Community Spotlight: Another week, another batch of awesome Community stories

Rescued Stories from 4PM EST Friday, Dec. 11 to 4PM Friday, Dec. 19, 2020

Biographical information for each of these Community members comes from what they have shared in stories, comments, or on their profile pages. Thus, there is robust information for some people, less for others. Differences in their bios do not reflect the value these writers bring to their stories, just the amount of self-reveal. If you add your preferred pronouns to your profile, I’ll use them; otherwise I use the gender neutral “they/their.”

Fauci: Young Black Woman Played Key Role In Developing COVID-19 Vaccine by Charles Jay presents Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, a Black woman who is the National Institute of Health’s lead scientist for coronavirus vaccine research. Her team developed an mRNA vaccine in collaboration with Moderna that the FDA is expected to authorize. Drs. Fauci and Corbett are using social media and public events to publicize Corbett’s role in developing the vaccine because “to dispel skepticism among Black Americans about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine … it is important that the role of African-American scientists in vaccine development be widely known.” Charles Jay joined in 2018 and has written 90 stories (with three rescued). His profile page says he’s from New York City, noting that “during a 30-plus-year career as a writer and editor for an international news agency, I was barred from openly supporting a political candidate and posting a political opinion on social media. I’m retired and making up for lost time.”

The Daily Bucket: Even a Boring Volcano can surprise you by 6412093 began when the author “found a warm groundwater seep in the park near my house and it made me think. I approach problems by first assuming the most dramatic solutions and then working my way to the plainest explanation; sort of a reverse Occam’s Razor. An Occam’s Hammer, perhaps.” His investigations led to discovering the volcanism near his home. “The scientists found that ‘Boring’ lava flows popped from tubes on the flanks of two 1000-foot volcano cones in the West Hills, and busted up through the Columbia basalt in spots. I set out with the old geology magazine articles … and old topography maps, seeking those lava caves.” Member 6412093 joined in 2006 and has written 443 stories (with 74 rescued). He also is called “Redwoodman” because of his years living in the redwood forest collecting burls. Now living near Portland, Oregon, he often writes about his magical backyard frog ponds.

Dawn Chorus: Birdability—Birding Without Barriers by giddy thing describes the work of Virginia Rose, a retired English teacher from Texas who founded Birdability. Rose’s campaign crowd-sources information about the accessibility of outdoor spaces, and advocates for modifications to allow easier and more enjoyable use of these spaces. “What I admire about Birdability is that it helps us able-bodied people think and act more inclusively. Often it is the environment that is disabling, not the person who is disabled; why should accessibility be a barrier for anyone wishing to experience the great outdoors?” Giddy thing, who joined in 2011 and has written 43 stories (with 23 rescued), is a wildlife biologist living in Montana’s Rocky Mountains. She explains her user name’s origin: “The giddy in my moniker is ironic when applied to me personally. It comes from Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing—’For man is a giddy thing, and this is my conclusion.’”

A break from politics. Here’s a tale of ecological and environmental connections by Ernest T. Bass is a real-life story of disastrous ecological connections. A series of unintended consequences lead from the dumping of DDT in the 1950s and 1960s to the near extinction of the endemic Channel Island fox who was never directly exposed. “It’s a story about a small animal, but is one of the largest environmental contamination problems in the United States. It’s a story that involves eagles, irresponsible industrial waste disposal, fish, feral pigs, organic chemistry, misguided human intervention, and even a Hollywood film production. It’s got it all.” A section title from the story pulls it all together: “A Tough Situation, But To Really Screw Things Up You Need To Bring In The Humans.” Ernest T. Bass, a geologist, joined in 2004 and has written 16 stories (with three rescued). Previously a resident of Oregon, Bass now lives in Europe.

Unintended consequences blocked Trump’s ‘faithless legislature’ efforts in the Electoral College by RWN is a unique look at the concept of faithless legislatures through the eyes of the author, one of the plaintiffs in a 2016 Supreme Court “faithless electors” case. “What I learned firsthand through this four-year journey (through the legal system) is that resistance to tyranny and autocratic political forces works. Maybe not the original intent, but it carries weight forward and pushes back the anti-democracy forces. That is the entire intent, protecting, and instituting democracy.” RWN joined DK in 2007 and has written 126 stories (with eight rescued).

Grokking Trumpists: Undoing the Long Southern Strategy by Mokurai reviews The Long Southern Strategy: How Chasing White Voters in the South Changed American Politics, by Angie Maxwell and Todd Shields. “One of the most pernicious myths embraced by many Republicans is that of ‘post-racial’ America, the pretense that systemic racism is over. The Supreme Court embraced it in gutting the Voting Rights Act. The book goes into much more historical detail, starting back in the time of enslavement, the self-proclaimed ‘Southern Aristocracy,’ and the purity of southern womanhood. It then traces the development of Southern religion as a support for all of this, and how all of these threads grew together into a solid cultural structure that was imposed on almost all Southerners, so that those who didn’t agree with it all had to keep quiet.” Mokurai joined in 2006 and has written 636 stories (with 42 rescued). A nonprofit program manager in Indiana, his profile page lists his many interests, including math, science fiction, languages, and music.

Grief by Concerned Christian observes that among everything that has made their heart heavy during the last several years, the heaviest burden is when fellow Christians don’t show the value of compassion for their fellow man. “(I)nstead of stepping in with the Gospel, Christians have at best remained silent while many have condoned, excused, or even embraced these hateful, xenophobic, misogynistic, partisan messages.” Concerned Christian, an Air Force veteran, joined in 2016 and has written five stories.

