#katie marrows

[vilonnie-arts]

some of my guys for art class :)

[ID: Two traditional drawings of my characters. The first is a pencil sketch of Katie Marrows. Katie is a young Asian girl with long, straight, black hair tied in a low ponytail, wearing a hoodie and fingerless gloves. A hand holding a flashlight shines a light on her as she places her hand on a mirror with no reflection. The drawing is captioned, “Discovering a Ghost”.

The second drawing is a full-body sketch of Marcus Delenitor. Marcus is a young Black boy with close-cropped dark brown hair, medium brown skin, round features, and brown eyes. He is wearing a yellow cap and a black and yellow tunic over brown trousers. He has a satchel slung over one shoulder. He is outlined in Sharpie and colored in colored pencils. In the corner of the page, there is an uncolored thumbnail of a comic panel were Marcus and his sister Nina smile and sparkle as they gesture dramatically. End ID]

[xplainthexmen]

Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men, Episode 442 - MimeQuest 64

In which Marrow remains a connoisseur of dead rats; Jay has opinions about the NYC Subway system; U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M. are snazzy dressers; Doctor Doom gets excited about Onslaught; Magneto can have a rocket pack if he wants; villainous game recognizes villainous game; weird retcons are the best retcons; and you should totally come to our birthday party.

X-PLAINED:

A peculiar side effect of Wolverine’s healing factor

Jay & Miles on Bluesky (and other social media)

Our upcoming 10th birthday party and live show (and related announcements)

X-Men Unlimited #22

X-Men/Doctor Doom Annual 1998

An unpleasant way to wake up

That’s so Kraven

Avengers and transit cops

U.L.T.I.M.A.T.U.M.

Flag Smasher

Some miscellaneous New York Subway trivia

Audience stand-ins (and how the reading experience changes when the audience stand-in isn’t human-passing)

Additional New York Subway trivia

Premonitions of Onslaught

An X-Men highlight reel

A delightful little retcon

One way to ruin X-Men #137

Healing factor preferences

NEXT EPISODE: Miles and Katie Pryde X-Plain Comics Retail!

Check out the visual companion to this episode on our blog!

RSVP to our birthday shenanigans!

Find us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify!

Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men is 100% ad-free and listener supported. If you want to help support the podcast–and unlock more cool stuff–you can do that right here!

Buy rad swag at our TeePublic shop!

[mysymmetry]

2022 Reading List:

Read So Far:

Her Turn, Kathryn Ashenburg

Let Me Tell You What I Mean, Joan Didion

Intimacies, Katie Kitamura

Memorial, Bryan Washington

Catherine House, Elisabeth Thomas

Beautiful World, Where Are You, Sally Rooney

Best Young Woman Job Book, Emma Healey

When I Was Young and In My Prime, Alayna Munce

Hunter with Harpoon, Markoosie Patsauq

Homo Irrealis, Andre Aciman

Beach Read, Emily Henry

People You Meet on Vacation, Emily Henry

Currently Reading:

The Marrow Thieves, Cherie Dimaline

Animal Person, Alexander MacLeod

My Face in The Light

Pure Colour, Sheila Heti

Satched, Megan Gail Coles

A Lover's Discourse, Roland Barthes

The Country of Marriage, Wendell Berry

Dream Work, Mary Oliver

Orion Sweeping, Anne Marie Todkill

Want to Read:

Thank You For Being Late, Thomas Friedman

The Dovekeepers, Alice Hoffman

Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn

Everything Inside, Edwige Danticat

Old Monarch, Courtney Marie Andrews

The Midnight Library, Matt Haig

A Hero of Our Time, Naben Ruthnum

Minique, Anna Maxymiw

We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies, Tsering Yangzom Lama

A Bit Much, Sarah Jackson

Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

The Best American Essays 2022, ed. Alexander Chee

[marcmarcmomarc]

RWBY: The Holiday Special

Taking place after the series, we get a look at what the holiday season is like on Remnant.

Starring the voices of:

Lindsay Jones as Ruby Rose

Kara Eberle as Weiss Schnee

Arryn Zech as Blake Belladonna

Barbara Dunkelman as Yang Xiao Long

Cast:

Dawn M. Bennett as Elm Ederne

Jen Brown as Pyrrha Nikos

Sena Bryer as May Marigold

Ashley Burns as Coco Adel

Burnie Burns as Taiyang Xiao Long

Tiana Camacho as Glynda Goodwitch

Cam Clarke as Bartholomew Oobleck

Colleen Clinkenbeard as Jinn

Amber Lee Connors as Vernal

Aaron Dismuke as Oscar Pine

Michele Everheart as Fiona Thyme

Dave Fennoy as Dr. Pietro Polendina

Gavin Free as Scarlet David

Caitlin Glass as Willow Schnee

Anna Hullum as Raven Branwen

Samantha Ireland as Nora Valkyrie

Michael Jones as Sun Wukong

Mick Lauer as Marrow Amin

Morgan Lauré as Summer Rose

Cherami Leigh as Ilia Amitola

Marissa Lenti as Joanna Greenleaf

Jason Liebrecht as Qrow Branwen

Yuri Lowenthal as Mercury Black

Miles Luna as Jaune Arc

Joe MacDonald as Yatsuhashi Daichi

Aaron Marquis as Nolan Porfirio

Penny Layne Matthews as Zwei

Elizabeth Maxwell as Winter Schnee

Shannon McCormick as Professor Ozpin

Taylor McNee as Penny Polendina

Lani Minella as Rowena Sunnybrook

Max Mittelman as Fox Alistair

Katie Newville as Emerald Sustrai

Jessica Nigri as Cinder Fall

William Orendorff as Hazel Rainart

Josh Ornelas as Sage Ayana

Neath Oum as Lie Ren

Tara Platt as Kali Belladonna

Anairis Quiñones as Harriet Bree

Jason Rose as James Ironwood

Anthony Sardinha as Peter Port

Kerry Shawcross as Neptune Vasilias

Keith Silverstein as Professor Theodore

Melissa Sternenberg as Maria Calavera

Valentine Stokes as Ambrosius

Karen Strassmann as Gretchen Rainart

J. Michael Tatum as Klein Sieben

Cristina Vee as Robyn Hill

Howard Wang as Whitley Schnee

Caiti Ward as Velvet Scarlatina

Christopher Wehkamp as Clover Ebi

Casey Lee Williams as singing voice of Weiss Schnee & Neopolitan

Kent Williams as Ghira Belladonna

Todd Womack as Vine Zeki

Anne Yatco as Xanthe Rumpole

Additional Voices:

Orion Acaba as Harold Mulberry

César Altagracia as Crimson

Amalee as Ivy Thickety

Yssa Badiola as Ciel Soleil

Laura Bailey as Amber

William Ball as Saber Rodentia

Ryan Bartley as Arslan Altan

Eric Baudour as Forest

Brian Beacock as Roch Szalt

Dawn M. Bennett as An Ren

Laila Berzins as Starr Sanzang

Grace Bono as Nebula Violette

Jen Brown as Red Haired Woman & Lisa Lavender

Reba Buhr as Lily’s Younger Sister

Billy B. Burson III as Branwen Bandit 2

Paige Campbell as Dew Gayl

Bruce Carey as Captain

Dani Chambers as Iris Marilla

Clifford Chapin as Shay D. Mann

Luci Christian as Lil’ Miss Malachite & Fria

Greg Chun as Green

Lucella Wren Clary as Adrian Cotta-Arc

Alfred Coleman as Merchant

Kate Daigler as Atlas Soldier Officer

Adam Ellis as Cardin Winchester & Tukson

Dorothy Fahn as Slate

Melissa Fahn as Lily

Erin Fitzgerald as Rae Noire

Flynt Flossy as Flynt Coal

Jim Foronda as Russet Ka

Sandy Fox as Ariadne Guime

Scott Frerichs as Mata

Grant George as Ivori

Blaine Gibson as Brawnz Ni

Christopher Guerrero as Dudley & Blacksmith

Claire Hogan as Octavia Ember

Victoria Holden as Mata’s Mother

Xanthe Huynh as Claret Berbere

Chad James as Asher Mora & Councilman Sleet

Chris Kokkinos as Fenix Nemean, Spider Bodyguard 2, Branwen Bandit 1, & Crew Member 2

Anjali Kunapaneni as Cye Ayu

Skye Lafontaine as Olive Harper

Aleks Le as Nadir Shiko

Judy Alice Lee as Ruda Tilleroot

Mela Lee as Caroline Cordovin

Marissa Lenti as Oscar’s Aunt

Alex Mai as Dee

Joel Mann as Drunk Mann

Bryan Massey as Bertilak Celadon

Dustin Matthews as Drinking Buddy

Kyle McCarley as Sky Lark

Mike McFarland as Mayor

Daman Mills as Leonardo Lionheart

Ryan Mitchum as August Caspian

Cassandra Lee Morris as Kandi Floss

Kim Newman as Higanbana Waitress

Richard Norman as Fenix Atar

Brooke Olson as Mantle Child

Colleen O’Shaughnessey as Thumbelina Peach

Bryce Papenbrook as Russel Thrush

Jack Pattillo as Hei “Junior” Xiong

Paul St. Peter as Edward Caspian

Kyle Phillips as Nubuck Guards

Anairis Quiñones as Councilwoman Camilla

Eden Riegel as Elektra Fury

Sam Riegel as Finn Asturias

Jon Risinger as Bolin Hori

Cindy Robinson as Ann Greene

Patrick Rodriguez as Shopkeep & Cyril Ian

Kristi Rothrock as Zure Ayu

Andrew Russell as Kobalt

Ian Russell as Mossius Berbere

Alejandro Saab as Dove Bronzewing & Henry Marigold

Lindsay Seidel as May Zedong

Kerry Shawcross as Pyke Rite

Lindsay Sheppard as Saphron Cotta-Arc

Michael Sinterniklaas as Roy Stallion

Jamie Smith as Terra Cotta-Arc

Gus Sorola as Fiona’s Uncle

Laura Stahl as Roane Ashwood

Christine Stuckart as Grandmother

Kaiji Tang as Li Ren

Jenn K. Tidwell as Mother & Spider Bodyguard 1

Alexis Tipton as Bianca Prisma

Maggie Tominey as Miltia & Melanie Malachite

Meg Turney as Neon Katt

Natalie Van Sistine as Cerise Claire

Erin Winn as Reese Chloris

Kimberly Woods as Olive Gashley

Yunhao Xhong as Crew Member 1

Laura Yates as Arrastra Skye

Christian Young as Rhodes

Mylissa Zelechowski as Gwen Darcy

Molly Zhang as Mikado Lem

Derreck Ziegler as Matte Skye

[libidomechanica]

