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Writing a book is no easy task, even for adult professional writers. Many would-be authors dream of a day when their work can be found on library shelves, unsure if it will ever come.

But for 8-year-old Dillon Helbig, that day has already arrived—in truly unconventional fashion—thanks to his own determination to make it happen.

Dillon wrote his 81-page graphic novel, “The Adventures of Dillon Helbig’s Crismis” (written by “Dillon His Self”) in a hardcover journal with colored pencils over the course of a few days. He even put a label on the back of the book that reads “Made in Idho” [sic] and put an illustrated spine label on it as well. Then, without telling anyone, he brought it to his local library in Boise, Idaho, and slipped it in among the books in the children’s section.

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The library Facebook page shared that it had officially added the book to the collection at the branch, writing, “Imagine our surprise yesterday when Dillon’s mom called to tell us that her son had authored an entire book, shelved it at the Lake Hazel Branch, then announced to his family later that he had written a book and it could be checked out at the library.”

The library also announced that Dillon’s book had won the first-ever Whoodini Award for Best Young Novelist—an award created in his honor.

Dillon told local news station KTVB that the book features him, his mom, Santa, a bomb, a portal and a giant carnivorous turkey. Because of course.

“I’ve been wanting to put a book in the library since I was five,” Dillon told the station. Nearly half his life, in other words.

Dillon said there were a lot of librarians he had to sneak past with his book to surreptitiously put it on the shelf, but he did it.

“I’ll always be sneaky, like how I get chocolate,” he explained. Classic.

The adults on every front handled this kid’s creativity and determination the best possible way. His mom called the library to let them know the book was there so it wouldn’t get lost or taken. And rather than just returning the book, the librarians actually put it into circulation.

“His parents were worried we would find his book and we would get rid of it,” Lake Hazel Branch Library manager Alex Hartman told KTVB. “Which was an unfounded fear because if there’s ever a place a book would be safe, it would be here.”

The librarians loved Dillon’s book.

“It deserves a spot on our library shelves,” said Hartman. “It’s a good story.”

At the time of this local news report, the book had a handful of people in line to check it out. But The New York Times reports that as of the end of January, the waiting list has grown to a whopping 56 people. If each person kept the book for the maximum four-week checkout period it would take four years to get to the people at the bottom of the list.

The experience has made Dillon decide to become an author, his mom said, and he even has some career goals laid out.

“I’m going to stop writing when I’m 40,” Dillon said. After that, he will switch to game creation. In the meantime, he has a sequel to his first novel in the works.

“My next book is going to be called ‘The Jacket-Eating Closet,’” he said, “based on actual events.”

Amazing. Kudos to Dillon for following his dream and making it happen, kudos to his mom for encouraging him and kudos to the librarians who saw an opportunity to support a child’s creativity and ran with it.

This article originally appeared on 09.13.22

A lot of movies and shows these days are filmed in green screen warehouses or in immersive volumes, so it’s a big deal when a production builds an actual set. And there is no more eye-catching set at the movies this summer than Barbie’s mega-pink house. The manse is so pink it allegedly caused a pink paint shortage. Unreal as it may be, someone spotted a house that looks an awful lot like it.

As per Deadline, CBS Los Angeles helicopter cameraperson John Schreiber shared a video he took while flying over Malibu showing a large home decked out in eye-popping pink tones. “Is that a…real life #Barbie Malibu House?? Seems to be,” he wrote. “Pink everything… a water slide… floating “KEN” letters. Publicity stunt? Huge Barbie fans?”

Schreiber wondered if it wasn’t the real filming location. So did Deadline, who have reached out to Warner Bros. Discovery, who’s distributing the summer blockbuster, but have thus far not heard back.

What is known about the house is that it already has a Barbie connection. Back in 2019, the home was done up in relatively moderate amounts of pink and listed on Airbnb for the Barbie brand’s 60th anniversary. It was even cheap: a mere $60 a night.

Perhaps this will be a similar deal. Till then, it looks like one moneyed homeowner is really stoked for Greta Gerwig’s follow-up to Little Women.