ACM: On Supporting Reproductive Justice and Women’s Bodily Autonomy by NY brit expat tours the history of reproductive rights and gives an overview of where we are today.“(M)any states are vying to be the state whose law is responsible for overturning both Roe and Doe, which would essentially send the decision about the right of women to have abortions back to the states.” The author also reminds readers that abortion is only part of the story. Forced sterilization has a long and terrible history in America and is an ongoing battle, as are the obstacles women still face in accessing sterilization when they want it. “ACM” in the headline refers to the Daily Kos group Anti-Capitalist Meetup. NY brit expat, who joined in 2008 and has written 206 stories (with 36 rescued), is a former senior lecturer in economics with a Ph.D. in Economics.

Nashville Police Department accused of assault and retaliation against their own by silentnolonger begins with the author’s personal story of “sinking deeper and deeper into a hole of depression, with no idea how to climb out … after being raped in a parking lot in June 2017.” This personal story is one of 36 accusing Nashville Police Department members of widespead sexual assault. The author recounts her own rape and efforts to get women to come forward with their stories. “Despite being a former police officer, I became one of the 64% of sexual assault victims who don’t report their assault. Intellectually, I knew the perpetrator was the only one to blame, but like many victims, I blamed myself.” Silentnolonger is a new member who joined on Dec. 14 and published their first story the same day.

The Language of the Night: More of Nghi Vo’s Herstory by DrLori is a mostly spoiler-free review of the new novella When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain. “(H)istory is more than facts. Facts and dates are the skeleton of history. We don’t read history for facts and dates; we read to understand what happened, how it happened, and why. Without the stories, we have no interest, no wisdom to glean, nothing to ponder. This is what Vo grapples with. Because history is itself a product of perspective.” DrLori joined in 2010 and has written 211 stories (with 108 rescued). She has a Ph.D. in medieval manuscripts and describes herself as a “novelist and house restorer who is an overeducated liberal in the deep, deep red Shenandoah Valley.”

Will Civics Education Help Students Make Better Decisions? It’s complicated by ed in the apple examines this question: “Can civics education ‘teach’ potential voters to delineate between ‘claims’ and ‘facts?’” The author’s experiences teaching an honors government class provides the background for a look into how teaching students about government does or does not lead to practical use of what they learn. “The principal asked to have the class construct a ‘constitution’ for the school. We read constitutions, beginning with the Magna Carta, the British parliamentary system, a deep dive into our Constitution; the class decided our school was closer to a monarchy, a divine right monarchy. The principal is the king, the assistant principal is the royalty, the teachers are the craftsmen, and the students are the serfs.” Ed in the apple, who joined in 2015 and has written 24 stories (with two rescued), is “president of the Education Alumni Association at a local college.”

US Fish & Wildlife Service Finds ESA Listing for Monarch Butterfly ‘Warranted but Precluded’ by giddy thing explains the agency’s process and decision on listing monarch butterflies as Endangered. “The ESA provides for a warranted-but-precluded finding when the Service doesn’t have sufficient resources ($$$) to complete the listing process because the agency must first focus on higher-priority listing rules. Warranted but precluded findings require subsequent review each year until the agency undertakes a proposal or makes a not-warranted finding.” This is giddy thing’s second rescued story this week.

COVID-19 positive and underinsured: One kindergarten teacher’s story by ringodaisy explains how she and her family did everything right to avoid coronavirus infection and yet she still was infected. “(W)e stopped going to the grocery store and started using a local, volunteer delivery service. We wore masks as soon as health officials recommended it. Our rural village, near Dayton, was the first local jurisdiction in Ohio to implement mask legislation. I’m writing this to say that when people say they caught it even though they always took precautions and they don’t know where—believe them and continue to take all the precautions you can.” Ringodaisy joined in 2020 and this is her first story. Despite being a new member I’ve not encountered before, I can write “her” because she lists her pronouns on her profile page. She lives “in Yellow Springs, Ohio in a straw bale house with my partner, our two dogs, one cat, and four hens … (and teaches) Kindergarten at Antioch School, an independent, democratic, nature-based elementary school.”

Wisconsin: Which Republican gerrymander is worse? (State Senate vs State Assembly) by gboros explores how presidential election voting results have changed over time in the Wisconsin State Senate and Assembly districts. “It’s worth noting that Democrats are already at a geographic disadvantage in WI (with Dems naturally packed into the Milwaukee and Madison areas) and this has gotten worse with urban areas continually becoming bluer and rural areas becoming redder.” Gboros joined in 2019 and has written 20 stories (two were rescued) analyzing state legislatures.

Quarter millennium of Ludwig van Beethoven by Alonso del Arte marks the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth. “Beethoven was great because he worked really hard to hone his craft, not because he was some kind of genius. And yet even Beethoven is subject to having the vast majority of his catalog ignored. Who cares about the Late Quartets when you can put ‘Für Elise’ on a loop and add a techno beat … Maybe you won’t like every single thing Beethoven wrote. But I think that if you choose any of his compositions at random, even one you have never heard before, you won’t be bored.” Through descriptions and music videos, Alonso introduces several compositions in the key of E-flat major. The author, who is from Michigan, joined in 2015 and has written 841 stories (with 42 rescued), mostly focused on music, Star Trek, and Michigan politics.

What follows is a feel good story by BayAreaKen lives up to its title. The author guided a long-standing client who had recently retired through the 2008 economic crisis and they all emerged stronger. “On a relative basis, he was beating the market because it was dropping much faster than his accounts, but that was of little comfort when you just started your retirement and much of your savings had evaporated within the first year. Quite frankly, it was terrifying. I’ll never forget the meeting we had in my office in October, 2008. It was the longest and most challenging meeting I had ever had up to that point in time….and ever since. It lasted just over 3 hours. He was crying. He was angry. He was sad.” BayAreaKen joined in 2006 and has written 183 stories (at least three were rescued). A former elected official in Silicon Valley, he is a Wealth Advisor at a financial firm.