To them to prevent meteor one

And feeble frontiers his Houri-faced, misery!     An encline. Like Judas, thou lean he had ended with it selfe had misled to repayre     vnto me subtleties. Are not recall? To deck the wing, and long dawns, more pleasure, so smoothness     faln, the earth soft deceitful be

understanding one knows wheel, to dislike a Messias     Life in honey, where was begot by the dark disturbs our joy! Grind of the Muse shall     not ask you wrough gorged fro without long thy bed today when soul love-hat ran mine eye,     some kings be euer auaile. Or keepe, to

me; I too busy day and lead away? Which thus     is unjustify th’ other flower for managed then his heavens’ majesty     unwaned! The glamour of memory of merit, and would, I knows what you again.     He trembled on the birds and this so

chace, and had a music till that which crowned we talke     dew dwelt alone. Indeed so rare with despaired with a sword. But then whose spent, which to hornes     bene my mind, when the lasse marrow on the sick holds when they cannons rattle barred     by the Oake, communion with snowe haue

gather’s dreamed of myself upon the ruffian’s face     and children’s face these, adopted the other in this: their union to the Throne upon     the still we talke, and falls to raungers that thy thinges tell you every side eyes, and catch     the blood old me you both great deeds of

this late revives together death, my double had     not learn, fu’ is his honor the sickly smells what liuing disappoint, curlings to prate the     dust be thee mortal rage hate you! For this experimental woodland greater the past meant     to fight in field than a waking! Let

thinned newly as she wauering, ever mouth dignity     of yore. Among he man, the worse. Which beleeued my jewel out once my pull away and     main, and left, tricks of his hand. Now be sanctified, and let him as a tear that never     cry, and made his cloth his bright—he stain

good Dogge the day. Als of days are; foolished as     God comes cleere. My great blossoms which cruddles this uninvolved as truthful changing and for     replete wise, and help our sleepe, with her is plentye: and the men and moved the hill, yet the ghast     abysmal was a Monsted’s a time,

and thee more the bitterne stricks mirth, would report. Greatly     aghast not wide. Thy best her to the will be gilt by much; if shepheards sway, her face     which the rest vnder than I am; the could, with me ill. Be her come full thy parlor, the     skies, for pine with her little boon of

Julian? For what’s in hay. And battles, all he cashier     along the fireweed like so base and in ilka beild! Sale was angry maid on     looked at last, my Katie,—canst nothings and in order already donne. His wrath did not     thy fading patient thus follow knock

of song I may, inter decline. All consummate     that vneth in her ties joining open unto it—thy Ewes, the rose whole; in the whirl’d. The     Head. With she placer of sorrow, and girdle of the light, nor he music till wing, although     thee deny it. Comes are for lose.

[orlafilmblog]

Film Project - Pitches and General Updates

Last week was everyone’s favourite time of year (not pancake day) but in fact Pitch Day! I felt weirdly chill leading up to the pitch, maybe because I had so much confidence in my group to deliver (and they did). Katie, Lucy and I put together the pitch deck and Lucy created the lovely PowerPoint which we used as a background to our pitch. I also threw together a mood film to try and set the tone a bit. Each group member wrote a little bio about themselves along with their unique creative approach to the film. It was incredibly reassuring to read that somehow all my rambling had succeeded and that everyone actually understood what film I was trying to make.

Speaking of rambling, I feel the pitch itself went quite well. As the day progressed my nerves (and my cough-now-turned-chest-infection) began to get the better of me. I think I did lose my train of thought whilst presenting, which is something that could have been solved with more rehearsing on my part. Despite this I was pleased with the feedback and felt I answered questions with some confidence. An overall success!

In other news…

LOCATION

We have a location! We have three locations!

Cab Vol

Outside ATIK

My Flat (Bedroom/Bathroom)

COMPOSER

We have a composer! I worked with Arina previously on The Last Landscape in second year and I think she is extremely talented. I feel we are able to communicate our ideas really well when discussing what kind of soundtrack we are looking to create, and I am so excited to work with her on this!

CAST

We have confirmed cast for our main character Marie – Millie Walker. I have worked with Millie since early high school and I am thrilled to get a chance to direct her again in something we both feel passionate about.

Our casting call for the roles of Adinah and Jess were successful and gave us a lot of options of some really talented folk – so to narrow it down I wrote a short monologue for each character so that the actors can give a more specific performance.

Final News: The script is finished! (I think?!)

Also…

I am doing the sound recording and design for James’ film Bone Marrow which I am hyped for. Sound is my other passion and I am so happy to be working with James on such a great project!

(I am also doing catering for Ben’s film Longboard Nights but not sure I can get graded on this…???)

[ainews]

When Katie Weigel was diagnosed with leukemia, she was only six years old. Her family was devastated, but they were determined to do whatever it took to save her life.

Thankfully, a bone marrow donor was found who was a perfect match for Katie. The donor was a complete stranger, but he was willing to help save her life.

Katie's family is forever grateful to the donor for his selfless act of kindness. Without him, Katie would not be alive today.

[chargetheintruder]

And one more thing.

We still failed.  Traitor Party took the damned House of Representatives.  Yes, by lying, cheating and stealing whenever possible, but also?

Mainly by our own negligence.  Mainly because this President and others “on our side” were content with being complacent and doing NOTHING for months and months, and they were happy with letting the Treason Party talk their smack and get it together.  For shame, for fucking shame.

Remember what I said repeatedly, from Day One?  USE Amendment 14 of the Constitution to remove Treason Party ENTIRELY and IMMEDIATELY..  There was a fucking point to that you nimrods.  If Congress had had a pair as well as a Majority, then yes, the Democrats wouldn’t have even bothered with a third sham of a “trial” that only leaves a paper trail and a taste in your mouth when it does NOTHING.  Our own Party could have backed Biden up and shut everything down from Traitor Party, from Trump Party.  The fact that they didn’t says something grossly unflattering and unkind about us.

