The 2024 Houston Cinema Arts Festival is presenting an array of narrative, documentary, and experimental film programs over 11 days in venues around the city. Among its special presentations is a rare screening of a provocative social satire and political polemic disguised as a thriller from 1973. The Spook Who Sat By The Door is an outlier in the history of Black independent cinema that hasn’t been seen or acknowledged enough since its stifled theatrical release more than 50 years ago. The festival’s upcoming presentation at The DeLuxe Theater on Tuesday, Nov. 12, at 7:30 pm is one of only a handful of special screenings in the country of the film’s new digital restoration, making this a very rare opportunity to see it at its best and also to gain insight from the women who are shepherding its legacy. Natiki Hope Pressley, daughter of writer Sam Greenlee, and Nomathandé Dixon, daughter of director Ivan Dixon, will be in attendance for a post-screening discussion. I had the pleasure of speaking in advance with both of these guests about the film’s making, their fathers, and their own efforts to bring this buried treasure to light.
Still image from “The Spook Who Sat By The Door” (1973)
The Spook Who Sat By The Door stars Lawrence Cook as Dan Freeman, who masters rigorous C.I.A. training in combat and espionage to become the agency’s first Black member, only to be given a token desk job. Freeman eventually leaves the agency to take his training back to the South Side of Chicago and lead the street gang the Cobras in a revolutionary new direction. “What we’ve got now is a colony. But what we want to create is a new nation.” The Spook is surprising in its turns — from funny to deadly serious, broad to sharply focused, controlled to chaotic. Its tightly composed visual style breaks for an unforgettable scene of handheld verité shooting. The film’s nervous system is its musical score — a raw, electric pulsing of funky grooves and disjointed sound textures by Herbie Hancock and his Mwandishi group, who were aggressively experimenting with musical forms and instrumentation at the time. Early in the film, an extended interlude of backwards-and-forwards drums establishes a tense tone of collaged contradictions.
The film is based on a book by Sam Greenlee, who himself had been one of the first Black foreign service officers in the United States Information Agency, serving on assignments in Iraq, Pakistan, and Indonesia in the late 1950s and 60s. On a visit home to the United States in 1965, he saw the outbreaks of inner-city riots as a harbinger of things to come and set out to write the story of a revolution as it might happen in the U.S. I asked Greenlee’s daughter Natiki Hope Pressley if she thought the book was autobiographical. “It was certainly driven by his own personal experiences. And I think Dan Freeman was created in his likeness. My father had a lot of swag, and he could fit in all environments. Dan was also a chameleon in the book and the movie — able to move between worlds.” She added, “It’s part of his brilliance and something I admire. My father was great at — my family coined the term “spook-ability” — being able to go into an environment and take all the things you need from it.”
Still image from “The Spook Who Sat By The Door” (1973)
Completed in 1966, the book was rejected by dozens of U.S. publishers before finally being published in 1969, first in the UK and then, following its success there, in the US and elsewhere. It was so “of its time” in ’69 that it’s easy to forget the book was written years earlier, just prior to the rapid escalation of unrest and the rise of the Black Power movement in the late 60s. By 1970, Greenlee had adapted his book into a screenplay with the help of Mel Clay, a former member of the experimental Living Theatre, and had met Ivan Dixon, an actor-turned-director who was enthusiastic about creating a film version.
Nomathandé Dixon told me of her father Ivan Dixon’s proudest artistic achievements. “There are two works that he treasured most. As an actor: Nothing But A Man. As a director: The Spook Who Sat By The Door.” In a long and rather accomplished career, it’s telling that his favorite projects were lesser-known but meaningful and organically created independent films — the former a 1964 drama about African American struggles in the South in which Dixon co-starred with Abbey Lincoln. He’d begun acting on the stage in the late 1950s, and by the early 60s was playing supporting roles in a number of films and television shows. His early theater and film projects with actor Sidney Poitier led to a lifelong friendship. (In our conversation, his daughter slipped into calling Poitier “Uncle Sidney”.) Dixon achieved fame as co-star of the sitcom Hogan’s Heroes, being one of the few Black actors in leading roles on television at the time. But he had aspirations to do more, and after reading Greenlee’s book he became determined to direct its film adaptation. He and Greenlee formed a partnership to make it happen, and so as not to compromise its bold critiques and messages of Black self-reliance, they began seeking support outside of the Hollywood studio system. But before that production got off the ground, Dixon proved his abilities and built his network by directing his first feature film, Trouble Man (1972).
