#central vt

[nahitspatrick]

Fair day 🖤🎡

[prattlinpeach]

Nova Scotia here we come... first stop Vermont.

We woke up before the alarm, go figure. Maybe we were just a little excited, not looking forward to riding in the rain, but ready to get going! We were expected in Vermont about 12p, plenty of time! Breakfast…the most important meal of the day, as you may have heard! A quick breakfast including the perfect waffle, and then we’re off!  We rode through NY State, mostly on the highway, so we could…

[addierose444]

Visiting Climbing Gyms in MA and VT

In a recent post titled My Best Purchase of 2023, I told you all about my annual membership to my home rock climbing gym (Edgeworks). Being away from home has further illuminated how amazing it is to have a home gym and membership. While visiting Western Massachusetts, I had the opportunity to check out two of the nearby climbing gyms: BrattCave and Central Rock Gym (CRG). While this was a lot of fun and better than not climbing at all, paying for day passes was a bit hard to stomach. Furthermore, I did miss seeing familiar faces and climbing with folks I’ve gotten to know at my gym. On the flip side, the gyms I visited weren’t nearly as busy as my home gym which was a nice change. 

I’d been hoping to primarily climb at BrattCave as the day pass cost is significantly lower but found it to be better suited to a stronger climber. Furthermore, the staffed hours are quite limited and the space is very small. Rather than having dedicated colored holds for each route, it’s a spray wall with member-set routes that are marked with colored tape. Because most of the routes were too challenging and I had the place to myself, I mostly just traversed and created my own bouldering problems. While not a great fit for me, it was still a very cool gym to check out. 

After passing by CRG on numerous occasions while taking the B43 bus to/from Amherst, it was neat getting to finally climb there. I’d wanted to check it out back when I was a student, but it was hard to justify when the Smith climbing wall was within walking distance and free. CRG is similar to my home gym in that it is a full-fledged climbing gym with bouldering, top roping, lead climbing, fitness, and yoga. While I generally prefer bouldering, I had fun using the auto belays for some top-ropping. As compared with my home gym, I liked how much more spacious CRG felt. The gym was pretty empty at the time and it’s nice that they keep things clean, but I was a bit annoyed that they were vacuuming the mats while still open as it was quite loud. In terms of grading, I found CRG to be softer than my home gym. While I didn’t do any V4s, I was able to flash three V3s and complete all of the V2s. One other random thing that I didn’t like was that the down-climb holds weren’t textured which made them harder to hold on to. Not sure about this, but I think that the mats are softer at my home gym.

[herpsandbirds]

hello!! i usually am pretty good with identifying things myself, but im coming up with nothing with this caterpillar i found. its a really strange color for around here so i thought it would be easy but i was wrong apparently

when i found it, it was basically almost dead and i decided to bring it home to ID, i don't think it's gonna survive to be honest i was just really curious on the species

found in central Vermont!!

Catterpillar ID - VT, USA:

I really cannot get a good ID of this caterpillar... some ideas I have are an early instar silkworm moth (family Saturniidae) or tobacco budworm moth, both of which can turn red like this.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what this could be?

@onenicebugperday

[probablyasocialecologist]

Thousands have hit the streets in NYC, Los Angeles, Washington DC, and dozens of other cities. A DC protest organized by Jewish activist groups drew thousands, and hundreds were later arrested, including two dozen Rabbis. An estimated 25,000 people showed up to a rally in Chicago. These events show no signs of stopping, with many more planned across the coming days. These actions have gone beyond marches, with protesters showing up at the offices and homes of politicians demanding a ceasefire. Six activists were arrested at a pro-Palestine rally outside the Boston office of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). A large crowd demonstrated outside the Brooklyn home of Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Jewish protesters showed up outside the Brentwood house of VP Kamala Harris. IfNotNow members have held sit-ins at the DC offices of Schumer, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA). Former staffers for Warren, Sanders, and Senator John Fetterman have publicly urged the lawmakers to back a ceasefire. On October 25, tens of thousands of students across more than 100 North American campuses united in a walkout to demand an immediate ceasefire, an end to unconditional support for Israel, and university divestment from the corporations funding the occupation of Palestine. On the night of October 27 Jewish activists shut down Grand Central Station, leading to the arrest of over 300 people. “This is bigger than we’ve ever seen,” US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) Executive Director Ahmad Abuznaid told Mondoweiss. “This is the result of decades of work that we’ve put into this movement, and I think some of it is connected to the [George Floyd protests of 2020]. There was so much racial, social justice, anti-war building in that moment.