(Via Deadline)

Over the weekend, Russia plunged into a teensy bit of chaos (or moreso). On Friday, Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Wagner, Vladimir Putin’s private army, announced he was leading a military rebellion in response to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The coup was called off on Saturday, not long before his army was set to arrive in Moscow. On Monday, Putin finally publicly spoke about the turmoil, and, predictably, he wasn’t happy.

In an address to the nation, Putin called those who orchestrated the aborted rebellion traitors who played into the hands of those who want to see Russia “drowned in a bloody domestic strife.” He also claimed that had the rebellion entered Moscow, the Russian army would have crushed them.

“Any kind of blackmail, any attempts to create internal turmoil are doomed to failure,” Putin declared.

When calling off the rebellion, Prigozhin had cut a deal with the Kremlin, brokered by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, that vowed to drop charges against him and allow him to seek exile. Putin assured Wagner members that they could either join the Russian army or join Prigozhin in Belarus.

Still, Putin wasn’t exactly forgiving. “The organizers of this rebellion not only betrayed their country and their people, but also betrayed those whom they dragged into this mutiny,” he averred.

He did try to be diplomatic. “We know that the overwhelming majority of the Wagner company are also patriots of Russia, faithful to their people and country. They proved it with their courage defending the Donbas and Novorossiya,” he said, nodding to parts of Ukraine where Wagner fought.

“I thank those commanders and soldiers of the Wagner private company who took the only right decision,” Putin added, “and stopped at the last line to prevent bloodshed.”

Whether the famously prickly Putin will make good on his promise to forgive and forget remains to be seen.

In the meantime, the attempted rebellion has seeped into the U.S., where numerous Republicans, and one questionable Democrat, have been spouting conspiracy-laden nonsense.

(Via NBC News)

When you buy a new house you tend to find things that you missed during your walk through and initial few months there. You’re busy unpacking and settling in to notice things that may be just a little off. Sometimes the discovery is something like a forgotten train set still assembled in the attic or left behind photo albums.

Other times people discover secret doors that lead to underground caves or a prohibition era bar under the floor boards. Julia Henning, found something more similar to the latter. One day while she was cleaning, she noticed something weird on her closet floor and posted her discovery on TikTok in. 13 Second clip that has amassed over 31 million views.

“As I cleaned out the closet, my eyes kept tracing the small glass knob that stuck out in the corner of the room close to the door frame,” Henning told Newsweek.

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When Henning pulled on the knob, the floor of her coat closet lifted up and revealed a small, slightly creepy winding staircase. The rickety wooden stairs lead to darkness. You can’t see the bottom of the stairs just by looking down the hatch’s opening so Henning wasn’t feeling brave enough to test her luck going into the unknown alone for the entertainment of social media.

In a second video update she gives a better look at the stairs and shows the immense darkness that awaits at the bottom.

“Can you imagine that I say hello and something literally says hello back,” Henning says. “So here’s the update. We’re going to get somebody else here by the end of the week, I’m either going to send them, (sorry to whoever that ends up being), or they will video tape me going down there. But I am not a vlogger so I am not willing on a Tuesday morning to put my life at risk for your entertainment; however, stay tuned because we’re going to crack this mystery.

@iamjuliahenning

I was cleaning the closet and decided to invesitgate. This is what I found… should I go in?! #hauntedhouses #hauntedhouse #creepytiktok #creepyhouse #crawlspace #creepycrawlspace #hiddenhorror #scarystories #homediscovery #hauntedhollywood #ghosthunters #investigation #whatliesbeneath #barbarian #oldhousetiktok #hiddengems #docuseries

Honestly, anyone with a healthy sense of self preservation probably would avoid going down those stairs as well. There really is no telling what would be awaiting. A well filled with the spirit of some girl that’s going to climb out of your television or an old box that possesses the opener. Horror movies have taught us that we really can’t be too careful!

Luckily for Henning, when she finally went down into the dark room, she didn’t find a box with a Dybbuk but she did admit to having some weird things happening in the house.

“Legit though all week weird stuff has been happening. I literally got locked in this closet the day i discovered the crawl space opened and would not have been able to get out if i was home alone. Go ahead and laugh but this is legit weird,” Henning wrote in a TikTok caption.