Still image from “The Spook Who Sat By The Door” (1973)
Dixon and Greenlee knew The Spook Who Sat By The Door would be difficult to produce and would require a resourcefulness and subversion that mirrored the film’s plot. They spent more than a year raising a majority of the funding directly from individuals in the Black community — including lawyers, dentists, and restaurateurs — rather than entertainment industry entities. Late in the production, the movie studio United Artists agreed to put up completion funds, believing that they were backing a simple blaxploitation flick. The production was denied permits for shooting in Chicago, so the few scenes filmed there were done illegally, on the fly. A majority of the movie’s “Chicago” scenes were actually shot in Gary, Indiana, where Mayor Richard Hatcher had given them tremendous support. “That was instrumental,” Nomathandé Dixon told me. “It really could not have happened without a Black mayor, one of the first in a major city in the country, backing them and taking a huge risk.” Herbie Hancock, who had grown up in the same neighborhood as Greenlee and was a fan of the book, was contacted through a friend of a friend and agreed to contribute the music. Miraculously, shooting was completed in late 1972 and the editing was finished early in the following year.
Sam Greenlee and Ivan Dixon on the set of “The Spook Who Sat By The Door,” 1972
The movie was immensely popular in its opening week, but the theatrical release was suddenly cut short when all of the film prints vanished mysteriously — some say due to pressure from the F.B.I. This squashed its exposure, and would effectively bury the film for decades. But those involved in making The Spook were not altogether shocked by the intervention. Natiki Hope Pressley told me that her father Sam Greenlee had likely expected something like that to happen. “He knew that what he was communicating through this film was definitely going to be difficult for most of America to deal with. So, he had a sense that it could potentially be pulled, but he thought ‘let’s try to get it done and get as many people to see it as possible’.” Nomathandé Dixon echoed that, adding “Both Sam and my father, they didn’t have any regrets, because they both were willing to take the risk. They knew the risk, and they understood it.”
Though The Spook has gone largely unseen and is too rarely mentioned in the histories of independent, political, and African-American filmmaking of the era, its lore has kept it alive, if only on the margins of cult movie culture. In the years since their fathers’ deaths, Ms. Dixon and Ms. Pressley have worked together to restore, preserve, and provide access to the film. Its recent restoration was done through the Library of Congress, where the movie was entered into the National Film Registry of significant works in 2012. “One of our goals is to make sure people have an opportunity to see it on the large screen,” Nomathandé Dixon said. “And what a great experience to see it with people!” As we discussed the film’s original contexts and how younger contemporary audiences may take it, she related, “My father knew the power of the medium and getting the message out there. And he wanted this to be a thought-provoking film. You can come away with whatever you come away with. But at minimum, it makes you think about things.”
The Spook Who Sat By The Door (1973, Dir. Ivan Dixon, USA, 102 minutes) screens at the DeLuxe Theater on Tuesday, November 12, at 7:30 pm, with a post-screening discussion featuring guests Natiki Hope Pressley and Nomathandé Dixon, moderated by Gordon S. Williams of Lamar University.
The Houston Center for Photography (HCP) has announced its plans to move from its West Alabama Street location in 2026.
Houston Center for Photography members outside Bering Church, c. 1981-1983
HCP was established in 1981 as an artist-run cooperative; the following year it was officially incorporated as a nonprofit. From 1981 through 1983, the organization met at the Bering Church, an inclusive church located in the Montrose neighborhood. HCP moved into its current location at 1441 West Alabama Street in 1984.
Houston Center for Photography
In an announcement, HCP shared that it is “actively seeking a new home, whether lease or purchase” with the hope of relocating in late 2026.
In the meantime, the organization plans to develop a strategic plan and launch a capital campaign. HCP has announced that it will host Collective Dialogues and send out online surveys to gather input from its communities. Additionally, HCP asks that interested donors connect via email at development@hcponline.org and property leads be sent to info@hcponline.org.
