Run, teach, paint, scream into the void, repeat
@mckaypaints.bsky.social
Teacher, artist, runner, dog mom #uglydogs
This is also important to keep in mind given how many republicans in congress have spoken out against his policies but when push came to shove voted for them anyway. Like it’s not nothing, but just barely.
August 6, 2025 at 10:44 PM
This is also important to keep in mind given how many republicans in congress have spoken out against his policies but when push came to shove voted for them anyway. Like it’s not nothing, but just barely.
(Richard is the dog, btw. He is part pit, part husky maybe and 25% cat)
July 21, 2025 at 9:04 PM
(Richard is the dog, btw. He is part pit, part husky maybe and 25% cat)
I missed this oh no! Better late than never and HIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
July 21, 2025 at 9:03 PM
I missed this oh no! Better late than never and HIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
But he was also very progressive, and the professor he was assigned to was very progressive, at a famously conservative state school, and so I’m positive it was taught by others who didn’t find it as important to emphasize both the inaccuracy and the difference between chromosomes and gender
July 12, 2025 at 6:48 PM
But he was also very progressive, and the professor he was assigned to was very progressive, at a famously conservative state school, and so I’m positive it was taught by others who didn’t find it as important to emphasize both the inaccuracy and the difference between chromosomes and gender
So it’s the “abridged classics” version of the first week of a sophomore level physical anthropology class - Dunning-Kruger’s Anatomy. The sciatic notch, ventral arc, etc but they never get to the part in the textbook where they see how unreliable it is and how many remains have been misgendered.
July 12, 2025 at 6:21 PM
So it’s the “abridged classics” version of the first week of a sophomore level physical anthropology class - Dunning-Kruger’s Anatomy. The sciatic notch, ventral arc, etc but they never get to the part in the textbook where they see how unreliable it is and how many remains have been misgendered.
Also, because so much of science refutes their beliefs they only have a rudimentary understanding of biological markers in bone structure that correspond to their ideas about gender, because by necessity having a beyond superficial knowledge of osteology requires a belief in evolution.
July 12, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Also, because so much of science refutes their beliefs they only have a rudimentary understanding of biological markers in bone structure that correspond to their ideas about gender, because by necessity having a beyond superficial knowledge of osteology requires a belief in evolution.
It’s embarrassing to admit, but I spent several nights as a teen praying and crying because I’d had an epiphany about how insane everything I believed sounded when I really thought about it, and it absolutely terrified me. So the bones argument? Coping mechanisms that sound like science and logic
July 12, 2025 at 6:10 PM
It’s embarrassing to admit, but I spent several nights as a teen praying and crying because I’d had an epiphany about how insane everything I believed sounded when I really thought about it, and it absolutely terrified me. So the bones argument? Coping mechanisms that sound like science and logic
I know so many people who developed OCD-like coping skills (not a diagnosis!) as kids to manage impulses they believed would send them to hell, so “scientific” arguments are another way to comfort people who desperately need to convince themselves of things they deep down believe are bullshit.
July 12, 2025 at 6:02 PM
I know so many people who developed OCD-like coping skills (not a diagnosis!) as kids to manage impulses they believed would send them to hell, so “scientific” arguments are another way to comfort people who desperately need to convince themselves of things they deep down believe are bullshit.
One of the major things that gets pushed is how doubt is a moral failing and will cause them harm - even though it’s a completely normal human reaction and doesn’t always signify a larger issue, much like sexual attraction, much like many other normal impulses that they’re taught are wrong.
July 12, 2025 at 5:56 PM
One of the major things that gets pushed is how doubt is a moral failing and will cause them harm - even though it’s a completely normal human reaction and doesn’t always signify a larger issue, much like sexual attraction, much like many other normal impulses that they’re taught are wrong.
Because there’s an attempt to justify controversial beliefs and stances that way - shroud of Turin, misinterpretation of geological “evidence” of the ark, etc. I think it all just ties into “I really need all these things to be true so I’m not having to face what a lie my entire worldview is.”
July 12, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Because there’s an attempt to justify controversial beliefs and stances that way - shroud of Turin, misinterpretation of geological “evidence” of the ark, etc. I think it all just ties into “I really need all these things to be true so I’m not having to face what a lie my entire worldview is.”