@iamjuliahenning

So mini update from yesterday before we dive into this crawl space mini series… #hauntedhouses #hauntedhouse #creepytiktok #creepyhouse #crawlspace #creepycrawlspace #hiddenhorror #scarystories #homediscovery #hauntedhollywood #ghosthunters #investigation #whatliesbeneath #barbarian #oldhousetiktok #hiddengems #docuseries

She originally hired a medium to explore the uncovered cellar but even the medium, one who is paid to commune with passed spirits declined. That left no one but the homeowner who was trying desperately to avoid going down the steps herself. After suiting up to avoid getting bit by spiders, Henning finally made it down the stairs.

In a very dramatic, then anticlimactic turn of events, Henning first spots faded names written on the wall, only to discover it appears to be a storage area. Wine racks, shelves and a single Miracle Whip jar that appeared to be from the 60s filled with old kids’ trinkets. The room is sealed so everything is pretty pristine, but Henning tells her followers, the discovery leaves more questions than answers.

Comments on each video in this accidental series is filled with reactions ranging from excitement and terror to skepticism. There’s no pleasing everyone, but it’s clear the internet wants to know what’s up with the house.

Watch the big reveal below (Warning: The video does contain profanity):

@iamjuliahenning

You asked for it. I want to keep it but also slightly terrfied. Its giving cursed items. But here you have it: the crawl space is a hidden room! Whats next? We need to learn the history… more questions than answers if you ask me. Hosting house events just got a lot more interesting… #hauntedhouses #hauntedhouse #creepytiktok #creepyhouse #crawlspace #creepycrawlspace #hiddenhorror #scarystories #homediscovery #hauntedhollywood #ghosthunters #investigation #whatliesbeneath #barbarian #oldhousetiktok #hiddengems #docuseries

A major part of parenting is setting kids up for as best an adult life as possible. It’s also a major source of every parent’s stress, as this is essentially a question without absolute answers.

Sure, there are many helpful strategies that can be implemented—setting up a college fund, enrolling into a great school, finding enriching activities—but even these cannot guarantee anything when the future is unwritten and the world continues changing at a rapid pace. Any jobless millennial still struggling to pay student loans for a prestigious university degree can tell you about that.

With all these unknown variables that could wreak havoc on even the best laid plan, what is a parent to do? Popular content creator and fellow dad Abraham Piper argues that maybe parents shouldn’t even make it a goal to provide a good future in the first place.

After all, it’s “impossible anyway,” he says in the now-viral clip.

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“The future is uncertain. So, is it the best use of our parental energy, our love, to continue trying to achieve the impossible? Isn’t there something instead where the success could happen right now instead of 30 years down the road, if at all?” Piper continued.

With this compelling logic, the goal should instead be on giving kids a “good past”, according to Piper. In other words, just focusing on providing a happy childhood every day. “Trips to the park, hugs before bed, letting them choose the music in the car,” etc. This kind of goal is not only achievable, it’s incredibly impactful.

Referencing Allison Gopnik’s book “The Philosophical Baby,” Piper added that one of the few aspects of a child’s adult life parents actually do get to determine is the quality of childhood that they bring into it. And considering that a huge part of one’s identity is based on core memories, a truly happy childhood is an “ ineradicable gift.”

Judging from the comments of other parents, Piper’s advice struck a chord.

“As a parent who is working so hard to break the generational trauma cycle; my heart needed to hear this today,” one person wrote.

“I feel that their future is not for me to control or project, it’s their foundation that’s my responsibility. For them to be secure and confident,” added another.

@moreabrahampiper Don’t worry about giving your kids a good future. ❤️ #parenting #lifeadvice #alisongopnik #dadsoftiktok #parentingadvice #liveinthemoment ♬ original sound – Abraham Piper

The lingering effects that childhood trauma can have in adulthood are well documented— heightened anxiety, addiction, depression, difficulty in relationships, insomnia…the list goes on. And we have learned over time that trauma exists in a spectrum. It can manifest in many ways, not just physical abuse. Neglect, verbal bullying and parental separation play their parts as well.

On the bright side, research indicates that happy core memories have the same lasting effect. Studies show that even with the presence of early adversity, creating positive childhood experiences can still provide a foundation for creating better family health in adulthood.

