Erica C. BarnettVerified account

Also, just as a PSA, the "cultural representations" of recovery programs (typically AA/NA) are almost always laughably inaccurate and should not be the basis for anyone's opinion of how they work in practice (same goes for therapy, dating, women's friendships, etc etc etc.)

3/There is an antiquated understanding of recovery programs, frequently straw-manned in national media, that accuses the programs themselves of somehow stigmatizing people into various forms of chemical dependency, which is just counterfactual and, yes, "silly."

2/Having actually gone to a lot of AA meetings (and SUD-specific therapy, and multiple non-/anti-12-step programs, and various kinds of treatment), it simply is not true that AA teaches that only people with crippling dependencies "need help."

2/ Yes, "sober curious" people should by all means try not drinking and see how it fits, but please don't stigmatize everyone else who is NOT you by saying that our disorders are awful or embarrassing or suggesting that we are CORRECTLY stigmatized.

The fact that many of the comments on a page advertising an anti-mask/pro-COVID protest at Washington state public schools next week compare public health strategies to "Hitler tactics" just shows how poorly some of our adults absorbed their own school lessons. (No, not linking).

2/2 Note that I'm not defending Elizabeth Holmes' fraudulent business practices or behavior in any respect, but as a reporter I don't think "we dug deep and looks like she WAS raped as a teenager, here are the deets!!" is the hot little scoop @NPR thinks it is.

Not sure if the author actually drank any of these totally-palatable-even-to-normals brews but I would put regular Clausthaler on the list above the Christmas brew, which is... fine but has an aggressive potpourri aftertaste.

Meanwhile in Germany, the motherland of beer culture, good nonalcoholic beer is widely available. Not sure if they have an annual barrage of "DON'T WORRY, NORMAL PEOPLE, THIS IS FOR YOU, NOT THE WEIRDS" trend pieces but I'm guessing not.

2/And will reiterate my observation that "DON'T WORRY EVEN PEOPLE WHO ARE NORMAL AND THEREFORE DRINK ALCOHOL WILL LIKE THIS" is no different than "DON'T WORRY EVEN NORMAL PEOPLE, THOSE WHO EAT MEAT CONSTANTLY, WILL BE ABLE TO STOMACH THIS NON-MEAT MEAL"

Dennis Worsham, the interim @KCPubHealth director, says CDC guidance has "shifted," agrees that it's implausible a kid attending crowded classes is not a "close contact," and seems to suggest that this is just the message the parents of vaccinated kids receive after exposure.