lgbtq
The letters LGBTQ are just another way of saying that Love is Love.
Falling Between Every System
Modern social systems are often described as safety nets. Employment law protects workers. Healthcare programs provide treatment. Disability benefits replace lost income. Unemployment insurance bridges job loss. Each system is presented as a safeguard designed to catch people when life disrupts their ability to function normally. Yet for many people living with disability, chronic illness, or injury, the lived experience is the opposite. Rather than forming a net, these systems stack vertically, each with its own eligibility rules, thresholds, and assumptions. Instead of catching the fall, they create gaps. People do not slip through because they failed to try. They fall because the systems were never designed to align.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcasta day ago in Humans
Roots and Fruit
Roots and Fruit Photo by Lukáš Kulla on Unsplash Most people evaluate life by what shows. Results, behavior, success, failure, growth, collapse. Fruit is easier to measure than roots, so it becomes the focus almost by default. When something goes wrong, attention rushes to what is visible and immediate. When something goes right, credit is assigned to the most recent action. But this way of seeing consistently misreads causality. Fruit is never the beginning of the story. It is the result of something that has been growing quietly, often unnoticed, for a long time.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast8 days ago in Humans
What the System Forces You to Become
The Question the System Replaces By the time a person has passed through employment law, healthcare coverage rules, unemployment insurance, disability determination, and benefit eligibility, the relevant question has already shifted without ever being stated out loud. It is no longer whether the system helped or failed them. It is whether they managed to remain legible long enough to survive it. Each institutional layer imposes requirements that appear reasonable when viewed in isolation, yet become coercive when experienced sequentially:
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast17 days ago in Humans
Our Queerness
I feel the Queer community isn’t really a community. I’ll explain myself a whole lot better than I am right now. The Queer community doesn’t feel like a community anymore to me thanks to a lot of things. We’re debating whether certain sexualities are valid or deserving of space.
By Raphael Fontenelle18 days ago in Humans
Speaking to Time Instead of the Room
Much of modern communication is oriented toward immediacy. Writing is framed as something meant to be consumed quickly, reacted to instantly, and replaced just as fast by whatever comes next. Under this model, the value of a piece is measured almost entirely by its initial reception. If it does not land immediately, it is treated as a failure. This assumption narrows the purpose of writing and misunderstands how meaning actually travels through time.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast25 days ago in Humans
Jill Biden: The Educator, Advocate, and Influential First Lady
**Jill Biden: The Educator, Advocate, and Influential First Lady** Jill Biden is a prominent public figure whose influence extends beyond politics into education, social advocacy, and American cultural life. Known widely as the former First Lady of the United States, she has built a distinct identity grounded in teaching, lifelong learning, and public service. Her role attracted global attention not only because of her position beside the president, but also because of her decision to remain professionally active while serving in the White House.
By America today 25 days ago in Humans
The Lottery chapter 30
Emma looked as though she had all her blood drained suddenly, then with a soft squeak, she sang out with her skin glowing once again, “Cara! Cara! Is that the Holy Ghost or is this my SISTER!!!!!” She jumped up and ran over to the tall black woman. I immediately recognized her though it had been a long time. Several years since their parents died and Cara left.
By Melissa Ingoldsby29 days ago in Humans