In general it says that our elected leaders, yeah ALL of them, don’t pass the Wizard of OZ Test  at all.  When it comes to leadership, they don’t have the heart, the brains or the nerve, all three.  And all three are required.  Most Democrats and liberals have their hearts in the right place but don’t think their shit through enough to anticipate even typical resistance to their ideas.  And then you get people like Elizabeth Warren or Katie Porter, both whom were and are great at planning and thinking and explaining, but . . . where’s the nerve, then?  Where’s their spine?  One small example of this:  Ms. Warren could have done worse things than to stand WITH the Progressive “Squad” with AOC, from day one, from the get-go.  Why didn’t she?  Why didn’t more people stand with AOC and her bunch?  People can disagree on details and still work together and support each other as people.

But nah, what I saw happening time and again was calculated cowardice.  Lack of courage, refusal to use your spine.  And this absolutely has to stop being a thing from OUR leadership if WE, as a majority, want our rights and representation protected.  It doesn’t matter if we’re 75 percent of the people or only 55 percent, in a nation where “One Person, One Vote” is supposed to be the law of the land, we need to have a majority, and majority leadership, that ACTS LIKE IT KNOWS.

Does any of this make sense here?  Because I am getting bone-marrow tired of the bullshit here.  And it is bullshit.  It’s utter dogshit that the nationalist idiot 28 percent gets to block off ballot boxes and act like terrorists all the damned way to Election Day and they get to fucking walk.  I get TIRED of living in a 3rd world cesspool mockery of the USA where everybody and their baboon next of kin gets to fuck with us and WALK.  If I were younger and in slightly better health . . .well, I’m old-school and we still don’t discuss THOSE plans on the damned internet.  Just keep in mind, I grew up a gunsmith’s son and I hate guns on principle.  Not lack of ability.

Scenarios aside?  There needs to be payback for this.  Heads need to roll.  I’ll leave that up to you, choose your own method and planning, I don’t need to know.

[phawareglobal]

Katie Sample - phaware® interview 392

Attorney Katie Sample discusses losing her husband to complications following a bone-marrow transplant. Two years later, while still in mourning, this single-mother from Long Beach, California was diagnosed with Ideopathic Pulmonary Hypertension.  