This upcoming move is just one of many recent and upcoming shifts in the Houston art scene. Earlier this fall, the Inman Gallery moved into the former Station Museum of Contemporary Art building, which has been closed since November 2022. In April, the Art Car Museum announced its permanent closure. Last fall, Aurora Picture Show relocated to Houston’s East End, an area that has seen much growth, including Emergent, a collective space founded by local artists. Recently, ALMAAHH (Advocates of a Latino Museum of Cultural and Visual Arts & Archive Complex in Houston, Harris County), announced its intention to purchase land and open a physical space with an eye toward the East End. Another big development has been the recent opening of a Meow Wolf location in Houston’s Fifth Ward.
As HCP moves toward its 50th anniversary, the organization is focused on expanding its programming and increasing the understanding and appreciation of photography. Stay up to date on developments regarding HCP’s move via the organization’s website and social media platforms.
The moment Miguel Valverde Castillo stepped inside El Corazon Sagrado de la Iglesia de Jesus (the Sacred Heart of the Church of Jesus) in Ruidosa, Texas, he envisioned a heart hanging from one of the church’s high archways. Valverde, a muralist from Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua, Mexico, was invited by Friends of the Ruidosa Church, to install a temporary art piece inside the adobe structure.
“Latido de Luz” hanging inside El Corazon Sagrado de la Iglesia de Jesus (the Sacred Heart of the Church of Jesus) in Ruidosa, Texas. Photo: Sarah M. Vasquez
Friends of Ruidosa Church is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to restore and preserve the historic church in the border town, 46 miles southwest of Marfa. The church was constructed by the citizens with adobe bricks in 1915 and was the place for weddings, funerals, and Sunday Mass. It started to deteriorate as the population began to decline in the mid-1950s, but Presidio County was given the deed to the property from the Catholic Diocese of El Paso, which was then deeded to Friends of Ruidosa Church in 2020. The organization raises money and hosts events, such as adobe brick-making, for its restoration efforts. Since 2021, they have also hosted a Community Day at the site, inviting residents — both past and present — for a day of tamales, music, and a large-scale work created by a different artist each year.
In selecting the artist, board member Clara Benson said they always try to find a balance that honors the history of the religious and sacred place with what the artist wants to do. For Community Day in 2022, Benson reached out to Presidio resident Liz Rohana, who suggested Valverde, who she knew through her uncle, Carlos Rohana, the director of the Museo Regional de Ojinaga.
“I feel like even though his artwork is very pronounced in Ojinaga, still a lot of people from this area really didn’t know about him,” Rohana said.
Valverde has produced large-scale works in various mediums around the world. He painted the mural, Semillas del Cosmos (The Origin of the Cosmos), which stands at 29.5 feet for the Weltmuseum Wien in Vienna. There’s a line of musical instrument sculptures that are over 24 feet tall, that include a saxophone, an accordion, and a guitar, in Ojinaga, Chihuahua, Mexico.
“Latido de Luz” illuminates the inside El Corazon Sagrado de la Iglesia de Jesus during sunset in Ruidosa, Texas. Photo: Sarah M. Vasquez
Latido de Luz, the illuminated heart he designed for the Ruidosa church, is smaller in comparison as it stands at 9.5 feet, but the heart’s journey from its creation to its transport across the border was no small feat. Valverde learned during his initial visit to Ruidosa that the sculpture would hang inside the church during Community Day. The lack of doors would allow people to view the West Texas sunset through it, so he knew he wanted to incorporate light with the piece.
“The main concern after that was how on earth are we going to pull off this large scale piece in such a short time,” said Benson. Valverde’s first visit was in June. Community Day is held in November.
But Valverde got to work. One of his first ideas was to create the heart out of ocotillo stems, but there are restrictions to carrying that plant into the U.S., so he simplified the idea. The final iteration was built with wood and outlined with plastic LED lights. He used a steel structure to support the movement.
The heart was built in his studio in Chihuahua, so it required a lot of logistics to move it through the port of entry in Presidio and then to the church in Ruidosa. There was a crack in the frame that needed to be repaired, and Valverde had to add additional structural backing. Valverde and members of Friends of the Ruidosa Church worked with officials on both sides of the border to move the fragile piece in the back of a pickup truck.
After the installation, seeing the piece illuminate inside the church for the first time was much better than any of them had imagined. While Valverde updated the organization with photos of the fabrication process, Benson said it still didn’t prepare her for that moment.
Latido de Luz inside Do Right Hall in Marfa. Photo: Sarah M. Vasquez
“We were all basically in tears because so much work had gone into that,” Benson said.