While parents of course want to do whatever they can to help kids become successful, happy and healthy for the rest of their lives, perhaps constantly moving the goal posts isn’t in anyone’s best interests. At the end of the day, it might prove more fruitful (and more fulfilling) to focus one what is within one’s power now, rather than later.

As Piper noted: “The present, we can almost control. Or at least feel like it. And that feeling is all we’re dealing with here because we get to see our effort work right now and not just hope that they will.”

The violent implosion of the Titan submersible on the way to visit the Titanic captured people’s attention across the globe. It brought up a lot of conversations about social class, the vehicle’s questionable construction and the haunting history of death surrounding the Titanic itself.

For those of us who don’t work in oceanography or physics, it also brought up a lot of questions about underwater implosion. A big one circulating among conspiracy theorists and confused laypeople alike: Why did the Titan implode while the Titanic didn’t?

The Titan submersible is understood to have disintegrated in milliseconds somewhere neat a depth of 11,500 feet. In comparison, we can still see most of the wreckage of the Titanic 12,500 feet down on the ocean floor.

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A lot of people are asking the question on Twitter.

why didn’t the titanic or the bodies implode on the way to the ocean floor too

— maybe: hayley (@HayleyStrickler) June 26, 2023

So why didn’t the Titanic Implode then?

— Emiko Yamasaki (@emiko_yamasaki) June 22, 2023

The Titanic didn’t implode, so why would the sub?

This story does NOT make sense.#trustyourgut https://t.co/GYIrVEjx6R

— Swee_Liberty (@Sweet_Liberty76) June 22, 2023

First, what is an implosion versus an explosion? “In an explosion, the force acts outwards, but in an implosion, the force acts inwards,” Arun Bansil, professor of physics at Northeastern University, said. “When a submersible is deep in the ocean, it experiences the force on its surface due to water pressure. When this force becomes larger than the force hull can withstand, the vessel implodes violently.”

Blair Thornton, a professor at the University of Southampton, told NBC that the force of the implosion was up to 10,000 tons of physical force, the equivalent of the weight of the Eiffel Tower.

So, if the Titanic also traveled through the same depths en route to the bottom of the ocean, why didn’t it suffer a similar fate?

In some ways, it’s quite simple: There was a difference in pressure between the enclosed submarine and the Titanic, which had doors and windows so that water could easily travel through it, equalizing the pressure on the inside and the outside.

However, researchers believe there may have been two implosions on the Titanic’s journey to the bottom of the ocean. Research published by Dave Gleicher posits that parts of the stern and the poop deck imploded as the ship sank. But most of the boat was water permeable, so the wreckage was recognizable when it was first discovered in 1985.

Although no one is sure why the Titan submersible, created by OceanGate Expeditions, succumbed to the pressures of the ocean depths, many experts are pointing to its carbon fiber hull as the culprit. Carbon fiber is a relatively new material, especially for submarines, that hasn’t been adequately tested in extreme depths. Some speculate that the Titan’s hull could have been compromised due to its 2 dozen previous dives. Like a balloon, all it takes is one hole at extreme depths for the entire vessel to collapse.

“It was very clear that these people were operating a submersible that was unsafe,” Katy Croff Bell, president and founder of the Ocean Discovery League, told NBC News.

“They knew it. They had been warned on multiple occasions,” she added. “And I think that we can only hope that we ensure in the future that something like this does not happen, and people take this very, very seriously.”

It’s no secret that even the most seemingly safe of public places can instantly turn dangerous for a woman. Is it fair? No. But is it common? Absolutely, to the point where more and more women are documenting moments of being stalked or harassed as a grim reminder to be aware of one’s surroundings.

Lacie (@lacie_kraatz) is one of those women. On April 11th, she was out on a run when she noticed a man in front of her displaying suspicious behavior. Things got especially dicey when the man somehow got behind her. That’s when she pulled out her phone and started filming—partially to prove that it wasn’t just her imagination, and also out of fear for her safety.

“Hello. I’m just making this video so that women are a little more aware of them,” she begins in the video. “See this gentleman behind me? Yeah, this is what this video’s about.”

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According to Lacie, the two were initially running in opposite directions. But at some point after seeing her, the man stopped in the middle of the trail and waited for her to pass so that he could follow her path from behind.