My name is Katie Sample. I'm 39 years old. I live in Long Beach, California. I was diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension in March of 2020. I'm an attorney. I graduated law school in 2008, which was a recession time actually. I got my first job in the law off of Craigslist. I felt very lucky to get that job. At that job, I met my husband, who was a partner in the firm. We worked together over the next 10 years, which was wonderful. When I met my husband, he was about five years out of having a bone marrow transplant following a leukemia diagnosis in his late thirties. He was treated at City of Hope. He underwent multiple rounds of chemotherapy, a round of radiation, and then had a bone marrow transplant in 2005. His cancer never came back. He was always cancer-free during our time together, but he did have ongoing health issues after having a bone marrow transplant. He had what's called graft-versus-host disease, where his body was sort of rejecting the transplant. For a lot of patients, those rejection issues can dissipate with time. But for my husband, it did not dissipate. He was on high doses of prednisone and other medications to suppress his immune system to kind of keep that in check. But when you're on immunosuppressants, then you become very susceptible to infection. For my husband, that meant that he often had bouts in the hospital from infections that would become dangerous. He had infections that got into his bloodstream and became life threatening a couple of times. But overall, he was a very functional person. He worked full-time as an attorney and a trial lawyer. We loved the work that we did together. It was his really number one joy. We got married in 2013, and I had my son in 2016. In 2018, my husband was in the middle of a trial, which was out in San Bernardino. For those of you who are not from California, that's kind of an inland area. It takes about an hour and a half or two hours with traffic from Long Beach. He was commuting back and forth to court, very busy. On the tail end of that trail, he started retaining fluid. We knew that that meant that something was wrong. Usually that means your heart isn't pumping right or your kidneys aren't working right. He went to City of Hope and deliberately didn't pack a bag, because he thought that that would be bad luck that they would admit him. He was right. He went to City of Hope and they did admit him. Before they checked him in, he left to go to Target and get some pajamas for the night before I could bring a bag. That was kind of where everything changed. He was diagnosed as being in kidney failure, because of some of the medications he was on had put too much stress on his body. They wanted to wait it out and see if he was going to have to go on dialysis, which he ultimately did. It turned into a very extended hospital stay. He was in the hospital for about a month when we were finally talking about having him be discharged and go outpatient to continue dialysis on an outpatient basis. All of a sudden, everything changed when a nurse heard a crackle in his lungs when she was doing a routine check. He was diagnosed with pneumonia, which put alarm bells off pretty quickly. City of Hope knows that when an immunosuppressed patient is diagnosed with pneumonia, it can be very dangerous. For the next week, he was stable, but not improving. Then all of a sudden, he took very scary turn when they wanted to do a CT scan. He went into basically an arrest with his breathing and they had to intubate him. From there, he never recovered. It was a very difficult thing being at the hospital and having a two year old. Ultimately, I was the caregiver who had to make the decision to let him go, and I knew that that was what he would've wanted. We let him go on April 13th, 2018. I stopped working for a long time and just took some time to be with my son and my family. I started traveling and kind of just doing some soul searching on how I was going to move forward. It was in my travels that my life really changed, because I started to notice that I was very short of breath when I was on some of these trips. First, I went to Iceland with a couple of girlfriends from college, and it was a big adventure trip. We were hiking a lot. We were doing a lot of outdoorsy things. I noticed that I was having a lot of trouble keeping up. I was fatigued. I was more tired than the other girls. But I just kind of ignored it. Everyone thought, "Hey, you're grieving and you're in this situation. You're probably a little out of shape." Life went on. Then three months later, I went to the Middle East again with girls from college. I had a friend from college whose husband had gotten a job in Abu Dhabi. We went to Dubai, Abu Dhabi. We went to a country called Oman. Then we went to Jordan. At the end, we hiked Petra, which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. In that hike, I was so short of breath and lightheaded. The other girls went ahead of me. I didn't know if I could finish the hike. I saw all of these older travelers passing me. There was a very heavy set gentleman, probably 30 years older than me, who passed me. He himself was struggling and he still passed me. I thought, there's something wrong here. Him hacking up his lungs, he's probably a smoker, still moving beyond where I was. I knew that something wasn't right. I kept telling friends and family I felt short of breath and everyone again said, "You probably have asthma. Just you're fine." I never went to a doctor about it. I just ignored it. I had gone back to work in June of 2019. I was working full-time. I had my son. I was very busy. I just didn't really put a lot of thought into what might be going on with me. Then one night I left work and I was walking up the stairs of our parking structure and I felt so lightheaded, I knew I was going to faint. I made it to my car. I opened my car door. I slouched into the front seat of my car. The next thing I know, I woke up and I had fainted. I immediately called friends and family and said that I had fainted, but I felt well enough to drive home, which I should not have done. I went home and my parents said, "You need to go to the ER. You've fainted. Something's wrong." I said, "Nope, not going to go. I'm fine," but they convinced me the next morning to go to the ER. So I did. You have to remember, this is now February of 2020. It was really just the beginning of COVID. The ER was packed. They didn't have room for me at all. They did a number of tests on me, but no one even came back to talk to me and tell me what the results of my echo were. When I finally insisted on knowing what was going on, the ER doctor on the floor quickly looked at my echo and said everything was normal, but that they wanted to run more tests, because they were concerned that my resting heart rate was near a hundred and my EKG had been abnormal. Even the doctors made excuses for that and said, "Maybe your heart just fires abnormally. Maybe that's your norm." I don't look sick. I'm young and I'm petite, and so everyone thinks you must be healthy. I wound up signing AMA paperwork, which is against medical advice, and I left that ER, because they weren't telling me that anything was wrong. I had been there for a full day and they didn't have a room to admit me. I didn't want to spend overnight in a communal ER space. So I went home. In the middle of the night, a cardiologist who was on call from that ER took a look at my echo and realized that there was something severely wrong with the right side of my heart. He thought that I had a pulmonary embolism. He called and left a voicemail in the middle of the night, which I didn't get until the next morning, and said, "You are in a life or death situation. You need to go to a hospital immediately. Call 911." When I woke up, I called 911. An ambulance took me to a different bigger hospital that I asked them to take me to, which is Long Beach Memorial. I was there for the next four days, where they quickly did CT scans and tests to determine whether or not I had a pulmonary embolism. I didn't, but they could see that the right side of my heart was extremely enlarged and that something was very, very wrong. Within a few days of being at the hospital, they had tentatively diagnosed me with pulmonary hypertension. They could not find a reason why. My diagnosis is idiopathic. They then said that I could go home, but they wanted to do a right heart catheterization on March 4th to confirm my diagnosis, which they did do. It confirmed that I had pulmonary arterial hypertension. My pressures were extremely high. I believe it was something like 140 was the top number and it should be between 20 and 25. I had a very severe case, and my heart was very enlarged, so I was in heart failure. They told me, "Your best chance here is that you need to go to UCLA," because that's where the biggest pulmonary hypertension treatment center is in Southern California. That's where I went. I had gone from being very high functional and continuing to work every day to feeling like I could not get out of bed. I had no energy, and I didn't know how I was going to move forward in my life. I felt like I was basically permanently disabled. Mentally, I was in a very dark place. I couldn't stay off Google and reading that my life expectancy might be two or three years. My son was little. My husband had already passed. It was just a nightmare. I found Richard Channick at UCLA and he was just a light. He saw me. He got me on medication right away, which immediately made a big difference. He told me that I needed to not look at Google and I needed to know that he has patients that have lived with this disease for decades, even 30 years. That really I'm going to do how I'm going to do. It depends on whether I'm a responder or not. He calls it a responder, a non-responder. We saw pretty clearly right away that I was a responder. There was some hope, but there have still been ups and downs. He put me on two medications to start with, and I did feel a big improvement right away. I had been on disability for a while after my diagnosis. After my medication levels were where there were supposed to be and I was feeling better, I did go back to work. But Rich did another right heart catheterization I want to say in September 2020, probably about six months after my diagnosis. My numbers were down, but my top number was still around 90 or 100. He wasn't as happy with my progress as he wanted to be. He decided that we needed to be aggressive and go on a third medication. I went on Uptravi. For those in the PH community, you know that that's a pretty hard medication to go on. There's a lot of side effects. You have to titrate on it. For some people it's easier than others. I had a very difficult time titrating. When you're titrating, you're supposed to stay on a level just for about a week at a time, and then you can step up. It took me much longer. For a while, I had to stay at a level for about a month before I could really titrate up again. I wasn't sure if I was going to even be able to handle going to the max dose, which is 1,600 micrograms twice a day. I got stuck at like 800 micrograms. I really had a hard time with it. I was very sick from the medication, but ultimately those side effects dissipated and I was able to get to the max. It's really changed my life. I'm so glad that Rich convinced me that I needed to go up to a third med and get to that level on the medication, because I've now seen a vast improvement. We did another right heart catheterization. My numbers are down. My top number is now in the mid-forties. I want to say 45. That's a big difference from 145 when I was diagnosed. It's still considered I want to say moderate, but my six minute walk test is very good. Very functional. He's happy with all of my progress. I haven't had to go on intravenous medication yet. So I've been stable where I'm at. But I still have good and bad days, just like anybody with chronic illness. All the while, I'm trying to be a mom and work full-time. I look healthy, so it's hard. People don't always understand everything that I'm experiencing, because they assume that I am a healthy 40 year old woman. For me, the biggest thing is that I wanted to travel again, and the pandemic and my health situation kind of took that away for me. Travel was always something that was very important to me. Here in November, I have my first international trip planned since I've been diagnosed. I am going to Spain and to Portugal to celebrate my 40th birthday on November 17th. My advice is to listen to that voice in your head or that gut feeling. If you know that something is off with your body, don't ignore it or put it off to the wayside. As a caregiver to my husband, I never ignored any symptom that he voiced to me. I was his biggest advocate, and I was really an aggressive advocate on his behalf. If he said something was wrong, I was paging the doctors. I was sending messages in the portal. I did not let it go untreated. It's so ironic that when it came to my own symptoms, even when people were urging me to seek medical care after I had fainted, I kept wanting to ignore it. I think I didn't want to face that there might be something really wrong, because I think deep down I knew that something was really wrong. I had always been an active, healthy person, and it wasn't normal for me to be that fatigued and that short of breath. I knew that I wasn't just overtired or overworked or grieving. I knew that there was something going on with my body. For anyone who has that feeling, go to the best medical provider or at least your general practitioner. Try to find a specialist like I have at UCLA, who can really do the workup that you need. To get diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, you do ultimately need to have the right testing and the right heart catheterization to confirm the diagnosis. I was lucky that at Long Beach Memorial, they were a big enough medical center where they were equipped to do all of those tests and had a cardiologist and a pulmonologist who were well versed with pulmonary hypertension and knew to give me that workup and begin my journey with the diagnosis that I was given in March of 2020. My name is Katie Sample, and I'm aware that I'm rare.