To provide everyone with the full visual experience, the back of the church was closed off during Community Day, preventing people from parking and blocking the view. Residents from the area — even former residents who traveled from as far as New Mexico — gathered inside the church to watch the sunset paint the sky with cotton candy pinks and blues while the heart brightened the inside of the church with its red lighting. It was magical for Rohana to see the amount of people gathered that evening.
“I felt very emotional to see it was a combination of all of these towns. I was like this is how we should be living every day,” Rohana said. “I think it was such a spectacular event.”
Latido de Luz hung inside the church for about a month and was then moved to Marfa as part of a show featuring Valverde’s paintings and other illuminated pieces at Do Right Hall. Friends of the Ruidosa Church produced that event with Buck Johnston and Camp Bosworth of Wrong Marfa to provide a viewing opportunity inside another adobe church as well as potentially sell the piece. Proceeds of the sale went towards Friends of the Ruidosa Church.
The piece now hangs inside Otherside Marfa, an event space behind the digital art gallery, Glitch Marfa. Stephen McKeon, co-owner of Glitch and Otherside, was the one to purchase it after he saw it inside Do Right Hall, providing it a permanent home in a public space.
Miguel Valverde Castillo stands in front of “Latido de Luz” in its permanent home at Otherside. Photo: Sarah M. Vasquez
“The heart was moving from many places,” said Valverde. “A heart beats. A heart moves. And the heart was moving until now. Now it’s at the last place, but I’m so happy because the heart is in Marfa.”
In the Windows 95 display control panel, there was an option called “Desktop area”.
In the Windows 98 display control panel, there was an option called “Screen area”.
What’s the difference beteween “desktop area” and “screen area”?
There’s no difference. They both control the monitor resolution.
I suspect the name of the option changed because Windows 98 added support for multiple monitors. The desktop spans all monitors, but this setting controls a single monitor. This wasn’t a problem on Windows 95, which supported only a single monitor anyway, but it became incorrect when Windows 98 introduced support for multiple monitors.
But wait, what about this?
What’s the difference between Desktop area and Screen area?
This is a screen shot of Windows 95 with both “Desktop area” and “Screen area”. What’s going on here?
What we’re seeing here is a third party display driver injecting itself into the standard control panel. Rather than doing the documented thing and adding a tab to the Desktop control panel called, say, “Virtual screen”, they decided that it would be cooler to hack into integrate into¹ the “Settings” page.²
All of these unsupported hacks created problems in Windows 98 when the team tried to add multi-monitor support, since the Windows 98 multi-monitor display control panel looked nothing like the Windows 95 one, and the attempt by the display driver to patch the Settings page failed catastrophically.
¹ This is an unauthorized and unsupported integration point, but the marketing team is not dissuaded by annoying engineering jargon like “unsupported”. “Look, our job as marketing is to come up with ideas. It is not your job as engineering to tell me that it can’t be done. Your job is to find a way to do it.”
² In this case, the third party display driver made “Display area” represent the size of the virtual screen and the “Screen area” be the size of the physical screen.
Hurricane Rafael hammered Cuba earlier on Wednesday, and it is now on its way west across the Gulf of Mexico.
(NOAA/NHC)
There have been significant forecast changes since yesterday, and it now appears we have two very distinct camps regarding Rafael’s future. Camp 1 takes Rafael northward toward the central Gulf Coast by next week or meanders it in the northern Gulf. Camp 2 takes Rafael west and then southwest around the periphery of a ridge of high pressure over Florida and the Deep South.
Two distinct camps of possible options for Rafael have opened up since early Wednesday. (Weathernerds.org)
It is too early to know which camp is correct, but clearly the NHC forecast near the top of this post is on board with something more like the second camp.
The good news is that there seems to be a clear signal in modeling that the storm will weaken as it transits the Gulf. This is not August. It’s November, and although the waters remain fairly warm, the reality is that wind shear and dry air usually play a big role in November storms. This case should be no different.
Strong wind shear should help disrupt Rafael as it comes west, likely weakening it from a borderline major hurricane to a tropical storm by this weekend. (Tropical Tidbits)
This should allow Rafael to begin to wind down after Thursday, slowly weakening back to category 1 strength and then tropical storm strength this weekend.