[...]

“The man broke my heart,” Palestinian-American comedian Maysoon Zayid told Politico on October 23, “I never in my life thought the empathizer-in-chief would sound the way he did. The Palestinians were given no humanity. Joe Biden should spend every breath he has condemning Israel’s genocide with the same zeal he condemned Hamas’ massacre of civilians, that same zeal. And we get nothing. 1,000 children are dead, and we get nothing.” “It’s really crazy to me that the Democratic party destroyed 20-years of worth of good will with Muslims and Arabs in just 2 weeks, losing an entire generation that was raised in the progressive coalition, possibly forever,” tweeted author and activist Eman Abdelhadi. “The rapidity of it, the finality–it’s astonishing.” “While Republican disregard for Muslim and Arab lives is clearly on display, some Muslim and Arab Americans also feel like the Democratic Party largely takes their vote for granted, though Democrats’ policies never reflect as much,” writes Dana El Kurd in The Nation. “One Arab American friend expressed to me that, at least under Republican administrations, ‘Arabs could find allies’ in their opposition.”

[opencommunion]

please go to a protest for Land Day tomorrow (March 30th) if you can

AUSTRALIA – Hobart / Nipaluna. 1PM Every Saturday @ Davey St. (Grand Chancellor).

CANADA – Antigonish, NS. 1PM Every Saturday @ Antigonish Town Hall. Antigonish 4 Gaza.

CANADA – Montreal. 2PM Land Day Tatreez Workshop @ Refugee Center. PYM Montreal.

CANADA – Ottawa. 2PM Land Day @ Human Rights Monument.

CANADA – Toronto. 2PM Land Day @ Yonge & Dundas. PYM Toronto.

ENGLAND – Halifax. 1PM Every Saturday @ Wilkos on Southgate.

ENGLAND – Hebden Bridge. 3PM Every Saturday @ Holme Street. 4PM @ St George’s Square. West Yorkshire for Palestine.

ENGLAND – London. 11AM @ 7 Tavistock Square. PYM Britain.

ENGLAND – London. 12PM @ Central London. STW UK.

NETHERLANDS – Amsterdam. 7PM Every Night @ Dam Square.

PORTUGAL – Porto. 10PM Every Night Vigil @ Camara Municipal.

SCOTLAND – Orkney. 1PM Every Saturday @ St Magnus Cathedral Steps. Amnesty Orkney.

AZ – Phoenix. 1MP Land Day @ Civic Space Park. PSL Phoenix AZ.

CA – Los Angeles. 1PM Land Day March @ LA City Hall. PYM LA/OC/IE.

CA – Petaluma. 12:30PM Every Saturday @ Petaluma & E Washington. Occupy Pelatuma.

CA – Ventura. 12:30PM @ 181 E Santa Clara St. ANSWER Coalition.

CO – Fort Collins. 3PM Every Saturday @ Old Town Square. NOCO Liberation Coalition.

DC – Washington DC. 4PM @ DuPont Circle. ANSWER Coalition.

FL – Gainesville. 11AM @ Depot Park. ANSWER Coalition.

FL – Orlando. City Hall. TBA. ANSWER Coalition.

FL – Pensacola. PM @ Main & Reus (Blue Wahoos). PSL CGC. 

GA – Atlanta. 2PM @ Consulate of Israel. PYM.

ID – Pocatello. 12PM Every Saturday @ Bannock County Courthouse. Pocatello for Palestine.

IL – Chicago. 1PM @ TBA. USPCN + Chicago SJP.

LA – New Orleans. 3:30PM @ 701 N Rampart St.

MA – Springfield. 2PM @ 36 Court St. ANSWER Coalition.

ME – Portland. 1PM @ Monument Square. PSL Maine.

MI – Detroit. 1:30PM @ Beacon Park. USPCN.

MI – Detroit. 10AM Land Day @ Rouge Park. PYM.

MN – Minneapolis. 2PM @ 2707 West Lake St. ANSWER Coalition.

MT – Kalispell. 12PM Every Saturday @ Main & Center. MT 4 Palestine.

NC – Asheville. 4PM @ 1 N Pack Square. ANSWER Coalition.

NC – Charlotte. 4PM @ Wilmore Centennial Park. CLT 4 Palestine + PSL Carolinas.

NC – Raleigh. 3PM Land Day @ Moore Square. PSL Carolinas.