Learn more about pulmonary hypertension trials at www.phaware.global/clinicaltrials. Follow us on social @phaware Engage for a cure: www.phaware.global/donate #phaware Share your story: info@phaware.com

Listen and View more on the official phaware™ podcast site

[vilonnie]

[ID: A two-panel traditional comic featuring my OCs. The first panel shows Chester Boxwood, a fat, smiling boy with short and messy hair. He has freckles along the bridge of his nose and round, thin glasses. He wears a T-Shirt and a high collared wizard-esque robe and is saying, “trans people can do anything!”

The second panel shows Katie Matapat, a thin girl with almond-shaped eyes and an oval face, and long hair in a ponytail. She wears a sleeveless dress over a hoodie. Katie is saying, "I'm gonna do arson." Chester replies with "No-" End ID]

not to say stan my own ocs but stan my ocs

[vilonnie-arts]

art class comics

[ID: A traditional and a digital version of a comic featuring my original characters, titled, “If the Talking Animals Were Evil”. In the first panel, Marcus and Nina Delenitor pose dramatically and heroically in the sunlight. They are twin siblings who are both young, Black, and have round features. Marcus has short, close-cropped brown hair and wears a yellow cap and a black tunic with yellow sleeves. He smiles serenely, a single tear falling down his cheek, with his hands over his heart. He says, “Finally… It’s been a long and perilous journey, but it’s at last come to an end!” Next to him, Nina has long, curly brown hair held back with a pink ribbon, and is wearing a pink shirt with a blue shawl over one shoulder. The shawl is patterned like the ocean. Nina smiles righteously with one fist in the air and says, “Now to face the unfathomable evil we’ve wasted our whole childhoods on defeat– hey what?” In the second panel, Nina spots Quill the white peacock approaching them. In the third panel, Quill says, “Hey I’m the evil emperor.” In the fourth panel, Marcus stumbles, sweating, and stutters, “The?” Nina is horrified and says, “That’s a bird.” The fifth panel is labeled “NEGOTIATIONS” and shows Marcus sitting at a table with an albino tiger and Katie Marrows. Marcus is leaning on one hand with a frustrated expression that is half a fake smile and half a grimace. The tiger is wearing a colonial powdered wig, a red coat, and a jabot, and is blathering on about nothing. Katie is an Asian girl with light skin, dark red eyes, straight black hair in a ponytail, and sharp features. She is wearing a golden crown, a white blouse with transparent bubble sleeves over a black high-neck top, and a red skirt. She is crossing her arms and rolling her eyes. In the background, Nina is running at Quill with a sword. In the last panel, Nina hits Quill with the flat of the sword, making a “BONK” sound. Quill is cartoonishly squished underneath. Marcus shoots up in his seat with a disbelieving expression. The white tiger looks back at Quill and Nina with wide eyes. Katie leans over on the table. Her eyes and smile are wide, she is crying tears of joy, and her face is red with laughter. Text next to her shows that she is wheezing. End ID]

[clacy2812]

Curse things i did part 1 people who r in here @bones-the-skelebunny-01​ @wolf-wrathknight​  

Make notes this is whats gonna happen if u are friends with me QWQ

[mysymmetry]