I would guess - having been raised evangelical lite (from Texas, went to Baptist church casually, but my parents were pretty progressive and had some denial about how bad it really was) - that it’s adjacent to the attempt to legitimize biblical stories with scientific/archaeological proof
July 12, 2025 at 5:45 PM
I would guess - having been raised evangelical lite (from Texas, went to Baptist church casually, but my parents were pretty progressive and had some denial about how bad it really was) - that it’s adjacent to the attempt to legitimize biblical stories with scientific/archaeological proof
That’s a really good point. In Texas the bar is so low, “definitely not a Nazi!” is a selling point, whereas in NYC they’re able to get away with just about anything shy of joining the actual Nazis (including espouse fully GOP talking points!) and hang onto their jobs.
July 6, 2025 at 9:21 PM
That’s a really good point. In Texas the bar is so low, “definitely not a Nazi!” is a selling point, whereas in NYC they’re able to get away with just about anything shy of joining the actual Nazis (including espouse fully GOP talking points!) and hang onto their jobs.
I don’t know if you do this but looking back to adults I looked up to as a kid, I realize that they either are, or would have been, the kind of people who cheer the rise of fascism. Maybe some would surprise me, but I know I’m not so lucky that they all would.
July 6, 2025 at 9:17 PM
I don’t know if you do this but looking back to adults I looked up to as a kid, I realize that they either are, or would have been, the kind of people who cheer the rise of fascism. Maybe some would surprise me, but I know I’m not so lucky that they all would.
I teach in NYC now and a lot of my students assume as a white lady from Texas that I feel a particular way politically, so I get that. And while I remind people - especially kids - that neither data nor anecdotes tell the entire story, it’s heartbreaking how many people I thought better of, aren’t.
July 6, 2025 at 9:15 PM
I teach in NYC now and a lot of my students assume as a white lady from Texas that I feel a particular way politically, so I get that. And while I remind people - especially kids - that neither data nor anecdotes tell the entire story, it’s heartbreaking how many people I thought better of, aren’t.
Progressives claim to want better even for the people who don’t agree with them. Even if you don’t want me to have rights, you say, I want them for you. But it’s no good just to say it as a hypothetical and the second it becomes real you forget all about it.
July 6, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Progressives claim to want better even for the people who don’t agree with them. Even if you don’t want me to have rights, you say, I want them for you. But it’s no good just to say it as a hypothetical and the second it becomes real you forget all about it.
Which is hilarious, as that’s not how politics works; if people trying to make change give up then change never happens. And to gloat when shit goes badly in those places? It’s gross. Do you not hear yourself??? You are allowing them to strip you of your humanity and the very core of your politics.
July 6, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Which is hilarious, as that’s not how politics works; if people trying to make change give up then change never happens. And to gloat when shit goes badly in those places? It’s gross. Do you not hear yourself??? You are allowing them to strip you of your humanity and the very core of your politics.
Then when Election Day comes or some major political move gets made where you live and your heart breaks a little more, you get laughed at by conservatives. And the people in places where it’s easy to be progressive? They tell you you’re not doing enough, and if you really hate it you should leave.
July 6, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Then when Election Day comes or some major political move gets made where you live and your heart breaks a little more, you get laughed at by conservatives. And the people in places where it’s easy to be progressive? They tell you you’re not doing enough, and if you really hate it you should leave.
YES. I lived in Texas the first 36 years of my life before moving to NYC. Being progressive in a blue state is doing politics on the easy setting. Believing in a thing when everyone around you agrees is how humans evolved. Try being the only one in most rooms who sees it your way.
July 6, 2025 at 1:00 PM
YES. I lived in Texas the first 36 years of my life before moving to NYC. Being progressive in a blue state is doing politics on the easy setting. Believing in a thing when everyone around you agrees is how humans evolved. Try being the only one in most rooms who sees it your way.
We do some rehearsals near there! Some in Queens, some in Manhattan, and they rotate so if, say, you have a regular Tuesday commitment, you don’t have to pick.
July 2, 2025 at 12:57 AM
We do some rehearsals near there! Some in Queens, some in Manhattan, and they rotate so if, say, you have a regular Tuesday commitment, you don’t have to pick.