NC, Charlotte. 4PM @ Wilmore Centennial Park. Land Day. CLT 4 Pali + PSL Carolinas.

NM – Albuquerque. 4PM @ UNM Book Store. ANSWER Coalition.

NY – New York. 12PM @ City Hall Park. Within Our Lifetime.

NY – New York. 12PM Vigil Every Saturday @ 5th & 44th in Brooklyn. Sunset Park Elders.

NY – New York. 5PM @ Times Square. PYM.

NY – Rochester. 1:30PM @ MLK Park. End Apartheid ROC + SJP UR.

OH – Cincinnati. 3PM @ 801 Plum St. ANSWER Coalition.

OH – Cleveland. 2PM Land Day @ Edgewater Upper Pavillion. USCPN.

OH – Columbus. 4PM @ 120 W Goodale St. ANSWER Coalition.

OH – Dayton. 5PM @ 2680 Ridge Ave. ANSWER Coalition.

OH – Wooster. 11AM @ 538 N Market St. ANSWER Coalition.

OR – Bend. 12PM Saturdays @ Peace Corner. Central Oregon 4 Socialism.

OR – Portland. 12PM @ Desert Island Studios. Letters for Palestine PDX.

PA – Philadelphia. 5PM @ 7th & Walnut. ANSWER Coalition.

PA – Pittsburgh. 3:30PM @ 4100 Forbes Ave. ANSWER Coalition.

RI – Providence. 5PM @ Prospect Terr. ANSWER Coalition.

TX – Houston. 1PM @ Waterwall Park. PYM Houston.

TX – San Antonio. 12PM @ 301 E Travis ST. ANSWER Coalition.

VT – Burlington. 1PM @ City Hall. ANSWER Coalition.

WA – Seattle. 2PM Land Day @ Lake Union Park. PYM.

WI – Milwaukee. 1:30PM @ Sijan Park. PSL Milwaukee.

WI – Viroqua. 11AM Vigil Every Saturday @ Main & Decker. Driftless Solidarity / Wolves PSC.

WV – Martinsburg. 12PM Land Day @ Martinsburg Town Square. PSL WV.

DISCLAIMER: I didn't make this list and it's not comprehensive. If you don't see a protest near you, look up what your local orgs are doing, and if you still can't find anything, take autonomous action

[hometoursandotherstuff]

Well, this one's on the market again. 1969 4bd, 4.5ba dome in Killington, VT needs some work. Shingles are falling off the roof and some windows need attention, but the inside is kind of spacy, so if you like that look, you'll like this home. $397K. Killington is a very popular ski resort area, so you can always rent it out.

The Hobbit door is cute, but the floor is really worn.

Nice little entrance foyer before you enter the living area.

It's cute. Take the stairs in the tower up, and the fire pole down.

The carpet has holes right thru to the floor, so it needs replacing. Weird little corner stairs.

So here in this area there's a swing and I don't know why they have a ladder going up that cabinet.

The living room is pretty spacious. It has rustic poles and beams, which is odd for a space ship motif. I don't know if the windows are frosted or just dirty.

There's a central round fireplace, but it looks like a DIY. The carpet looks glued to cement flooring, so replacing it is a big expense.

The next space is the kitchen.

The dining area has a DIY chandelier made of green bottles.

The kitchen is nice in crisp blue and white. Looks to be in good shape.

The washer/dryer is located in the kitchen.

Working our way around, we're coming to a game room. Geez, this carpet. How did it deteriorate like that? Is it from moisture? Maybe dry rot?

This is a flex space.

And, this space looks like an extension of the kitchen, like maybe a pantry, but it's more of a utility area right now. I would put the w/d in here.

The doors in the blue thing open to a bathroom, and the door across the way is a sauna.

The bath.

The sauna.

Now, we're on the 2nd level in the bedrooms. This looks like the primary. Has room for a little sitting area.

Funky retro 1/2 bath with cool blue fixtures and another rotted carpet.

The second bedroom has a sink, for some reason, and note the heater. That would indicate that the room is cold.

Oh, here we go. This bedroom has the missing glass, the windows are covered with wood pieces.

Here we are on the mezzanine overlooking the ugly utility area. The stairs in that tower actually go up to a 3rd level. We can see that the ceiling needs repair.

It's unfinished up here and looks like it needs repair.

Why would they cut the wall there? They were doing some work up here, but it doesn't look like they got very far.

Looking down you can see the top of the fireplace chained for stability. Maybe when it's windy, it shakes?

