good news only
here's your weekly positive spin
Holy cow, you’re splendid.
The launch of The Dream Job Club was even more successful than I could have, ahem, dreamed! I’ve already received so many messages from our community and because you shared it with your favorite friends and family, we are growing by the minute! If you are a person with a disability looking for a job or someone looking to hire, shoot me an email at dreamjobclub@gmail.com.
Next week I’ll get cracking on our first profile on a talented person with a disability looking for a job and one lucky employer will have the chance to snatch them up!
In the meantime, I’m returning to our regular programming by doing our weekly positive spin. Given that this week we commemorated one of the worst waking days in living memory, I don’t know about you, but I could use some good news!
1.Colorado State House Gets a Historic Makeover
Democratic Rep. David Ortiz is Colorado’s first lawmaker to use a wheelchair and thanks to him the government building just got a cool new do. According to NPR, when he was first elected, “wooden ramps were added, doorways were widened and Ortiz's desk was modified so that he could get to work unassisted,” but there was one very important renovation that finally got done this week and that doesn’t exist in any other state capitol: a lift to the speaking podium! While it’s rad and historical, my only note is that maybe we should make these accommodations BEFORE wheelchair users are elected. One surefire way to ensure more people with disabilities run for office is making that place inclusive to them in the first place. Go Colorado! Now let’s go, everyone else!
2.Maskless Canadian Influencers Left Stranded in Mexico
The pandemic has robbed us from so much, but thank goodness influencers have remained dedicated to entertaining the masses with dubious life choices. Amidst rising cases or COVID-19 and a newly imposed curfew in Quebec, a bunch of French-Canadian reality show stars got on a Sunwing airlines plane from Montreal to Cancun, without masks to drink vodka out of the bottle and vape on board. It goes without saying, the influencers blasted the whole thing on Instagram for good measure. After the clip went viral, the Prime Minister had to issue an embarrassing statement about feeling “extremely frustrated” by these “idiots.” The Transport Minister Omar Alghabra also had to tweet and announce the launch of an investigation against the aforementioned degenerates. Sunwing promptly proceeded to cancel their return flight and other airlines like Air Canada and Air Transat preemptively rejected them as potential passengers in case any of them got any ideas. It’s unclear how they will get back into Canada but it’s safe to say this is the only “Remain in Mexico” program that I can support.
If you want to read more about some of the very special people in Canada's version of the Fyre festival, like the woman who vaped on camera who is plot twist training to be a pilot, or the guy who organized it who is an “aspiring rapper” with a passion for illegal stockbroking, you can read about them here or here.
3. Couple Stuck in the I-95 Snowstorm Hands Out Free Bread to Stranded Families
As a nod to single people’s mental health, I abstain from writing happy stories about couples in the icy cold lead-up to Valentine's Day, but this is the kind of feel-good story that deserves to be the exception to my rule. When hundreds of people including Senator Tim Kaine got stranded for hours on the I-95 during a severe snowstorm in Virginia on Monday without fuel or food, one Maryland couple, concerned about the cries of children in nearby cars, decided to take action.The quick thinking husband and wife team of Casey and John Holihan noticed a bakery truck not too far from their own stranded car. The Holihans called the company that owned the truck, Schmidt Baking Co. and begged the owner to donate some loaves of bread to the hungry families. It worked! The Holihans and the truck driver, Ron, handed out the truck’s entire carbo-cargo down a two mile stretch of cars making a bad situation a little better and leaving me to wonder who doesn't love a good loaves-story?
4.Taiwan Takes Small Big Step for LGBTQ Rights
A court ruling in Taiwan has local advocates for LGBTQ equality hopeful that same-sex couples will soon be able to adopt children with more ease.. While it’s possible for same-sex people to adopt if one of the children is biologically related to one of the parents, Taiwan’s laws did not guarantee right to adopt without a preexisting genetic relationship. But one ruling from a family court in Kaohsiung City just did something huge: it allowed a man’s adopted child to also become adopted by his male partner. While the ruling only applies to one family for now LGBTQ+ advocates are hoping this ruling could foment major change on the island. We love a hopeful, yet nuanced, but pretty decent dose of LGBTQ+ optimism!
Well that’s it for now! I hope you have the best weekend and don’t get on any international flights with any aspiring rappers with a history of white-collar crime!
-Liz