Mental Reality Check on Auditory Processing Disorders

October 14, 2022 By Jennifer Fitz

H/T to Emily DeArdo who brought fully to my attention the debate (“debate”) about John Fetterman’s auditory processing disorder. I have no opinion about Fetterman’s candidacy in general, though taking a wild guess about that (D) after his name, it’s unlikely our politics overlap in a convincing way. I do, however, want to make some very candid clarifications, from personal experience, about how the “thinking” of auditory processing is not the kind of “thinking” that is relevant to information processing... Read more

NPR Media Disconnect with Real Life, Hurricane Edition

September 30, 2022 By Jennifer Fitz

This morning while my kid was driving across town in an approaching hurricane to go babysit, I came across this headline at NPR and foolishly clicked: “More than 2.5 million Florida students have missed school during Hurricane Ian”. Pause for a moment and remind yourself that reporters at National Public Radio, and the editors who publish them, are presumably supposed to understand at least some tiny thing about their topic? At all? And on the face of it, the facts... Read more

Bad Medical Reporting Hurts Vulnerable Patients

September 10, 2022 By Jennifer Fitz

It will surprise no one that I have a few criticisms of Suzy Weiss’s report “Hurts So Good” over at Common Sense. For those who haven’t read it, Weiss investigates the world of chronic illness social media, and makes a convincing case that there exists a genuine problem with aspects of that culture. I am going to accept at face value everything she does report, more on that in a second; where her journalism is sloppy, irresponsible, and shows profound ignorance of... Read more

Her Majesty’s Final Inkblot Test

September 9, 2022 By Jennifer Fitz

Something that astonished me, but shouldn’t have, is just how divided Twitter has been over the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Andrew Sullivan, a fan, gets right to the heart of her appeal: Elizabeth Windsor was tasked as a twenty-something with a job that required her to say or do nothing that could be misconstrued, controversial, or even interestingly human — for the rest of her life. . . . Perhaps the most famous woman in the world, she remained... Read more

The Climate of Racial Suspicion

August 31, 2022 By Jennifer Fitz

I want to comment on the video circulating now about the Black pastor who was arrested for being “suspicious” by watering flowers. I don’t know the details of this particular incident, but I have a story that I’ll tell in a second, and which relates to this one. Moral of that story: SWPs (Suspicious White People) are a disaster for American civil society. Okay so here’s my story, and for those who don’t know, I’m white, which is actually relevant... Read more

July-August Updates + Follow-up on that Dorm Story

August 10, 2022 By Jennifer Fitz

Been awhile, huh? Sheesh, Jen. Okay, here’s what’s been going on since I last updated here: I drove up to Ohio to tape my conversion story with The Journey Home. Reminder that most (but not all, see below) of my Jesus-blogging has moved over to the substack. I don’t link backward from there to here, because the ‘stack is there to create a no-politics zone for those who don’t love debates. But if you’re a longtime reader here, definitely subscribe (it’s free)... Read more

Gaslighting 101, Transgender College Roommates Edition

July 14, 2022 By Jennifer Fitz

My daughter’s college housing application (small red-state public college) had some great questions on it for roommate-matching. Let’s try to line up preferences for smoking, cleaning schedules, study hours — lots of good stuff. And then there was this one: “Would you like to stand in solidarity with LGBQT+ students by rooming with a student of any gender identity?” There was no further explanation as to what this question might mean. She has no problem whatsoever with sharing a room... Read more

Sparking Clutter

July 8, 2022 By Jennifer Fitz

I’m back to the land of Wi-Fi for a bit (my few notes from the road can be found over at the Substack), and I’m going to go ahead and apologize to those of you who have been waiting at the edge of your seats for me to tell you what to think about the various highly-charged topics of the past month or so. We’re changing formats and using this space for me to regurgitate thoughts about my #1 household... Read more

What is “Scandal”?

May 28, 2022 By Jennifer Fitz

If you haven’t seen it already, Gloria Purvis has an excellent interview with Archbishop Cordileone about the situation with Nancy Pelosi and Holy Communion: If you are interested in understanding the situation, I recommend watching the whole thing. Here are the related podcast link and text of the interview. I have not heard and read those, but I found the quality of the YouTube interview sufficient that I’m comfortable pointing you to the alternate media. It’s important to know what definition... Read more

“Fear” and “Scared” Make Lousy Rhetorical Weapons

May 21, 2022 By Jennifer Fitz

There’s this guy I love, who shall therefore remain nameless, who’s spent a large portion of the COVID pandemic dropping little comments about people who are “afraid” of infection. In fairness, he errs on the fearless side in life, so I guess people who are bothered by potentially-deadly situations do seem odd to him. He probably doesn’t wear a helmet when he rides his bike, either, for all I know. Still. It irks me. It irks me because I’m one... Read more