JessicaMCurrall
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jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
JessicaMCurrall
@jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
1K followers 160 following 770 posts
Kidney-transplant recipient, spouse, parent, volunteer (hospice, animals, community)
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jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
@radiofreetom.bsky.social I don’t understand the cycles of people arguing with your framing. I find it exhausting.

If those same folks channeled the energy they have to debate you into something, any fucking thing, helpful to their immediate irl community, it would be amazing.

Shelter kitten
Orange kitten with long white whiskers lying on a red bed at my local animal shelter where volunteers provide basic cat or dog care in 2-hour shifts per week. Food banks also need & appreciate help processing donations. Pick up litter at a park. Find a program that supports literacy development & read with those who struggle. Attend a school board or civic counsel meeting. Get involved & trained to provide homework help to students who need adult support in math but whose parents may work or themselves struggle with math.
November 10, 2025 at 2:27 AM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
Beautiful day to #vote in Pennsylvania!

Gratitude to all of the volunteer poll workers today.

#VotingJoy
Caucasian woman wearing glasses standing by red maple tree smiling and wearing an I Voted sticker.
November 4, 2025 at 4:34 PM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
@full-duplex.bsky.social I appreciate that you are trying. It well may be that I am missing something. This is a screenshot of what I get when I click on the link at your page.

S
Screenshot of what I see when I click on the link. In greyscale it appears as The Boston Globe article under IDEAS, the headline of which is "The left knows how to have huge protests. The right knows how to win elections." The byline reads, "Democrats seem to have forgotten a crucial aspect of what sustains political movements." From that point, the rest of the screen is at full brightness and it is a The Boston Globe banner (possibly not the correct term for what this is, my apologies), which indicates that for $1 for the rest of the year it is possible to unlock news, sports, games, and more." It may be possible to bypass this, but it is not intuitive to me.
October 27, 2025 at 2:18 AM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
I don't know what to tell you, @radiofreetom.bsky.social. This is literally a screenshot of what happens to me when I click the link. I cannot get to the article.

I acknowledge (a) maybe this is not a "paywall," it's some other thing & (b) @bostonglobe.com has bills of their own.
October 27, 2025 at 2:14 AM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
I believe you that pain & fatigue are deeply real, @karenho.bsky.social. I believe that you're doing the things (drinking water, loving your dog, breathing), that help keep you moving forward...& that it is still at the edge of unbearable. This agony, too, will pass.

Be gentle with you.
Poem by Jarod K. Anderson which reads, "I am not okay today. So, in the absence of okay, what else can I be? I can be gentle. I can be unashamed. I can turn my pain into connection. I can be a student of stillness. I can be awake to nature. I can sharpen my empathy against the stone of my discomfort. I am not okay today, but I am many worthy things."
October 24, 2025 at 1:52 PM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
@rockksteady.bsky.social Know that you & your father are valued & appreciated.

Your worth is not determined by what you are able to do in the public square. Your worth is irrevocable.

My heart to your heart: Take gentle care of you, too.
Image from www.wheretrueloveis.com that reads, "I choose love. I choose inclusion. I choose empathy compassion equality dignity diversity. I choose community. Kindness. Integrity. Honesty. Respect. I choose Justice. I choose facts. Peace. The Planet. I choose humanity. I choose love."
October 17, 2025 at 8:24 PM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
Do what you need to as self-preservation, @stabbyspice.bsky.social

This gentle kitten wants you to know that you are valued.
Muted orange tabby kitten with extremely long white whiskers lies with front paws over edge of a shelf. His facial expression conveys patient interest.
October 16, 2025 at 8:40 PM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
Definitely yes. That is the exact right question to be asking yourself.
Lego builds of flowers in a Lego vase, an autobiographical “Brickhead” and a colorful Lego llama piñata.
October 15, 2025 at 9:24 PM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
@ibogost.bsky.social Joe Versus the Volcano remains one of my all-time favorite movies & you used it in a really compelling way to describe the job seeking moment we are in.