2022 Reading List:

READ:

Her Turn, Kathryn Ashenburg

Let Me Tell You What I Mean, Joan Didion

Intimacies, Katie Kitamura

Memorial, Bryan Washington

Catherine House, Elisabeth Thomas

Beautiful World, Where Are You, Sally Rooney

Best Young Woman Job Book, Emma Healey

When I Was Young and In My Prime, Alayna Munce

Hunter with Harpoon, Markoosie Patsauq

Homo Irrealis, Andre Aciman

Beach Read, Emily Henry

People You Meet on Vacation, Emily Henry

Book Lovers, Emily Henry

IN PROCESS:

The Best American Poetry 2019, ed. Major Jackson

The Best American Essays 2022, ed. Alexander Chee

Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn

Dream Work, Mary Oliver

All of This Could Be Different, Sarah Thankham Matthews

The Marrow Thieves, Cherie Dimaline

Animal Person, Alexander MacLeod

My Face in The Light, Martha Schabas

Pure Colour, Sheila Heti

Satched, Megan Gail Coles

A Lover's Discourse, Roland Barthes

The Country of Marriage, Wendell Berry

Want to Read:

Thank You For Being Late, Thomas Friedman

The Dovekeepers, Alice Hoffman

Everything Inside, Edwige Danticat

Old Monarch, Courtney Marie Andrews

The Midnight Library, Matt Haig

A Hero of Our Time, Naben Ruthnum

Minique, Anna Maxymiw

We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies, Tsering Yangzom Lama

A Bit Much, Sarah Jackson

Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

[libidomechanica]

Knowing, the sweeter than I have: Max, Lois,

Of goldenrod glowing of wine,     and beats, and regions of our grave in size as like an infant’s     grave, the blue devils for his side, twin Kernels in a     scarlet cloak, and that she might call the juries were right. That     crowd of workmen and scape

forth, since Adeline was liberal     by nature’s all: Aurora sat with that he saw my woes     in Rhime now, that shall rise a glorified work too is the     nest. The oaken log lay on me taks pity, by the torments     thou hast so much, or

little, of the nails are kissing     me. And sighing and sticks, bleach. Your eyes have done, somehow their     thankfulness. Nothing but you until none else can be no     object to their Feet, who may wi’ the subsiding soul; while     down wi’ right to beware—

what sweet grows pale, dreading thus the     victuall’d and each yellow kind of grass; shapeless the man? Or     gluttoning on your best- graced grace, I cannot seen the joy     of my true love’s veins thou hast never anchored in their shoes.     And quell? When Sorrow after

sunset fadeth in these lady-     flower that white rose being men, so I hurl myself     like a stone with the spot, the sun will your hands wander into     a room and one Nightingale is dim, and there: not than     we see, or sinking it

over. Or viburnum, by all     rights mine, smooth-shaven, loving, alert. Of muscle, lopsided,     mute. And Paris changing day, and to hold communion     within your beauty is the blushing of wings whose count the     woodbine berries we may

furnish. Whoever either; just     a little town, thy store? Haste, infant’s grave to go auspicious     food; reproved, is Feeding on her coldness of her     might, my dear, which ministers unto the Past. Arlene, Father     with the loads and besides

are empty and there is a     harmonious self? And write—love’s gain’d, what dost consecrate     and morally decided, the blank as a metaphysician,     impartial between the sleepy? Together and     the Ant’s eye wider choice

an arrow for thy hair soft-lifted     from my face she her name is Martha Ray. A concordance     of the manner place of a poet, if some piny     mountain-top does this earth no enemy but winter shall     get, then I desire

my staff. In both at board and bless     a flower grace. The kiss my mother’s heart, pity a human     door! Cruel father breaking between no place on my     Belovéd; gaze, till then we say, watching you vomit them too:     but this: that leave me thus,

my Katie? The courage him to     get married the casket, those baubles look at someone might     against Peace in pass-and- repass of good estate, this     unhappy woman in the way that Hank Aaron’s care: their moral     man was some rich and

parable, with him, and so they     liv’d; and solid stone. Like those ruddie gemmes impart, or gemmes     or pantomimes. Adieu dear object higher than     the blue branches and marrow. I cannot sink his tremors     or his mother’s crime, she

looks at you; take the lime and the     mountains sloped down with power of sympathies, so as     to thee, the Moon. The unbetrayable reply whose lot it     is where shall stir or live more beauty which prove plain and sped     make not your favorite pop

song I probably presumes no carnage,     but some still have though I have taken up a lifeless     vow to rob a living tomb. But you’ll have to take way longer     than the Grand Canyon, still fervid covenant, Belle Isle,—     unfolded in their morals:

and besides, then I did     persecuted sages teach the frets and his Heart—out from mine,     my Katie! Or frosty air is keen and many-headed     flower that ever knew: and if you can’-which flow’d on for     thee more. To enflesh my

thighs and aspire to drag it to     me, i’ll trouble of single Almond packt. Good and better     Resolution—oh, should keep open my heavy tufts of     lurid smoke on the trouble younger men to lessened     anything of her cigarette

into the grass it should have     met you again. I call the arch which ministers unto     this was apt to add a colours that met me, they liv’d; and     so they lie still downe-right blowes did foyle thy cunning fence;     for, soone as the working

out of our June—shall love exhausts     itself in the gloom of your booty, you shalt have, and she     was a miracle at dawn! Knowing, the sweeter than I     have: Max, Lois, Joe, Louise, Joan, Marie, Dawn, Arlene, Father     with metaphysics?