From that point of view, any threats to land from here seem limited. However, folks in Mexico and on the central Gulf Coast should continue to watch Rafael’s progress to see if anything changes.
Apologies for the extremely late update on Rafael today. A sick kid and a day full of obligations will do it!
Valdosta flood emergency
The Valdosta/Lowndes County area of Georgia is being blasted by rainfall this evening with a flash flood emergency in effect. Streamflow values are extreme right now over Valdosta itself.
Extreme streamflow values noted around Valdosta likely correlate to severe, catastrophic flash flooding in that area. (NOAA NSSL MRMS)
Return periods on some these rainfall values are in the 250 year or higher range, meaning this is an exceptional event for Valdosta. Rain totals are in the 6 to 10 inch range as estimated by radar for Valdosta today.
Valdosta has seen anywhere from 6 to perhaps 10 inches of rainfall today. (NOAA NSSL MRMS)
We have been warning of potentially localized flash flooding in Georgia or South Carolina for a couple days now, and that’s indeed what has happened. Numerous other flash flood warnings are in effect across the region, including some serious ones not far from Valdosta right now also. Thankfully, the rains should hopefully wind down in the next 2 to 4 hours.
WASHINGTON—In a historic outcome that promised to halt the rising scourge of the United States in its tracks, America has defeated America at the ballot box, sources confirmed Wednesday. “After 248 years of tense and often divisive conflict, we can finally say, as of this morning, that the nation turned out at the polls and delivered a decisive blow to the nation,” said electoral analyst Kurt Howitzer, describing the results as a remarkable triumph of the democratic experiment over democracy. “It’s a stunning turn of events. But it really shows the power of one citizenry to come together and prevail over themselves. The message was loud and clear: We are sick and tired of our country, and we want it to end.” At press time, millions of emotional Americans had reportedly gathered on the National Mall in an impromptu celebration of their resounding victory over the forces of liberty and equality.
STEWARTSTOWN, PA—With Donald Trump decisively winning a second term as president, local sources reported this week that those tireless civil rights crusaders weren’t so smug now, were they? “This ought to shut up those self-satisfied supporters of civil rights for a while,” said Trump voter Henry Pluss, stressing that it was about time somebody put those high-and-mighty champions of equality and human dignity in their places. “Right about now they must feel pretty stupid for strutting around like a better future was possible, huh? Finally, those proponents of social justice regardless of race or creed have been knocked off their high horses, forced to admit their perseverance in the face of oppression was one big ego trip. This’ll teach them to try to leave a better world for their children, those condescending pricks!” Pluss went on to add that he hoped the 2024 election would put a stop to the self-righteous concept of compassion once and for all.
WASHINGTON—Calling on all Democrats to step up and donate in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, a fundraising email sent out Wednesday by the Democratic National Committee pleaded for a donation of $20 to help cheer them up. “ATTENTION VOTERS: Kamala Harris and her fellow Democrats woke up this morning feeling EXTREMELY BUMMED,” wrote House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a 600-word email with the subject line “URGENT: VERY SAD.” “Last night was HARD, but with your HELP, we can make sure Republicans don’t take away our SMILES completely. For just $20, you can put the PEP back in our STEP. Are you with me?” At press time, the DNC sent a follow-up email that featured photos of Harris, Nancy Pelosi, and Liz Cheney frowning alongside a caption that read “LOOK WHAT YOU DID.”
WASHINGTON D.C. – After almost 250 years of data-gathering, the American experiment has ended in a catastrophic laboratory explosion. “I don’t understand what went wrong!” sighed the facility’s chief scientist. “I added a flawed constitution, an electoral system designed by slave owners, a biased and corrupt supreme court, and centuries of frothing racism, violent sexism, […]
OTTAWA – Following the re-election of US President Donald J. Trump, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau immediately suggested that now might be a great time to step down as Liberal party leader and let someone else have a crack at it. “While I have enjoyed my time as Canadian PM, and seemed extremely confident about leading […]
I admit, it was tricky for me, a white male swing-state voter, to decide who deserved my vote in this election. But in the end, I cast my ballot for Donald Trump along with over seventy million other Americans. And I promise you that decision has nothing to do with my hating women, or Black people, or even Black women. Just yesterday, a Black woman made me my Blonde Vanilla Latte, and I politely thanked her.