AI could never have written this movie. Sometime we’ll get back to that level of humanity x creativity again.
Image from the movie Joe Versus The Volcano shows a huge full moon over an ocean. Joe, a man (Tom Hanks), stands on a raft with his arms outstretched. In the movie, this is when the character is saying, “Thank you for my life. I forgot how big.”
October 15, 2025 at 8:58 PM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
@lollardfish.bsky.social Are you familiar with How to Eat a Poem by Eve Miriam?
Eve Miriam’s poem, How to Eat a Poem, reads: Don’t be polite. Bite in. Pick it up with your fingers and lick the juice that may run down your chin. It is ready and ripe now, whenever you are. You do not need a knife or fork or spoon or plate or napkin or tablecloth. For there is no core or stem or rind or pit or seed or skin to throw away.
October 14, 2025 at 1:36 AM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
I am not engaging in the debate on what genocide means & whether or not the attempt of it is occurring.

@radiofreetom.bsky.social It's my impression when you get into these online discussions of semantics, your journalism ethic (& perhaps stubbornness) draws from strict definitions.
Screenshot taken from a Stephen Colbert quote when he was on The Colbert Report. It reads, "Truthiness (noun) - the belief in what you feel to be true rather than what the facts will support". An image of Stephen Colbert is at the left side of the image, pointing to the viewer and giving a thumb's up.
October 12, 2025 at 3:02 PM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
"Encouraging someone to be entirely themselves is the loudest way to love them." -Kalen Dion
Brightly colored painting (possibly by 'LEO') with the quote, "Encouraging someone to be entirely themselves is the loudest way to love them." by Kalen Dion
October 12, 2025 at 2:04 PM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
@autisticadam.bsky.social It sucks that this happens. You are describing the double-empathy problem. In short: non-autistic communication partners put full responsibility onto autistic people for breakdowns in understanding, even though they are also part of the difficulty.
Passage from, "Working with Autistic Transgender and Non-Binary People: Research, Practice and Experience" edited by Marianthi Kourti, Damian Milton and others: "The double empathy problem. Using the accounts of autistic people as foundation, Milton (2012) suggested that rather than seeing social interaction difficulties as solely located within the mind of the autistic person, the social disjuncture felt by autistic people is often mirrored by those attempting to understand and interact with them. In this sense, it is both parties that can struggle to empathize with the other. Since its inception, the theory has been supported by numerous experimental research studies (Milton, Heasman & Sheppard, 2018). All of the contributors to this book are themselves autistic and nonbinary or transgender.
October 12, 2025 at 2:01 PM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
@pabloista.bsky.social Reading from neurodivergent researchers has been enormously insightful for me as the parent of twins who both demonstrate different ND profiles, one of whom is also non-binary.

Best wishes to you & your family.
October 11, 2025 at 10:41 PM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
@radiofreetom.bsky.social I've never been cool but the idea I would use to anchor my disappointment in the everything goes umbrella expression of "free speech" (see also @chrisgeidner.bsky.social discussion of recent SCOTUS deliberations re: conversion therapy), is self-discipline.

Where'd it go?
Photo depicts a passage from Eleanor Roosevelt's (1960) You Learn by Living: "With most families and most children you must have a certain number of rules to live by, and a discipline that is accepted, if the child is to realize that he has certain obligations. This is an important part of self-discipline and an essential element of being a good citizen in a democracy. Actually, when you come to understand self-discipline you begin to understand the limits of freedom. You grasp the fact that freedom is never absolute, that it must always be contained within the framework of other people's freedom."
October 9, 2025 at 2:14 AM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
@moosep.bsky.social You could probably find additional information through your patient portal.

I will hold space on your behalf that you are ok, & this turns out to be an inconvenience but not a problem.
Photo of a white lotus and lily pads.
October 8, 2025 at 12:33 AM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
@chatterton.bsky.social Anyone looking to compare the two men as men in America missed the point entirely, & continues to exploit the circumstances of their public slaughters to the detriment of the public good.

It’s gross, @theatlantic.com.

We need to do much better than this.
Quote from Cole Arthur Riley’s Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems, & Meditations for Staying Human: “May you live responsibly and tenderly, that your power would never come at the expense of someone else’s.”
October 2, 2025 at 8:02 PM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
@radiofreetom.bsky.social Huge gratitude for the discussion specific to the President's role as Commander in Chief.

