Jennifer Lesher's Blog, page 3

September 15, 2017

My summer vacation – Foreign Extraction Edition, Part II

I left off as my stateside brother and I finalized our plan to travel to the Philippines to retrieve my Philippines-dwelling brother from near a war zone. I have flight benefits through my employer, and have the ability to add one family member or friend to my benefits, since I don’t have a spouse or […]
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Published on September 15, 2017 19:20

September 7, 2017

My Summer Vacation – Foreign Extraction Edition, Part I

How did everyone’s summer go? Did you get out to the beach? Have some BBQs? Do some camping? Kayaking? Bike riding? How about that eclipse? That was something, huh? I did manage to do most of the above, except instead of kayaking, I floated on an innertube. But I didn’t do as much fun stuff […]
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Published on September 07, 2017 19:02

August 30, 2017

What We Really Mean by States’ Rights

I was talking to someone about the Civil War, and Lincoln and what the war meant to either side. To me, it seems clear that it was about one faction wanting to continue to exploit humans for labor and the other faction saying that no, we’re done with that and it’s time to end the […]
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Published on August 30, 2017 04:49

August 17, 2017

Are You Scared Yet?

In what is by now old news, last weekend a few hundred heavily armed neo Nazis, white supremacists and members of the deceptively named “alt-right” marched in Charlottesville, Virginia. After weeks’ long period of relative calm, during which we, as a nation, watched the steady march of the special prosecutor’s investigation into the current White […]
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Published on August 17, 2017 18:58

August 9, 2017

Your Standards Will Save You

Very many years ago, in the early days of the internet, I got semi-catfished. The guy was real (truly, some friends met him at a later point) but was not at all what he claimed to be. I, fresh off a painful but necessary breakup, and enjoying the energy and flattery of a new situation, […]
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Published on August 09, 2017 15:47

June 29, 2017

You Say Control Like it’s a Bad Thing

People talk about those who like to be in control, as if it’s a negative trait. “Oh, she doesn’t like going to the doctor, because she likes to be in control.” Etc. You know what? Being in control is great. Most of the good things in life are attributed to being in control. If you’re […]
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Published on June 29, 2017 19:21

June 24, 2017

Policing Our Two Americas

When I was a kid, growing up with an alcoholic father and a mother who enabled him (consciously or unconsciously I was never sure), sometimes we would find ourselves, the 6 of us, crammed into our too-small Saab, driving from bar to bar in the next town over, my mother struggling to pilot the car, […]
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Published on June 24, 2017 15:43

June 15, 2017

I Thought I Was Done Dealing with Teenagers

Regular readers of my blog might remember that I dealt with some immature characters while I was in airplane mechanic school. The kids in my class sometimes frustrated me, sometimes amused me and sometimes pissed me off. Oh, and occasionally they just plain grossed me out. It’s one thing to deal with immature people who […]
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Published on June 15, 2017 22:49

May 31, 2017

Difficult People

When I was in college, I had a few friends who were considered “difficult people.” Not by me, mind you. Coming from a crazy home as I did, I didn’t even notice that these people were hard to get along with. They were all people who wanted to be friends with me, and I accepted […]
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Published on May 31, 2017 19:55

May 10, 2017

In the Soup

I’m working on a post about how to think critically and evaluate the sources of information. It’s taking some time, so in the meantime I’ll tell a story about some soup I tried to make and how it kind of turned in to BBQ sauce. There will also be science. One of my favorite meals […]
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Published on May 10, 2017 06:03