Kamala Harris was an okay candidate, I guess. She never said anything about wind turbines causing cancer, but even though Trump may have been wrong about that, at least he has the guts to express an opinion about it. Also, I never heard Harris talk about herself as the only person who could fix the economy, the borders, and all the wars, whereas Trump said he could do all those things. And Harris never attended a confused town hall where she swayed to the music for forty minutes instead of taking questions or pretended to fellate a microphone. She was a flawed candidate, for sure.
Still, there was nothing glaringly wrong with Harris. Back in 2016, I had no such conflict in deciding which candidate would get my vote because I hated Hillary Clinton with a seething rage. However, looking back all these years later, it’s hard for me to remember why. Was it Benghazi? Emails? All those Trump rallies with the mob screaming, “Lock her up”?
Anyway, it was definitely something.
The important thing is that my Hillary antipathy can never be traced to some unconscious bias I have against the ladies. And the same thing was true in this election cycle. There was definitely no unexplored resentment towards women that made it impossible for me to cast my vote for Kamala. Once I looked logically and dispassionately at the candidates, I saw that each had their pros and cons. For example, Donald Trump took away abortion rights, built an $8.4 trillion debt, and incited an insurrection when he lost to Joe Biden. Still, Kamala Harris’s economic plan needed a little more detail. It really was a toss-up.
Believe me—no one supports the idea of a female president more than me. It’s so sad we haven’t had one yet. But what can we do about it? I blame Democrats for choosing such bad candidates. Everyone knows Hillary lost because she was so unlikeable and didn’t go to Wisconsin enough. Meanwhile, Kamala is likable, and she went to Wisconsin plenty of times. Yet there was still something not quite right about her, and when it came time for me to choose, I had to go with my gut.
I remember the first time I voted for Trump in 2016. He was kind of an unknown back then. Unless you’d grown up in New York and knew about his bankruptcies, or had heard him brag about sexual assault, or you’d read anything about him at all, then you thought, “Gee. Maybe we should give this reality TV show host and beauty pageant owner a chance to be president.” And that’s what we did!
But going into the voting booth eight years later, we knew everything there was to know about Trump. We’d seen him botch the pandemic, get impeached, steal documents, get convicted for fraud, deny the election results, and install a frat boy handmaiden Supreme Court that took away women’s rights and ensured rich people can do whatever they want, including buy elections. In 2024, we were definitely aware that he lies quite a bit. We knew all this about him, yet when he called Kamala Harris a DEI hire, it made you think, “Hmm. That accusation sure pushes my buttons.” And once those buttons are pushed, there’s nothing any one of us can really do except react without thinking too hard.
Anyway, I’ll probably spend the next four years explaining how she should have answered questions differently, like with forty-minute rants about sharks or Hannibal Lecter or Arnold Palmer’s penis, for example. Maybe Kamala should have explained the merits of Bidenomics better, or gone on Joe Rogan, or done one other thing that would have convinced me to vote for her over a climate denier who’s going to put a vaccine denier in charge of healthcare. Just so long as we can all agree that the fault was hers, and not tens of millions of American voters who willingly elected a man who said that immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country.
And who knows, if Trump gets what he wants and does what he said he would do, then maybe we won’t even need elections anymore. Certainly, the rich will get richer, and all that wealth is sure to trickle down to the rest of us, right? Or perhaps they’ll even take the vote away from women, just like so many in the Trump world want.
I just hope that if my daughters are paying attention to all this, they don’t reach the wrong conclusion and think that millions of people must secretly hate women. When they witness their country choose an erratic, indolent, and vindictive man who was found liable for sexual assault over an appealing, competent, and qualified woman, I hope they don’t lose all their faith. And when they learn that I voted for Donald Trump, I hope they won’t look at me with a devastated sense of betrayal. I hope they’ll understand that I had many good and logical reasons for not voting for Kamala Harris.
Although looking back all these hours later, it’s hard for me to remember why. But I’m sure it was something.
I've got cancer but it's probably (almost certainly, really) okay. Within a very short period I will no longer have cancer (at least for now). This is the best kind of cancer to have – the kind that is caught early and treated easily – but I've learned a few things on the way that I want to share with you.
Last spring, my wife put her arm around my waist and said, "Hey, what's this on your rib?" She's a lot more observant than I am, and honestly, when was the last time you palpated your back over your left floating rib? Sure enough, there was a lump there, a kind of squishy, fatty raised thing, half a centimeter wide and about four centimeters long.