“Now, I know what you’re thinking—‘Why are you suspecting that he’s following you?’” Lacie continues. “Well, let me tell you. I was just walking like this, and I look up, and he’s in front of me, and he just keeps doing a ‘peek’ like this behind him, over and over again.”

Lacie added that at one point, she even made an illegal crossing when “do not walk” sign was still up in an attempt to put some distance between herself and the man. After looking over her shoulder, she noticed that the man was visibly “speeding” to keep up.

In case there is still any doubt, Lacie then begins to run to see if the man will follow suit. Sure enough, he does.

Luckily the man eventually seems to give up, though he still seems to be watching her from a distance. Lacie ends up safe back home, but she didn’t even accomplish what she set out to do that afternoon.

“I couldn’t even finish my run,” she concludes. “I only ran like a mile and a half. I wanted to do 3 miles, but no—creepy men just had to be creepy f****** men today.”

Watch:

@lacie_kraatz #foryou #ladies #awareness ♬ original sound – Lacie

Countless women empathized with Lacie in the comments section. Clearly, this was not a unique circumstance.

“What I do when I’m being followed is act feral,” yet another person shared. “Like I’ll bark and growl really loud and flail my arms around. If you look crazy, you’re doin’ it right.”

Another added, “Man, nothing pisses me off more than men who make me feel uncomfortable doing things that I NEED to do for my health and well-being.”

Others tried to give their own tips for handling the situation, from finding nearby police or fire stations to using a variety of running trails to simply notifying the first visible passerby of what’s happening and asking to stand with them.

And of course, the resounding advice was to use the public space, and modern-day technology, to one’s advantage.

As one person wrote, “Girls we have got to normalize turning around and yelling at people following us. Let them know you know, take pictures of them, scream, make a scene.”

It’d be nice if these kinds of unsettling interactions didn’t exist. But here we are. At the very least, it’s good that women are speaking up more so that these situations are easier to spot early on and women can know how to navigate them in the safest way possible.

This article originally appeared on 4.4.23

There’s been a fair amount of dog-piling on Meghan Markle lately, and not only from the usual Royal Family obsessees (or Piers Morgan). She and her husband Prince Harry recently parted way with Spotify, where she did the podcast Archetypes, and though the split was initially presented as amicable, Bill Simmons, who runs the streamer’s podcast department, let loose that he thought they were “f*cking grifters.” That may have opened Pandora’s box, because now others are trashing the semi-ex-Royals as well.

As per The Daily Beast, Jeremy Zimmer, CEO of United Talent Agency, unloaded on Markle specifically while speaking to Semafor.

“Turns out Meghan Markle was not a great audio talent, or necessarily any kind of talent,” Zimmer told them. “And, you know, just because you’re famous doesn’t make you great at something.”

It’s not clear if Zimmer had any direct run-ins with Harry and Meghan or if he’s just opining based on what he’s heard and/or read about them. But Zimmer and Simmons aren’t the only with unflattering things to say about the pair. Last week Markle was accused of faking the interviews in some of her podcasts.

What’s more, over the weekend, a Netflix source alleged that the streamer’s brass had been pressuring them to create more good content as part of their mammoth deal. So far they’ve only done one, the doc series Harry & Meghan, with another en route.

(Via Semafor and The Daily Beast)

Great Scotch whisky is a revelation. It’s also fleeting. There’s a price barrier for entry — as most of the really good stuff is over $100 in the U.S. — and it’s not always widely available. Sometimes you have to know a good whiskey store or a great whiskey bar to get your hands on the best stuff. That’s certainly going to be the case with the world’s best whiskey, according to the 2023 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

This year’s crown was bestowed on a Tomatin Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky 36 Years Old, a very rare whiskey. That means that the pour survived three double-blind taste tests where it was unanimously awarded all golds to achieve “Double Gold” status by the first round of judges. Then it was voted the best overall Scotch whisky in another double-blind taste test. And then it was voted best whiskey period in yet another double-blind taste test.

I was part of all of those tastings as a judge in San Francisco this year. I also had the pleasure of trying this bottle again over the weekend at the gala where the top awards were announced and presented. Point being, I know this whisky very well by now. Because of that, I’m breaking down the whole thing with my tasting notes below. This isn’t a cheap bottle of booze and you really want to be sure before you commit. Let me help you there with my personal take on the world’s best whiskey of 2023. Let’s dive in!

