapes and informs male identity and sense of self from birth until death."
bell hooks on imperialist, white-supremacistcapitalist, patriarchy
bell hooks on imperialist, white-supremacistcapitalist, patriarchy
November 13, 2025 at 4:02 PM
"Nothing discounts the old antifeminist projection of men as all-powerful more than [men's] basic ignorance of a major facet of the political systm that shapes and informs male identity and sense of self from birth until death."
bell hooks on imperialist, white-supremacistcapitalist, patriarchy
bell hooks on imperialist, white-supremacistcapitalist, patriarchy
I held up my copy of bell hooks The Will to Change as my parent-bestie's ex left the coffee shop.
"Wait! I think you dropped this! You need it!"
Jk. I just thought about it.
"Wait! I think you dropped this! You need it!"
Jk. I just thought about it.
November 13, 2025 at 3:59 PM
I held up my copy of bell hooks The Will to Change as my parent-bestie's ex left the coffee shop.
"Wait! I think you dropped this! You need it!"
Jk. I just thought about it.
"Wait! I think you dropped this! You need it!"
Jk. I just thought about it.
I read "One Dark Window" by Rachel Gillig while in surgery prep. The day I inhaled half the book is the day I was diagnosed with endometriosis after 16 years of asking for help. I will always love Gillig for "holding my hand" that day. Books, no matter the genre, can sit with us on scary days.
November 13, 2025 at 3:58 PM
I read "One Dark Window" by Rachel Gillig while in surgery prep. The day I inhaled half the book is the day I was diagnosed with endometriosis after 16 years of asking for help. I will always love Gillig for "holding my hand" that day. Books, no matter the genre, can sit with us on scary days.
Moved by the acknowledgements to The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig and her story of writing with/through/by-the-light of long covid. The shift to tell these stories in her atmospheric, folk-tale voice is so compelling.
November 12, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Moved by the acknowledgements to The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig and her story of writing with/through/by-the-light of long covid. The shift to tell these stories in her atmospheric, folk-tale voice is so compelling.
I want your gifs of angry women. I have a theory. Throw me some data.
March 27, 2025 at 3:56 PM
I want your gifs of angry women. I have a theory. Throw me some data.
I have become a book pre-order girlie this year and oh my budget, my lost forever, never recoverable budget. But oh my heart, my happy heart, my mind filled with words with fresh cover design!
March 25, 2025 at 8:17 PM
I have become a book pre-order girlie this year and oh my budget, my lost forever, never recoverable budget. But oh my heart, my happy heart, my mind filled with words with fresh cover design!
There are more studies on male patterned baldness than on a disease that affects 1 out of every 10 women.
I'm one of these women.
I'm one of these women.
Endometriosis, Fibroids and Infertility. Family Matters, Women’s Health, Penn State Health
YouTube video by Penn State Health
youtu.be
March 19, 2025 at 12:05 AM
There are more studies on male patterned baldness than on a disease that affects 1 out of every 10 women.
I'm one of these women.
I'm one of these women.
She's extra and I love her.
#disability #whiteness #wicked #cynthiaerivo #arianagrande #holdingspace #closeread #antiracism #elphaba #defyinggravity #tosstoss
#disability #whiteness #wicked #cynthiaerivo #arianagrande #holdingspace #closeread #antiracism #elphaba #defyinggravity #tosstoss
Defying Gravity Lyrics Make Me Cry
A Close Read that holds space (iykyk) via disability studies, antiracism theory, and my own stories.
open.substack.com
January 23, 2025 at 3:42 PM
She's extra and I love her.
#disability #whiteness #wicked #cynthiaerivo #arianagrande #holdingspace #closeread #antiracism #elphaba #defyinggravity #tosstoss
#disability #whiteness #wicked #cynthiaerivo #arianagrande #holdingspace #closeread #antiracism #elphaba #defyinggravity #tosstoss
I'm a bleeding venn-diagram heart beat too vulnerable for late January in 2025.
January 22, 2025 at 12:01 AM
I'm a bleeding venn-diagram heart beat too vulnerable for late January in 2025.
I’m thinking about the language systems that exist between science and medicine and patients and public.
How communication gets muddled between these vocabularies and grammars.
How rare it is to find a team equipped to cross these borders.
How elusive help is if death is not already at the door.
How communication gets muddled between these vocabularies and grammars.
How rare it is to find a team equipped to cross these borders.
How elusive help is if death is not already at the door.
January 10, 2025 at 11:02 PM
I’m thinking about the language systems that exist between science and medicine and patients and public.
How communication gets muddled between these vocabularies and grammars.
How rare it is to find a team equipped to cross these borders.
How elusive help is if death is not already at the door.
How communication gets muddled between these vocabularies and grammars.
How rare it is to find a team equipped to cross these borders.
How elusive help is if death is not already at the door.
The Mandela Effect in action! Everyone hearing "holding space FOR the lyrics of Defying Gravity" instead of "using the lyrics of Defying Gravity TO hold space."
January 6, 2025 at 5:31 PM
The Mandela Effect in action! Everyone hearing "holding space FOR the lyrics of Defying Gravity" instead of "using the lyrics of Defying Gravity TO hold space."