I'm a 53 year old man with a family history of cancer. My father was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer at 55. So I called my doctor and asked for an appointment to have the lump checked over.
I'm signed up with Southern California Kaiser Permanente, which is as close as you come to the Canadian medicare system I grew up under and the NHS system I lived under for more than a decade. Broadly speaking, I really like KP. Its app – while terrible – isn't as terrible as the other apps, and they've taken very good care of me for both routine things like vaccinations and checkups, and serious stuff, like a double hip replacement.
Around the time of The Lump, I'd been assigned a new primary care physician – my old one retired – and so this was my first appointment with her. I used the KP app to book it, and I was offered appointments six weeks in the future. My new doc was busy! I booked the first slot.
This was my first mistake. I didn't need to wait to see my PCP to get my lump checked over. There was really only two things that my doc was gonna do, either prod it and say, "This is an extremely common whatchamacallit and you don't need to worry" or "You should go get this scanned by a radiologist." I didn't need a specific doctor to do this. I could have ridden my bike down to the KP-affiliated Urgent Care at our local Target store and gotten an immediate referral to radiology.
Six weeks go by, and my doc kind of rolls the weird lump between her fingers and says, "You'd better go see a radiologist." I called the Kaiser appointment line and booked it that day, and a couple weeks later I had a scan.
The next day, the app notified me that radiology report was available in my electronic heath record. It's mostly technical jargon ("Echogenic areas within mass suggest fatty component but atypical for a lipoma") but certain phrases leapt out at me: "malignant masses cannot be excluded. Follow up advised."
That I understood. I immediately left my doctor a note saying that I needed a biopsy referral and set back to wait. Two days went by. I left her a voice message. Another two days went by. I sent another email. Nothing, then a weekend, then more nothing.
I called Kaiser and asked to be switched to another Primary Care Physician. It was a totally painless and quick procedure and within an hour my new doc's intake staff had reviewed my chart, called me up, and referred me for a biopsy.
This was my second mistake. When my doctor didn't get back to me within a day, I should have called up KP and raised hell, demanding an immediate surgical referral.
What I did do was call Kaiser Member Services and file a grievance. I made it very clear that when I visited my doctor, I had been very happy with the care I received, but that she and her staff were clearly totally overloaded and needed some kind of administrative intervention so that their patients didn't end up in limbo.
This is a privilege. I'm a native English speaker, and although I was worried about a serious illness, I didn't have any serious symptoms. I had the ability and the stamina to force action in the system, and my doing so meant that other patients, not so well situated as I was, would not be stuck where I had been, with fewer resources to get un-stuck.
The surgeon who did the biopsy was great. He removed my mass. It was a gross lump of yellowy-red gunk in formaldehyde. He even let me photograph it before it went to pathology (warning, gross):
They told me that the pathology would take 2-5 days. I reloaded the "test results" tab in the KP website religiously after 48 hours. Nothing was updated. After five days, I called the surgical department (I had been given a direct number to reach them in case of postsurgical infections, and made a careful note of it).
It turned out that the pathology report had been in hand for three days at that point, but it was "preliminary" pending some DNA testing. Still, it was enough that the surgeon referred me to an oncologist.
This was my third mistake: I should have called after 48 hours and asked whether the pathology report was in hand, and if not, whether they could check with pathology. However, I did something very right this time: I got a phone number to reach the specialist directly, rather than going through the Kaiser main number.
My oncologist appointment was very reassuring. The oncologist explained the kind of cancer I had ("follicular lymphoma"), the initial prognosis (very positive, though it was weird that it manifested on my rib, so far from a lymph node) and what needed to happen next (a CT/PET scan). He also walked me through the best, worst and medium-cases for treatment, based on different scan outcomes. This was really good, as it helped me think through how I would manage upcoming events – book tours, a book deadline, work travel, our family Christmas vacation plans – based on these possibilities.
The oncologist gave me a number for Kaiser Nuclear Medicine. I called them from the parking lot before leaving the Kaiser hospital and left a message for the scheduler to call me back. Then I drove home.
This was my fourth mistake. The Kaiser hospital in LA is the main hub for Kaiser Southern California, and the Nuclear Medicine department was right there. I could have walked over and made an appointment in person.
