The traitor and the peanut butter sandwich
Living in DC with a name like “Natalia Antonova” means that self-important men who don’t know any state secrets whatsoever keep suspecting you of trying to “compromise” them. Yet every once...
Category: Mental health
Baby steps against big tech
The other day, I discovered, via yet another excellent ProPublica investigation, that among Facebook's many mortal sins, it has outsourced moderating its Marketplace to underpaid Accenture...
A love letter to DC in times of plague
It’s very hard to write a column about mental health in America when a bunch of Americans are busy ingesting horse paste as a substitute for a free, widely available, and safe Covid-19 vaccine....
You’re nobody’s dancing monkey
I went out west for the first time in my life last week, sat on some rocks, stood in some tall grass, jumped into some canyons, did mom stuff, hung out with cool guys, and otherwise experienced life....
Reverberating failures
In one of my saddest childhood memories, it is very cold, and my father is pulling me on a sled across the snow. Instead of enjoying it, I am heartbroken and terrified. We have just finished visiting...
The experience of grief outside of social expectations
Grief is different for everyone. That's what I've learned in the last few months after my dad's death. I already knew it, but now, I have seen it up close. Everyone has the right to feel and...
A permanent state of fear
Since my father died of Covid-19, I have naturally been angry and devastated at the way that people have refused to take this pandemic — and the miracle of vaccination — seriously. However, I...
The Delta of Thanos
It was after an anti-vax relative cheerfully told me that the woman who supplies her with organic milk had inside knowledge on how terrible vaccines are that I finally cried. Our family has already...
What goes around comes around
A few weeks before my dad died, an aggrieved person from a past life of mine tweeted a bunch of lies about me — as aggrieved people are wont to do. Among them was the idea that I’m some kind of...
Stepping sideways into another life
“Go outside. Touch grass.” This is what we tell people who annoy us on the internet. It’s a flippant saying, but we’re honestly correct to do so. Being extremely online during a pandemic and...