The Final Link Roundup! -The Toast

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Let’s start with some housekeeping. As previously stated, the site will stay up basically eternally, though we will probably lock comments to avoid The Spam Influx. I’ll open them when we do occasionally post things (I would add us to your RSS feeds, and/or make sure you follow @TheToast on Twitter, so you do not miss it when we do.) I think there will be a joke post once in a while, or when Nikki’s book comes out, obviously we’ll do a thing, or just once in a while, for fun.

Our Toast emails will still work, if you need to find us.

Okay, end of housekeeping.


I have some thank-yous to do. I will forget a lot of people, but here is a start:

Mallory Ortberg

Nikki Chung

Marco S-V

Jaya Saxena and Matt Lubchansky

My husband, Steve Strong

My mom and dad and my stepmother, Amanda

My brother, Michael, and his wife, Jenna

My aunts: Maureen, Joanne, and Peggy and Karen

My uncles, Don and Wayne and Will and Stu

Christie

My perfect nieces, Emily and Katie

My okay children, Amelia and James Tiberius

Amelia Lester and Johnny

Anna and Nathan and Nicholas and Wilson Ratner Hetherington

John and Nancy and Laura and Johnny and Zack and Baxter

Sam and Donnovan

Aurora Elkins

Choire Sicha and Alex Balk

Roxane Gay

Kate McKean

Elon Green

Carrie Frye

Jazmine Hughes

Samantha Powell

Jasmine Guillory

Ezekiel Kweku

Ta-Nehisi Coates

The women of God Thread

Jesus Christ

Anyone who has ever babysat for me.

Sansa

Everyone who loved The Toast


This was wonderful. It has been wonderful. It will always be a beautiful memory for me. You are all the greatest. You are so smart and funny and nerdy and sweet and passionate and generous and loving. I care about you deeply, and I will miss having this one place to hang out with you every day. Have great lives.

Let’s share some links, now.



It is the centenary of the Battle of the Somme (it went on for 141 days, but began July 1st), and the Guardian’s coverage is really excellent, and heartbreaking, and I’ve been hitting refresh on it all morning.


I was talking about beloved Canadian kids’ show Street Cents, and someone linked me to THE ORAL HISTORY:

John Nowlan: The writers were fabulous. We had villainous characters and plots and at the same time we had a lot of product tests, and we weren’t afraid to throw brand-name products into the pit. We had an expression: “fit for the pit.” And every week there was a product that did not live up to its advertised hype, usually a brand-name product. And we were thrilled to be able to throw it into our make-believe pit with a loud explosion and a lot of fake smoke, so we had great fun with that.

Jonathan Torrens: I remember that the pit was just a 650-watt light with a red gel on it and a smoke machine. In the early going we probably only had one version of the prop that we were throwing in the pit, so if it landed on the light and got singed, that was it.

Mike Clattenburg: When you threw something in the Street Cents pit, the line was always, “[This product] is fit for the pit!” They’d throw the product in the pit: BOOM! It would explode in a huge flash of fire and smoke. We examined this product called Miracle Thaw, it was some ridiculous way to thaw meat on a piece of metal. Anyway, Jono and I changed the line to, “Go on wit ya, Miracle Thaw!” Then threw it in the pit. BOOM! It was so funny to us, but everyone else thought we were fucked. I only shot one take because the pyro was a big reset. I think I caught some shit for that. It went to air.



UNEXPECTED:

The Federal Court of Appeal has overturned the federal government’s approval of a controversial pipeline proposal that would link Alberta’s oilsands to British Columbia’s north coast.

In a written decision, the court says Canada fell short in its duty to consult with aboriginal people before giving the green light to Enbridge’s $7.9-billion Northern Gateway project.


FINALLY, the law is on someone’s side:

I’m still nursing my five-month-old and work full-time, which means I breast pump three times a day. Two months ago, it was announced that our office was moving down the road. I followed up with our office manager as well as the assistant, as a detail like needing a private room with a door that locks — just for me — was probably not on the top of their minds. Each time an email was sent about the move, I followed up, and got a “oh yeah…we’re working on it” response.

In hindsight, I should have shared what the expectations — and laws — were. I don’t think the office manager or assistant have HR backgrounds nor have set up breast-pumping stations before, so I have to assume what happened next was an honest mistake.

Fast forward to yesterday, the first day in the office. On the tour in the morning, I was shown a bathroom on the other side of the campus, with the promise of a half fridge to store the expressed milk. I’d be sitting on a toilet (without a lid that seals off the toilet bowl) to pump, holding the pump in my hands, since there is no place to set it down. (I could share more details, but the more I write, the more angry I get. I mean, my kid will eat this – and I’m pumping it where people poop? C’mon!) Since this “room” was not set up yesterday, I pumped once in a bathroom close to me and nearly cried the entire time. I was pretty humiliated.

My boss is out until next week, and I’d like to work with our office manager to find a more suitable solution before sending it up to HR. Office space is tight; there are conference rooms available, but they don’t have the ability to lock.

I’m frustrated at how this has been handled, so fear that I’m going to come from a place of anger OR not stand up for myself. (See previous feelings of humiliation.) It’s now much into the workday of the second day at the new place, and no news.


Do not miss the 10am Eastern Time post.






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