What’s A Pro-Life Illinoisan To do?

Last updated on: July 17, 2023 at 9:24 pm By Jane the Actuary

The Illinois Republican Party is struggling — maybe not in the same way as in Arizona or Michigan, but in 2022, due to gerrymandering and due to the consequences of a far-right candidate for governor, the Democrats widened their supermajority control of the state legislature even further. Now there are various groups — grass roots groups, statewide party groups, and local township Republican party groups, trying to regroup, to re-brand, and somehow get the pro- and anti-Trump factions to work... Read more

Trans Kids and Data Analysis: Understanding the “Gender Affirming Care is Lifesaving” Claim

Last updated on: July 8, 2023 at 10:47 pm By Jane the Actuary

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Yes, I’m going there: it’s time to address the “transkid” issue — hopefully with an angle that will provide a different perspective on a debate where, at least here in Illinois, so-called “gender affirming care” is now the law of the land, justified by the refrain that it is “lifesaving” — because, after all, “Would you rather have a dead daughter or a living son?” is the question that’s been posed to parents of girls who begin identifying as transgender,... Read more

The Violinist vs. the Castaway, and an attempt at a new abortion metaphor

Last updated on: December 27, 2022 at 9:08 pm By Jane the Actuary

Who recalls the metaphor of the violinist on life support? This metaphor was created by Judith Thompson in 1971 to explain why abortion is wholly acceptable even if the unborn child is every bit as human and has the same moral status as a born person. It is an argument of bodily integrity, and it goes like this: “You wake up in the morning and find yourself back to back in bed with an unconscious violinist. A famous unconscious violinist.... Read more

The end of “boys who wear dresses”?

Last updated on: December 27, 2022 at 8:51 pm By Jane the Actuary

What does it mean to be “gender-creative”? To be “gender expansive”? To be “gender non-conforming”? In August 2012, so almost exactly a decade ago, the New York Times published an article about children with these characteristics, “What’s So Bad About a Boy Who Wants to Wear a Dress?” These boys included Alex, age 6, who “has been fairly clear that he is simply a boy who sometimes likes to dress and play in conventionally feminine ways.” They included the unnamed... Read more

RIP, volunteerism

Last updated on: September 21, 2022 at 8:22 am By Jane the Actuary

In 2018, I took over the job of “after-mass hospitality coordinator” from the prior volunteers, who were moving out of state. They had been at the church 3 out of 4 Sundays, making coffee, clean-up, and coordinating a parade of volunteers who handed out donuts after mass. The 4th Sunday of most months a separate group was a “relief crew.” It was a big production — they encouraged the ministries of the parish to promote themselves (e.g., Scouts, ushers, choir,... Read more

“Jane the Actuary,” the actuary – an update on retirement writing and future paths

Last updated on: August 21, 2022 at 10:14 pm By Jane the Actuary

Regular readers of my page on retirement issues at Forbes will have noticed by now that I have been adding new content much less often than in the past. During the past academic year, I would have said that I was busy with my classes in the master’s program I was working on. Now I’m employed as an actuary in a wholly different field, which would seem to be reason enough — but that’s not really the case, since I... Read more

New Job! A few personal updates

Last updated on: July 31, 2022 at 8:21 pm By Jane the Actuary

Longtime readers will know my story thus far: after blogging as a hobby for a good five years, I left the world of formal employment back four years ago for a new venture, that of hanging my shingle out as a freelance writer and independent actuary, as my business cards read — or, rather, that was intended to be a stepping stone to some other employment, though I hadn’t figured out what, yet. Did I succeed? Honestly, probably not. I... Read more

On the end of Roe, and why I’m not as celebratory as I would like to be

Last updated on: June 28, 2022 at 6:43 am By Jane the Actuary

I keep revisiting this draft, which I started a long time ago, when the Supreme Court decision on Dobbs was first leaked. I’ve written about abortion before, of course, but I keep wanting to express myself in just the right way, which is not only difficult, but, I’m inclined to think, has gotten harder since I don’t write as much these days. (Incidental update: I’m now back to being an actuary, working full-time at a private-sector employer, which means less... Read more

Yes, you should object to saying “they”

Last updated on: May 17, 2022 at 9:07 am By Jane the Actuary

So . . . turns out it’s been a while since I’ve published a blog post. I’ve been busy, as the Master’s program got a lot more challenging (though, to be honest, also coupled with a nasty case of Twitter addiction). It’s done, though life won’t settle back into the old routine — unless I chicken out, I will be going back to full-time employment in a month’s time, for the first time in a long time, though hopefully the... Read more

1001 shifting justifications for the Archdiocese of Chicago’s mask policy

Last updated on: February 7, 2022 at 11:03 pm By Jane the Actuary

To start, a disclosure: a little under two years ago, I was most definitely an “early adopter” of mask-wearing, even to the point of sewing several dozen for the staff at Mom and Dad’s assisted living community. Since then, I have not seen a study demonstrating the cloth masks are effective, and I have seen studies that mask-wearing proponents claimed to be solid evidence, turn out to be deeply flawed, with results that do not reach statistical significance thresholds or... Read more