Eternal Sunshine

Several years ago I participated on a social-ish health website named Sparkpeople (it’s not out there anymore. If it is, it isn’t the same one. Anyway.) A gentle friend who battled weight gain and depression told us one day about a phone app called “Eternal Sunshine.” It sends out daily (sometimes not as often) affirmation messages, just to sort of pat a person on the back and remind them that they’re enough. Here is today’s, because maybe someone can use it:

“The best thing you can do for yourself is to give yourself grace. Falling is not failing; it’s learning to fly. Forgive your mistakes, and look forward to trying again.”

It’s just that many times, this little app sends exactly the message I need when it arrives. I’m OK on this so far today, so maybe somebody else needs it, and here it is. Fly!

Some Thoughts I Share With This Poet-

when the day’s temp has exceeded 70 degrees. Time to think about the weather again! (Still!)

Late February

Time, Indeed!

Trump responds to Musk email by Ann Telnaes

Time to fire this guy Read on Substack

Peace & Justice History for 2/25

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryfebruary.htm#february25

“Rest In Melody.”

I just saw this, over supper just now. I’m a big fan of Roberta Flack’s talent.

Roberta Flack, the Grammy-winning soul singer best known for her celebrated interpretations of romantic ballads like “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” as well as her professional collaborations and social activism, has died, according to a statement from her publicist.

She was 88.

Flack died Monday at her home, surrounded by her family, Elaine Schock, her publicist, told CNN. Her death followed several years of health challenges, including a diagnosis, revealed publicly in late 2022, of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. The progressive condition, often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, made it impossible for Flack to sing, her representatives said at the time.

Flack, however, had already long-cemented her legacy as one of the defining voices of her generation – both as an interpreter of others’ songs and a writer of her own – notching a slew of chart-topping hits and racking up accolades: Over her career, the classically trained daughter of a church organist secured 14 Grammy nominations and won five, including a lifetime achievement award in 2020 and back-to-back Record of the Year wins.

Questlove, drummer for The Roots, musical director for “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and a filmmaker, paid tribute to Flack.

“Thank You Roberta Flack,” he captioned a throwback photo of the late artist. “Rest In Melody.” (snip-MORE)

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/24/entertainment/roberta-flack-death/index.html

A Hero of Our Age: The Man Who Refused to Run Away

A Hero of Our Age: The Man Who Refused to Run Away

Nearly One in 10 Americans Now Identify as LGBTQ+, Thanks to Bisexuals and Gen Z

https://www.them.us/story/gallup-lgbtq-population-nine-percent-increase-united-states

The percentage of U.S. adults who identify as LGBTQ+ has nearly doubled since 2020 alone.

By Mathew Rodriguez
February 20, 2025

Getty Images

Nearly one in 10 Americans now identify as LGBTQ+, according to Gallup — almost double the percentage recorded just four years ago.

In 2020, 5.6% percent of U.S. adults identified as LGBTQ+ on the Gallup survey, and today, 9.3% of adults in the U.S. identify as part of the community. That number represents a one-point bump from just a year ago, and a staggering increase from the 3.5% first registered in Gallup’s inaugural 2012 poll measuring the size of the LGBTQ+ community. The rise in Americans openly identifying as LGBTQ+ is largely due to an uptick in people who identify as bisexual, especially among Generation Z, according to Gallup’s breakdowns of the data.

More than one in five Gen Z adults (23.1%) now identify as LGBTQ+, per Gallup, followed by about 14% of millennials. Older generations, including Gen X, Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation, all identify as LGBTQ+ at rates of 5% or below, tapering off to only 1.8% for those born in or before 1945.

Of the 900 people surveyed who identified as LGBTQ+, more than half — 56% — indicated that they were bisexual. In fact, more than half of both Gen Z (59%) and millennial (52%) queer people identified as bisexual. These numbers are consistent with past polling that has shown that bisexual people are an “invisible majority” within the queer community.

The percentage of trans U.S. adults has also increased when compared with the survey’s 2024 results. In last year’s poll, fewer than one percent (0.9%) of American adults identified as trans, while this year, 1.3% of respondents self-identified as such. Likewise, last year, 11.8% of the LGBTQ+ population identified as trans, while this year that percentage was recorded at approximately 14%.

The poll notes that LGBTQ+ identification has a strong correlation with being a woman, being politically liberal, and living in an urban area. For example, 21% of liberals, compared to 3% of conservatives, identified as queer or trans, while, overall, 10% of women identify as part of the community compared to 6% of men.

Gallup based its results on interviews with more than 14,000 U.S. adults. Respondents were asked to identify as straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or something else, and are allowed to indicate multiple identities when responding.

As the percentage of Americans who identify as LGBTQ+ rises, the statistic inches closer to a famous and controversial claim based on the work of human sexuality researcher Alfred Kinsey in the 1940s. Kinsey estimated that about one in 10 Americans were predominantly homosexual — a figure that was colloquially flattened over the years to become the oft-repeated claim that 10% of the population is gay. Kinsey, however, did not believe identity was easily fixed or categorized and often, instead, spoke about behaviors. For example, through surveys and interviews conducted with thousands ordinary Americans, Kinsey estimated that more than a third of men had a same-sex sexual experience in their lives, while at least one in five women had had the same.

The results of Gallup’s poll suggests a population increasingly likely to be at odds with the Trump administration’s anti-LGBTQ+ policies, which include a January executive order making it the official position of the U.S. government that there are only two genders defined at birth. That memo is part of a recent conservative efforts to deny and regulate the existence of trans people nationwide. In 2024, a record number of bills aimed at limiting trans freedoms, including access to gender-affirming health care, were introduced in state legislatures.

Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s weekly newsletter here.

Mathew Rodriguez is the former senior news editor at Them. In the past, he has been a senior culture editor at The Atlantic, as well as a staff writer at Out Magazine, INTO, and Mic. His writing has been featured in Slate, Teen Vogue, The Village Voice, MEL Magazine, and more. He … Read more

Work To Do, Indeed, And A Great Week In Which To Do It!

The Week Ahead (Activism)

What’s Going On…

The wealthy and powerful want us to kick down, the liberals want us to kick up, and the sheep go where they are told without thought or reason. Chaos, divisiveness. “Don’t trust the main stream media”. “Don’t trust the courts”. “Don’t trust your very eyes, they only lie to you”. But who are we to trust? It’s a fevered dream screaming out What’s Going On?