• The 50 Best Scotch Whiskies Of 2022, Ranked
• The Best Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whiskies Under $100, Ranked
• The Absolute Best Scotch Whisky Between $60-$70, Ranked
• Single Malt Whiskeys From Around The World, Blind Tasted And Ranked
• We Blind Tasted Single Malt Whiskies From All Over The World To Find A Champion

Tomatin Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky 36 Years Old

ABV: 45.1 %

Average Price: $1,535

The Whisky:

This is 100% malted barley malt whisky that spends a lot of time in the warehouse. The whisky in the bottle is a blend of a minimum of 36-year-old barrels — both ex-bourbon and ex-Oloroso sherry casks. Those barrels are vatted and allowed to rest before the whisky went in the bottle with a touch of water.

Tasting Notes:

Nose: There’s a deep sense of apple and cherry trees in full bloom on the nose with a hint of mango skins, white peaches, and mulled wine spices that leads toward dark plum jam over buttery scones with a hint of brandy butter lurking in the background.

Palate: The palate is immediately lush and silken with a sense of pear pudding and mincemeat pies next to fire-roasted almonds, dried apples, and raw honeycomb with a light lavender vibe.

Finish: The spices rear their head on the finish with a mild eggnog and spiced Christmas nutcake feel that leads to figs and prunes with a hint of pear pie and soft vanilla rounding out the end.

Bottom Line:

This is simply delicious malt. It’s so deep and enticing while delivering an absolutely quintessential unpeated single malt experience.

Adding a little water really brings out the creaminess of the vanilla and fruits with a soft brioche and creamy vanilla underbelly. There are also more savory herbs and spiced florals present as the pour continues to bloom in the glass. It’s a wonderful slow-sipping whisky that’s worth taking some serious time with.

Where To Find It:

High-end liquor stores and whiskey bars will have this. There’ll be a rush on bottles now because of this award — best whiskey in the world is not easily ignored. But you should be able to snag a bottle at a really good liquor store for a few more minutes. But don’t wait, it’ll be gone soon enough.

This is also a bottle that’ll be easier to get in the U.K. and prime markets in Europe. So maybe look out for it if you’re traveling that way this summer.

It’s been a very weird week.

I’m a writer and editor—not a medical professional, legal expert or political activist in any way—so imagine my surprise when I got a message from Vice President Kamala Harris’s senior advisor inviting me to join a roundtable discussion on MSNBC for the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. I thought someone might be pranking me, but nope. The invite was real.

Apparently, someone had read an op-ed I’d written years ago about how it’s possible to be morally pro-life but politically pro-choice and felt that my voice would add something to the discussion. The panelists included the lead plaintiffs in the Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and the Texas Abortion Ban lawsuits, two activists involved in the fight for reproductive rights, a Texas OB-GYN who has seen the implications of the Dobbs decision in his own practice…and me.

I felt remarkably average among these experts on the issue, but I think that was the point. My view represents millions of average American voters who may feel conflicted about where they stand on abortion morally and legally and are trying to reconcile their personal or religious beliefs with what they think our laws should be. Additionally, as someone with no political affiliation or loyalty to any party, I could speak about grappling with this issue without any partisan pressure or influence.

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I’d like to point out that I’m wary of most politicians and well aware of biases in the media, so despite feeling honored to be asked, I was a bit hesitant to participate. I certainly didn’t want to contribute to the partisan divide if I could help it. But because abortion is such a complex and nuanced issue, dedicating an entire hour of prime time to a discussion about it sounded like a good way to help people gain a better, broader understanding. So less than 24 hours after being asked, I was on a plane to Dallas to join the roundtable, which filmed the next day.

The full roundtable discussion is worth watching (and can be found on Peacock, with clips available on MSNBC), but I wanted to pull back the curtain and offer a peek behind the scenes because there were some things about the experience that genuinely surprised me.

— (@)

1. I had no idea ahead of time what questions they were going to ask

I assumed participants in these kinds of events would be prepped ahead of time with what questions they would be asking and have ample time to prepare. This was not the case for me, and according to the fellow panelists I chatted with, it wasn’t for them, either. I used my travel time to prepare a few talking points I felt I could address somewhat intelligently based on my op-ed (since that’s what prompted the invite), but all I knew before arriving for the taping was that we were going to be discussing the Dobbs decision.