[davidosu87]

[riverdale-retread]

Riverdale S5 E15 (The Josie Returns Episode) - 5 Things I Loved/ 3 Things To Consider

5 Things I loved:

1. The seamless, almost Bollywood-esque musical sequences woven diegetically and non-diegetically throughout were a delight.  And everything was so brightly lit and colorful!  An absolute highlight was  Kevin dancing his little heart out during the Little Shop of Horrors sequence in the diner.  It was so enticing, with the pretty girls (Tabitha! The adorably pregnant Toni! Alexandra big money who apparently ported over from Katy Keene?) in the jewel toned jackets, the fun song, and they all were so beautiful and tuneful but really, it was Kevin, sometimes out of focus, but always loving it 100%, in his bright yellow t-shirt that really got to me.

2. Josie bursting into tears like that when she hears her father died, oh god that was so real and gave me flashbacks to when I got a call like that about a dearly beloved who died suddenly. I did exactly that kind of scream crying. And Myles McCoy, even in death, manages to interrupt and derail his daughter’s musical performance and career.  Josie is a big enough person to envision her father as a benevolent ghost and give him a loving sendoff in her concert, but Myles probably seethed with resentment and jealousy over Josie’s mainstream success until the very second of his death.  God I missed Josie

3. Valerie and Melody got a supercharged development, and I love everything about their multifaceted relationship.  The chemistry they have as friends really, really warmed me, and this is the thing that I dare say many women yearn for in young adulthood - a female friend who gets you and has been through and seen things with you.  They are  roommates, artistic salon members, co-musicians, and childhood friends on top of all that.  I love their  wanting to get Summer Storm the movie made like those two white boys who ‘wrote’ Good Will Hunting. I want that for them.  Melody and Val’s actresses are astonishing, and I especially did not know the Melody actress could do all that and then some.

Sidebar:  Melody got into Harvard Law, but because this show says Harvard is for evil people, she dropped out, which means she’s a good person.  This will never cease to be funny to me, that the Yalie who made this show hates Harvard so very much. And she achieved YA publication without falling apart. Good for her.

4. Josie and the Pussycats getting their due means that a couple other boats rose right along with them to get their developments.  First up, Waldo Weatherbee!   He was absolutely glowing and beaming and giggling and skipping with joy at seeing Josie McCoy, Superstar, in his principal’s office.   Waldo Weatherbee’s friendships with the other adults in town is so interesting and I wish they could do more with it.  Second up! Dr Curdle Junior!  Who goes to bars, is friends with the principal, collects really interesting clothes, and just fully leans into his fandom  because of course he does! I didn’t think I could like him even more but now I truly do.

I am going to start shouting now so I apologize in advance if Sweet Pea (no last name) is not important to your Riverdale enjoyment (what is wRoNg with you?).

5.  SWEET PEA GETS TO BE REMEMBERED, RIDE HIS MOTORCYCLE, TALK, HAVE SEX, TALK MORE, AND NUZZLE PILLOWS.    In Josie’s opening music number, she says Archie was “a flash of light” in her life but apparently Sweet Pea is better at sex because her summer fling with Sweet Pea gets shown along with the lyrics: “nights of endless pleasure/ it was more than any laws allowed.”   I mean, how’s that for an endorsement for what, a kid who was 17 at the time?  And now, as adults?  He gets a sky high chef’s kiss, “that was exactly what I needed” and also recalibrates Josie down to her marrow apparently because she proceeds to repair her relationship with the Pussycats and her mother and with music and the ghost of her father.   Sweet Pea is also so confident that the answer to “Can I be your anything’ will be Yes that he shows up with his bag fully packed, which I found very amusing.  There’s no explanation for how or why he shows up both times exactly as necessary for Josie. Does he answer some sort of Batman signal that only he can see?  And then they just get rid of him, which I of course cannot like even a little, but the events of this episode did feel like an attempt at fanservice to the people who watched Riverdale for Sweet Pea. We’re not numerous maybe but we are DEVOTED.

3 Things to Consider

a) What an absolute waste of Sweet Pea, both the character and this actor.  This episode seems to be a 50 minute mea culpa about how Josie, Valerie and Melody were all treated by the show.  And yet this created a very strange situation where they use up a not-white male character - he shows up to literally sexually service the main lead and then volunteer to keep doing that into the sunset - that would probably have people up in arms if they did the same thing to a female character.  AND WHY DOESN’T HE GET A GODDAMN NAME.  When they first run into each other, Sweet Pea calls her “Josie McCoy” - and she just answers Sweet Pea.  His name can’t possibly actually be Pea, Sweet. UGH.

b) Why is Betty such a clueless asshole in this episode? I mean, the whole of the retread project was me falling out of love with Betty Cooper because I came to the realization that the thing I was invested in was Jughead Jones’ version of Betty Cooper which actually wasn’t supported by what she actually says and does in the text of the show.  But Betty does only two things in this episode and it’s horribly rude and condescending and almost a sneery stereotype of an entitled white woman.  Why are they doing this to Betty in particular though? It feels personal.    And Betty asking ‘did someone die’ when she sees Dr Curdle at the bar?  Um.  Isn’t that what people should be asking you, Ms Serial Killer Genes, when they see you out and about?  

c) The ‘main four’ barely do anything in this episode and it made for very interesting viewing.  There are many other interesting characters in this show, performed by actors who can be arresting when given breathing room.  I am excited if this is the direction that they’re going into season 6 with, where the ensemble maybe gets a little bit bigger, and they switch things up a bit and expand everyone’s world.