The home is on almost an acre of land, at .95 acre.

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/607-Rim-Rd_Killington_VT_05751_M98194-99860

[poll-boy]

what state r u in? (all 50 or pairs of 2-4) w/ a "not in us" option

i am using regions to split them up, but mountain and west north central are split up because it looks like those are the largest regions (im not positive i didn’t actually fact check, maybe i should’ve done south atlantic since it is so large and has more states). i split them up the way i did based on my knowledge of the landscape, and i know that’s not exact because at least some of these states have v diverse landscapes but i did my best!

- if you want to submit a poll, you can on my blog! any and all suggestions are appreciated :)

[joeinct]

South End Central Vermont Station, Randolph, VT, Photo by David Plowden, 1964

[eretzyisrael]

by Jack Elbaum

After the US decided to waive human rights conditions in order to send military aid to Egypt, many of the prominent advocates of an arms embargo on weapons sales to Israel remained silent, raising questions about consistency.

On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced it would override human rights concerns in order to send $1.3 billion in military to Egypt. This is the first time the Biden administration has sent the full amount of assistance since it took power in 2021, as a portion of the aid is conditional.

A review of social media posts by The Algemeiner found that many of the most outspoken supporters of imposing a US arms embargo on Israel have remained silent regarding Washington waiving human rights conditions on Egypt’s aid.

US Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Cori Bush (D-MO), and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), along with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), have not commented on the waiving of human rights conditions, despite making human rights as it relates to foreign policy a central theme of their respective terms recently. Major anti-Israel groups such as Code Pink have also not spoken against the decision on Egypt, despite their intense focus on foreign affairs issues.

The fact that such leaders and organizations have remained silent on the issue — yet been so vocal when it comes to opposing Israel — raises questions about whether their true motivations have been concern with human rights or if they were primarily political, performative, or motivated by a particular animus or a double standard toward Israel.

Some, however, have remained more consistent.

[the-64th-gamer]

Shout out to Pizza Time Theatre's one of a kind red painted ADM-3a terminal used to run the SongCode System for programming animatronics at their corporate offices.

The unit was originally white with custom hardware connected to its serial port in 1978. By 1980, it was moved to the corporate offices and painted red to match the programming desk.

By 1983 Pizza Time Theatre would upgrade their central PDP-11 unit to a PDP-11/23, sadly switching out the terminal for a standard VT-100.

[nahitspatrick]

Sundays 🖤

[zoekeating]

Dear Listeners,

It’s winter break here in Vermont so my son and I have been out on the slopes every day. For many years I have stayed away from fast slidey sports because I was afraid of injuring my hands. If my hands don’t work, how do I make music? But among the many bits of advice I’ve gotten in my parenting journey, “be into what your kid is into” has been one of the best. My lad needed someone to ride the lifts with and I needed to overcome my fear and learn how to fall properly, so here I am.

I found that skiing is not all that different from rollerblading, which I learned to do in Central Park the summer of my junior year. I brought the skates with me on my year abroad in Florence. On weekends there was this amazing city to explore but buses and museums and cafes cost money. And whenever I roamed the quiet streets and parks alone, I would be perpetually harassed, groped and even flashed by pathetic men. But rollerblading was free and, bonus, I am already quite tall, so with skates I was at least 6ft2in. No one ever messed with me on skates. I adapted to the cobblestones and explored all of Florence with exhilarating freedom.

One Sunday, as I was enjoying the expanses of asphalt in Parco delle Cascine, I came upon a group of folks on old-school rollerskates. They had a boombox and were dancing, just like the skaters of Central Park but without the sequined hot pants. They waved me over and exclaimed over my weird skates. They invited me to join them and for the rest of the school year, I spent every Sunday afternoon I could with the rollerskaters. We would gather, dancing and skating around obstacles, and once we had critical mass, tear off along the Arno and into the old city. We’d skate past the David, circle the Piazza della Signoria multiple times and whizz down the marble collanade along the Piazza Republica, ending in a bar, still on skates, for an espresso or aperativo. Those are some of my best memories of my year in Florence.

I continued the skating when I moved to San Francisco, zooming most days through Golden Gate Park to the beach and back again. Sometimes I’d join a similar group of mad skaters on Friday nights to roll fearlessly down hills and through tunnels. Skating was always a great source of joy. But then I moved away from the paved environment of the city and I transitioned to music full time. After acquiring a broken finger from an Evil Door and being shocked at how much that tiny injury impacted my ability to play, I quit skating.