The only preparation we got was about 30 seconds before each segment was filmed. Joy Reid briefly explained how that segment would be structured with something like, “Okay, in this segment, we’re going to talk about [some element of the abortion issue]. I’m going to ask [panelist] about [XYZ] and then pivot to [panelist] to talk about [XYZ]. But feel free to chime in if you want to respond to something. We really want this to be a conversation.”

That was it. The entire prep. I was surprised—but also delighted—by how unscripted it was. No one asked me to make any specific points. I didn’t feel any expectation or pressure to even agree with what was being said. Obviously, they knew where I stood based on what I’d written, but they had no idea what I was actually going to say ahead of time.

2. The conversations on-screen were no different than the ones being had off-screen by all parties involved

I think people who are skeptical of media may think that things said for the camera aren’t as genuine as one would hope. Maybe that’s the case sometimes, but that wasn’t my experience at all here. In the green room and during the commercial breaks while filming, the conversation about the issue continued just as it did on screen, just without a host guiding it. The genuine sincerity of the discussion filled me with hope.

For instance, the OB-GYN panelist I was chatting with in the green room told me that in his 30 years of practice, he’d never had a patient come to the decision to terminate a pregnancy lightly, and we talked about the importance of keeping compassion and empathy central to the conversation about abortion. That was just our casual conversation. In the hours I was there, I overheard people from the crew to the other panelists to Joy Reid and the VP talking behind the scenes about all the things we talked about on screen. There was nothing contrived or fake about what you see in the roundtable discussion.

— (@)

3. There was no atmosphere of eliteness

Despite the presence of Secret Service agents everywhere and despite being a high-profile cable news show involving the Vice President, the whole thing after going through the metal detectors felt mostly…normal.

All the people I interacted with, from the folks arranging my travel to the people headlining the show, were so down-to-earth. Everyone was genuinely nice and repeatedly expressed their gratitude to all of us for being there. I kept thinking, “Wait, aren’t I the one who’s supposed to feel grateful for this opportunity?” I didn’t expect to feel so at ease. There was an air of professionalism, of course, but not at all a stuffy or high-pressured one.

I mean, I chatted with Joy Reid about her hot flashes while we were waiting for Kamala Harris to arrive, for goodness sake. It was obviously a serious and highly organized event with lots of moving parts, but it also felt casual and relaxed, which made it easy not to feel too nervous.

4. I came home to an immediate example of why this issue is so important

The night after I came home from Dallas, I had friends over for dinner. One of them works with pregnant women and told me about a mom who was in her second trimester and very ill. Her bloodwork looked horrible and her health was going downhill fast. It turned out she had a very rare fetal anomaly that was creating her health problem, and she needed to terminate the pregnancy or risk a dire outcome. The anomaly meant there ultimately wasn’t going to be a way to save the fetus.

Her previous OB-GYN who had delivered her other children was in Idaho, and though he wanted to help her, he couldn’t, because what she needed was an abortion. She wasn’t at death’s door yet (though technically could crash at any time), so despite the obvious need to end the pregnancy, his hands were tied by Idaho abortion laws. She then had to jump through a bunch of hoops to get to a provider in Washington who could help her, all while her health continued to be in danger.

There are countless stories like this that illustrate the very real implications of the Dobbs decision on real people, including people who don’t actually want an abortion but need one. There’s a tendency to try to make this issue black-and-white, but it’s not. There are unique circumstances surrounding every pregnancy and every childbirth, and real women are harmed when lawmakers insert themselves into healthcare decisions with no medical expertise or training.

It’s vital that we keep the moral debates separate from the legal debates on this issue. Pregnancy is a healthcare issue, deserving of medical privacy. No lawmaker needs to be in the room when a woman and a doctor are making decisions about her healthcare. People can debate the morality of those decisions all day long, but keep the law out of it.

I wasn’t necessarily surprised, but I was happy to see first-hand how, at the highest levels of this unfortunately politically-charged issue, the concern behind the debate isn’t about politics, but about the real people negatively impacted by the court’s decision.