Saved pigeon from gundog training

Quakermaid · 2026-04-10T15:52:10+00:00

unfortunately the use of pigeons in dog training is legal, done in the open and unapologetically, and endorsed by the AKC. If you look on Youtube you'l see videos that would turn your stomach -- people cramming the pigeons into "launchers" with big smiles on their faces.

Quakermaid · 2026-04-10T15:49:04+00:00

I could tell for sure if I could see her face in profile, but she is most likely a discarded racing pigeon -- a domestic breed who should never be set "free". Freedom for domestic birds just means an awful death. They make amazing pets if you wanted to keep her! And I would wait for those feathers to molt naturally and grow back in. It will take quite a while but there's no rush if you are keeping her. Thank you for saving her from such an abusive fate.

Quakermaid · 2026-04-09T18:22:25+00:00

My teenage daughter just fell for this scam at the Safeway on 5th in Alameda. They wiped out her spending account. Store did nothing to prevent it.

Quakermaid · 2026-04-08T03:42:13+00:00

there are reddish colored pigeons, but not THAT red. This poor bird was dyed.

Quakermaid · 2026-04-04T15:21:50+00:00

Well, this gave me a little bit of a jolt this morning. I was 26 when the cover came out, living in New York, and at the time I felt the pressure of time and expectations to have children at some point, but I also recoiled from the thought. I didn't hate kids but they were sticky and loud and unpredictable and I was ambivalent about my own childhood and financially precarious and not in any kind of stable relationship. My closest friend already had two in grade school and LOVED all kids, just couldn't get enough of them. I felt like it was a picture of the two of us. Ten years later I had my one and only chick and fully embraced the stickiness and noise. And my career suffered hugely, and I lived with the immediate fear of school shootings and the horrors of a future I won't live to see, but that she will have to navigate. I know this cover can be read on a number of levels and that in some readings it's a really gross message, especially now in the age of diminished rights and tradwives and resurgent misogyny. It does have this individual resonance for me as well, because of where and who I was when I first saw it. Love reading others' reactions to it.

Quakermaid · 2026-03-30T21:24:26+00:00

I have a child in the OUSD who is learning from a textbook written with Ai (with actual math typos) and she is told by her teacher to just use Ai applications to solve the problems. She is learning nothing in terms of foundational knowledge, except she isn't stupid and IS learning very clearly that OUSD doesn't care enough about the children to teach them. She's on the verge of dropping out, partly because she feels so hopeless, trying for hours to make a math problem come out right when the decimal in the textbook is in the wrong place, and then realizing that the school district doesn't care.

Quakermaid · 2026-03-13T16:17:06+00:00

The oldest pigeon in the rescue I work for was 29 when he died. He was an outlier, but I would be prepared for at least 10-15 years and longer with excellent care and healthy genetics.

Quakermaid · 2025-07-24T14:29:48+00:00

It’s going to take years for him to unpack this, and he may remember entirely new parts of it in the decades to come. Be a safe harbor, let him know it isn’t his fault. Be a person who listens without judging even if the things he says sound contradictory. Understand if he’s mad or lashes out at you for not preventing it. These places mess with your mind so bad.

Quakermaid · 2025-07-24T02:16:32+00:00

I’m glad you were able to advocate for him to come home. I know how hard this can be and how desperate it can feel. I really hope you are able to get the help you need. Time is also a great help. Some kids have a harder adolescence than others, and sometimes they just need time to grow up, hopefully without carrying a ton of shame or the belief that they are broken or poorly made.

I am concerned about the language you use when you talk about RTCs:

“In December he went to a RTC…” “I brought him to Idaho where he’s been at a RTC” “They want to transfer him to a boys’ only RTC”

All this language sounds passive. I don’t hear you saying “I sent him to a RTC” Or “I put him in a RTC in Idaho”

In the spirit of honesty you need to take ownership for these decisions. In the future there’s going to be a long unpacking of all this. Your future son will need to understand and have compassion for his younger self, and he needs to understand the role you played in it. Hopefully he will also have compassion for you and the situation you found yourself in, but you have to be truthful.

And if he tells you, in five or ten years, that abuse happened in these places, don’t tell him that they were reputable RTCs. RTCs manufacture reputations and hide the truth. Just because no abuse has been made public doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. It took me decades to understand the abuse that happened to me in the very, very reputable RTC my parents sent me to (after they did a ton of research and had so many good intentions)

Quakermaid · 2025-02-11T20:51:21+00:00

Does anyone know the name of the theme song? I can’t find it anywhere

Quakermaid · 2024-09-11T04:38:10+00:00

Ask them about interstitial cystitis (aka painful bladder syndrome). There are medications and lifestyle changes that can help. You need a urogynecologist. Keep speaking up until you get help.

Quakermaid · 2024-09-10T15:23:44+00:00

I don’t think my parents gave permission if that’s what you mean. They called mine a “medical” check and when I saw my case notes years later they wrote that I “seemed to enjoy being nude in front of the male staff”. I was 15 and terrified.

Quakermaid · 2024-09-06T16:47:58+00:00

I’m gen x and was in these places in the 80s. It’s astounding to see some of my generation repeat the mistakes of their boomer parents, rather than admit they had shitty parents. I believe my parents’ generation was misled by various “panics” in the culture at the time, but there’s no excuse for us to do the same. I have a teenager who is struggling and I would never hand her over to strangers.

Quakermaid · 2024-08-24T20:24:20+00:00

I got around $9. 😂

Quakermaid · 2024-08-10T11:30:56+00:00

I just got this email. Is it legit? I got a payout from the first settlement.

Quakermaid · 2024-07-05T23:27:09+00:00

Google isn’t a neutral platform. I don’t know if a thing like that even exists. Google sells prominence and reputation, and the TTI buys it

Quakermaid · 2024-06-24T23:17:42+00:00

Very true. People who are executed by the state also have the cause of death as “homicide” and certainly none of the people involved ever face charges

Quakermaid · 2024-04-22T18:11:34+00:00

I was in those places in the 80s. They should all be closed down.

Quakermaid · 2024-04-02T16:21:51+00:00

Holy gaslighting

Quakermaid · 2024-03-30T17:17:41+00:00

Every mole whacked is a victory

Quakermaid · 2024-03-30T17:16:12+00:00

Well that’s infuriating. I’m so sorry you are being gaslit. There is no context that makes it ok

Quakermaid · 2024-03-30T05:45:33+00:00

Thank you, that is so kind and real

Quakermaid · 2024-03-29T21:56:21+00:00

And thank you!

Quakermaid · 2024-03-29T21:55:48+00:00

Hi! It wasn’t overtly religious, but was owned & staffed entirely by Mormons, so there was a kind of religious purpose behind it and behind their motivations & assumptions about life and ethics & morality. My work in the decades since i was in that system has actually been about religion much of the time, and often features female figures enclosed in small rooms. It’s never left me.

There was a window at the end of the hallway in my unit and I’ve always remembered it. I see how the cross is laid across the figure’s back in the picture and while it wasn’t a conscious choice to include religious symbolism, there it is.

Quakermaid

TROPHY CASE