Fast forward to Vermont. Like many people did during the pandemic, I got back on skates except this time with padding, wrist guards and a helmet. And then, as my boy learned to snowboard, I learned to ski. We still ride the lifts together but now he zips down black diamond trails while I ski carefully down the easy ones. He is mystified as to how I can bear to do the same runs over and over but I like it that way. It’s like a meditation. I focus on perfecting my technique and try to make each turn better than the last. It feels similar to one of the things I enjoy about playing the cello, which is noticing tiny details and gradually polishing them. How can I improve this one phrase that I have played thousands of times? It never gets old or boring for me.

I hope it never gets boring for you either! Next week I’ll get back to work improving my old songs and figuring out to play some of my new ones in time for my concerts in March.

March 15 - ArtYard in Frenchtown,NJ

March 16 - Underground Arts in Philadelphia, PA opening up for my old friend The Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

March 17 - Le Poisson Rouge in NYC

March 21 - St John’s Cathedral at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN

And one more

April 6 - Unitarian Univeralist Church in Burlington VT, accompanied by mesmerizing visuals by Alex Reeves

also, outside my solo work on April 7 I’ll be a part of composer Randal Pierce’s ensemble, performing his live soundtrack to George Méliès’ silent cinematic masterpiece, A Trip to the Moon

6:30 and 8:30pm shows

More about all the events happening in Burlington around the eclipse

Thank you for listening and please wear a helmet when you are going fast.

celloly yours, Z

[lenbryant]

(Long post) Democrats rally behind first out transgender member of Congress, decry Republican attacks

By Kevin RectorStaff Writer 

At a Democratic caucus meeting Tuesday, Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) watched as colleagues approached and offered their support to Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.), who will soon be sworn in as the first out transgender member of Congress.

“We have your back,” Balint recalled her fellow representatives telling McBride. “We stand with you.”

Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) in 2022.

(Amanda Andrade-Rhoades / Associated Press)

According to Balint, co-chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, many Democratic members are excited to welcome and meet McBride — not just as a queer history-maker, but as a new colleague whose reputation as an effective state legislator in Delaware preceded her to Washington.

The support has been intentionally loud, Balint said, because Democrats also want to send an unequivocal message to House Republicans who have targeted McBride with comments and actions in recent days that Democrats “are not going to retreat” on transgender rights.

“We have to absolutely recommit ourselves to this fight, for protecting everyone’s inherent dignity,” Balint said.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) leaves the speaker’s office at the Capitol in 2023.

(J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)

Mace said her measures, which would require approval, are to protect women and girls, then launched a new line of merchandise to profit off her stance. She has previously espoused support for LGBTQ+ rights.

In issuing his bathroom rule, which falls under his purview as speaker, Johnson said, “Women deserve women’s-only spaces.” He also noted that all members have private bathrooms within their offices — though those can be far from the House floor.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) speaks at an October campaign rally for Donald Trump.

(Alex Brandon / Associated Press)

Access to bathrooms has long been an issue for women at the Capitol, which originally operated on the presumption that legislators were men. Only after more and more women won seats in Congress and called out the dearth of facilities for them did the issue get resolved.

With the latest measures targeting McBride, Democrats say they are struggling to combat fresh discrimination in the same sphere — a backsliding they view as particularly cruel for its targeting of a single incoming legislator, and extra alarming for its potential to harm other queer people who visit or work in the Capitol.

“This incredibly craven and cruel attack directed at [McBride] was certainly intended to dehumanize her before she has even been sworn in, but it actually doesn’t just affect our first trans member of Congress,” Balint said. “It impacts all of the people who work on Capitol Hill who identify as trans and nonbinary. It impacts the reporters who cover the Hill that identify as trans and nonbinary. And it also impacts every single one of our constituents who come into the halls of Congress to meet with us.”

Speaking out in opposition to the measures is about supporting McBride, who is “a serious legislator” and wants to get to work on a range of tough issues without having to worry about where she can get to a toilet, Balint said. But it is also about “showing the LGBTQ community across the country that we are standing up for them and pushing back.”

The debate follows an election cycle steeped in anti-transgender rhetoric, when many Republicans — including President-elect Donald Trump — took to ridiculing Democrats over their support for transgender equality as a central campaign message, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars in collective ad spending.

“The Republican Party has laser-focused on transgender inclusion as something that it wants to roll back, and so the exciting addition of the first openly trans member of Congress has prompted a hideous response — which is [for them] to participate in an ad hominem attack that takes the form of exclusion,” said Kate Redburn, co-director of the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law at Columbia Law School.