I cannot imagine what my dad would've thought of today's spectacle, but I do believe he would've appreciated your take in support of the enormous responsibility leadership has.
Medal of Meritorious Service. Wikipedia describes it as, "The Meritorious Service Medal (MSM) is a military award presented to members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves with outstanding meritorious achievement or service to the United States. Introduced in 1969, the MSM was long awarded as a decoration for peacetime achievement. Since 2004, it has also been bestowed in lieu of the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious achievement in a designated combat theater. Normally, the acts or services rendered must be comparable to that required for the Legion of Merit but in a duty of lesser, though considerable, responsibility."
October 1, 2025 at 1:56 AM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
At a time in human history when there is a large-scale, senseless, merciless attack against both autistic persons and folks who are beyond the binary, this book stands as just one example of how we actually can understand and regard each other better, more completely, and, therefore, more honestly.
A multi-color painting by LEO is paired with a quote from Kalen Dion which reads, "Encouraging someone to be entirely themselves is the loudest way to love them."
September 30, 2025 at 2:18 PM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
@drippingwithenby.bsky.social I am neither neurodiverse nor nonbinary/transgender, but persons very close to my heart are. I found this book to be deeply illuminating across these topics, & others; I learned so much.

Much of what you said about your experience resonated.
Quote from the book, “Working with Autistic Transgender and Non-Binary People: Research, Practice and Experience” edited by Marianthi Kourtney, Damian Milton, and others — all contributors are themselves autistic and transgender or nonbinary. “Research that aimed to preserve autistic perspectives (Kourti & MacLeod, 2019) found that autistic perceptions of gender identity are far more diverse, and put interests, rather than gender identity, at the core of autistic people’s identity perception. Furthermore, autistic people often stated repeatedly in their accounts how confusing and emotionally taxing “doing gender” is for them, explaining why they may explicitly reject being confined to traditional and binary gender norms” (Davidson & Tamas, 2016).
September 30, 2025 at 3:18 AM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
@karenho.bsky.social I believe you.

It sounds like you have been caught in the double empathy problem bc allistic people can be ridiculous.

As the parent of neurodiverse twins, one of whom is nonbinary, I felt like this book was revolutionary.

Even as a cisgender person myself, I learned so much.
Quote taken from the book, “Working with Autistic Transgender and Non-Binary People: Research, Practice and Experience”: The purpose of this book is to present a variety of perspectives on autistic transgender and non-binary people in order to help those who work and live with them to understand and support them better. It also aims to prove autistic trans and non-binary people with the necessary resources to advocate for themselves, situate their experience in a broader social context, and help bridge barriers of misunderstanding with those around them.” All of the authors are themselves autistic and transgender or non-binary.
September 25, 2025 at 3:27 PM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
@karenho.bsky.social

If you have not read Cole Arthur Riley’s Black Liturgies, I highly recommend it.

May respite unfold for you today.
Quote from Cole Arthur Riley’s, Black Liturgies, which reads: “Remind us that there is much the world needs, including our attention to atrocity — but if we watch the world burn for long enough, the fire will become our only reality.”
September 24, 2025 at 3:57 PM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
Remarkably similar facial expressions.
September 23, 2025 at 8:34 PM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
@anamariecox.bsky.social You have my heartfelt permission to not respond...to just take it in (or not), and be.
Strange Planet comic by Nathan PYLE. The first quadrant features beings throwing confetti ("tiny trash!") on behalf of a surprised being. One of them says, "This is where the planet was when you emerged." In the second quadrant, a being says, "And now we sing." The birthday being responds, "Ok I'll just stare at you." In the third quadrant the remaining being has a cake with lit candles. They say, "This is on fire." The birthday being says, excitedly, "I will exhale on it!" In the final quadrant the birthday being is positioned ready to blow out the candles, behind them the other beings are chanting, "Extinguish! Extinguish! Extinguish! Extinguish!"
September 23, 2025 at 2:00 PM
jessicamcurrall.bsky.social
Right now feels like an excellent time to re-watch Mike Birbiglia’s “Thank God for Jokes” on Netflix.

Has a nice reference to Jimmy Kimmel’s generosity.

Talks about the real world implications of the ideas we express.

Makes me laugh so much & so hard.
Screenshot of the Netflix listing for Mike Birbiglia’s comedy special, “Thank God for Jokes”. The image includes the thumbnail for the show which is drawn as though a stained glass image of Mike Birbiglia in a prayerful posture. The text reads, “Comedian Mike Birbiglia takes the stage in Brooklyn and hits on hard truths about puppets, late people, and the very real dangers of being funny.”
September 22, 2025 at 10:01 PM