Democrats have at times struggled to respond to the barrage of Republican attacks. However, in the last week, they seem to have landed on an approach out of McBride’s own playbook in Delaware — where she won a statewide congressional seat not by running away from her transgender identity and support for queer rights, but by contextualizing them alongside other important issues, such as the cost of living and access to healthcare.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said she will be proud to serve alongside Rep.-elect Sarah McBride.

(Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press)

“They should take a page out of Rep-Elect McBride’s book,” Pressley wrote, “and focus on actually governing.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) similarly questioned Republicans’ decision to start the next Congress by “bullying” McBride instead of focusing on real issues. “This is what we’re doing?” he said.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), who has a transgender grandson and has been outspoken against past anti-LGBTQ+ measures, hit a similar note in an interview Thursday, in which she called the Republican measures attacking McBride “absolutely outrageous” and “completely out of line.”

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) called the measures attacking McBride “absolutely outrageous” and “completely out of line.”

(Andrew Harnik / Associated Press)

In her own remarks, McBride has acknowledged what many view as the bigotry at the root of the Republican measures, but also tried to refocus the conversation on getting things done for her constituents. 

“I’m not here to fight about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families,” she said in a statement Wednesday. She said Johnson’s rules were an “effort to distract from the real issues facing this country,” but that she wouldn’t let them distract her — even as she follows them.

On Thursday, she made clear that she will work to ensure Capitol Hill is safe for everyone, including her LGBTQ+ constituents, but doesn’t plan on allowing “a right wing culture war machine” to turn her identity “into the issue.”

Lisa Goodman, a longtime LGBTQ+ activist in Delaware and friend of McBride’s, said the representative-elect’s family and friends back home “are disappointed that this is how people who are going to be her colleagues are greeting her.”

But they aren’t worried, Goodman said, because they know McBride is capable of navigating such waters.

“She can handle these attacks and keep focused on what is the big picture — what is important in the big picture — like no one I have ever met,” Goodman said.

Goodman said McBride has a rare talent for winning over people, which will serve her well in the coming months, as she gets to know her new colleagues — Democrats and Republicans alike.

“She’s just a deeply good person, and my hope is that, as her Republican colleagues in Congress get to know her, they will see her as a person and not as some unknown member of the trans community who they feel it’s OK to attack,” Goodman said.

Balint said several Republican House members have told her in private that they support the LGBTQ+ community and don’t support divisive policies. She said she hopes McBride’s kindness and humanity in the face of such attacks will bring those Republicans to her side — and maybe even inspire them to take a stand for her.

“It is their time to finally show some courage,” Balint said. “I’m asking them to stand up for the basic, inherent dignity of all of us here in this building.”

Times staff writer Andrea Castillo, in Washington, contributed to this report.

Rep. McBride's grace and political savvy are good signs for trans rights everywhere. If anyone can enlighten these conservative weirdos, she can. At least the ones that aren't there just to be culture warriors.

[imaginespazzi]

Hey! I’m not the last vt anon, I’m a new one, I haven’t messaged you at all yet.

I go to Virginia tech myself actually and have went to numerous vt wbb games than I can count. I know there’s a lot of rumors that G and L have dated but that’s not the case at all. They truly are just great friends, or, they used to be at least.

G is not dating gabby, she’s actually dating the coaches other daughter, Kendyl. They’ve been together for a very long time. She even made a custom bedazzled Georgia t shirt for last years ACC tournament.

As for G and L, they seem to be on rough waters rn, and it’s not just with L. None of the girls wished G a happy birthday this year like they used to, L and G haven’t been interacting with each other lately on socials, G hasn’t been hanging out with the other girls on the team either, and G took down the highlight of their podcast (this could also be because she left VT and is prob done with the poddy).

Anyways, I hope this clears some stuff. Both of them are very, very, very loved here at VT and we’re all very sad yet proud to see them go!

I have become Virginia Tech gossip central somehow haven't I? 😭

Inchresting, so that twitter page was definitely onto something. Dating the coaches daughter? Oooh very fanfic of her! But lowkey with how much Brooks loves her, this makes so much sense.

I'm honestly not surprised at a lot of this. I don't know what happened obviously, but where there's a separate group chat, there's usually drama in some way or another. Either way, I hope they all thrive and maybe things get better eventually cause Georgia and Liz seemed to genuinely have such a sweet bond.

Thanks for the clarifications babes <3