Instead, I left messages daily for the next five days, waited a weekend, then called up my oncologist's staff and asked them to intervene. I also called Kaiser Member Services and filed an "urgent grievance" (just what it sounds like) and followed up by filing a complaint with the California Patient Advocate:
In both the complaint and the grievance, I made sure to note that the outgoing message at Nuclear Medicine scheduling was giving out false information (it said, "Sorry, all lines are busy," even at 2am!). Again, I was really careful to say that the action I was hoping for was both a prompt appointment for me (my oncologist had been very insistent upon this) but also that this was a very broken system that would be letting down every patient, not me, and it should be fixed.
Within a couple hours, I had a call back from KP grievances department, and an hour after that, I had an appointment for my scan. Unfortunately, that was three weeks away (so much for my oncologist's "immediate" order).
I had the scan last week, on Hallowe'en. It was really cool. The gadget was awesome, and the rad-techs were really experienced and glad to geek out with me about the way the scanner and the radioactive glucose they infused in me interacted. They even let me take pictures of the scan visualizations:
The radiology report was incredibly efficient. Within a matter of hours, I was poring over it. I had an appointment to see the doc on November 5, but I had been reading up on the scans and I was pretty sure the news was good ("No enlarged or FDG avid lymph nodes are noted within the neck, chest, abdomen, or pelvis. No findings of FDG avid splenic or bone marrow involvement").
There was just one area of concern: "Moderate FDG uptake associated with a round 1.3 cm left inguinal lymph node." The radiologist advised the oncologist to "consider correlation with tissue sampling."
Today was my oncology appointment. For entirely separate reasons, I was unable to travel to the hospital today: I wrenched my back over the weekend and yesterday morning, it was so bad that I couldn't even scratch my nose without triggering unbearable spams. After spending all day yesterday in the ER (after being lifted out of my house on a stretcher), getting MRIs and pain meds, I'm much better off, though still unable to get out of bed for more than a few minutes at a time.
So this morning at 8:30 sharp, I started calling the oncology department and appointment services to get that appointment changed over to a virtual visit. While I spent an hour trying various non-working phone numbers and unsuccessfully trying to get Kaiser appointment services to reach my oncologist, I tried to message him through the KP app. It turns out that because he is a visiting fellow and not staff, this wasn't possible.
I eventually got through to the oncology department and had the appointment switched over. The oncology nurse told me that they've been trying for months to get KP to fix the bug where fellows can't be messaged by patients. So as soon as I got off the phone with her, I called member services and filed another grievance. Why bother, if I'd gotten what I needed? Same logic as before: if you have the stamina and skills to demand a fix to a broken system, you have a duty to use them.
I got off the phone with my oncologist about an hour ago. It went fine. I'm going to get a needle biopsy on that one suss node. If it comes back positive, I'll get a few very local, very low-powered radiation therapy interventions, whose worst side effect will be "a mild sunburn over a very small area." If it's negative, we're done, but I'll get quarterly CT/PET scans to be on the safe side.
Before I got off the phone, I made sure to get the name of the department where the needle biopsy would be performed and a phone number. The order for the biopsy just posted to my health record, and now I'm redialing the department to book in that appointment (I'm not waiting around for them to call me).
While I redial, a few more lessons from my experience. First, who do you tell? I told my wife and my parents, because I didn't want to go through a multi-week period of serious anxiety all on my own. Here, too, I made a mistake: I neglected to ask them not to tell anyone else. The word spread a little before I put a lid on things. I wanted to keep the circle of people who knew this was going on small, until I knew what was what. There's no point in worrying other people, of course, and my own worry wasn't going to be helped by having to repeat, "Well, it looks pretty good, but we won't know until I've had a scan/my appointment/etc."
Next, how to manage the process: this is a complex, multi-stage process. It began with a physician appointment, then a radiologist, then a pathology report, then surgery, then another pathology report, then an oncologist, then a scan, then another radiologist, and finally, the oncologist again.
That's a lot of path-dependent, interdepartmental stuff, with a lot of ways that things can fall off the rails (when my dad had cancer at my age, there was a big gap in care when one hospital lost a fax from another hospital department and my folks assumed that if they hadn't heard back, everything was fine).
So I have been making extensive use of a suspense file, where I record what I'm waiting for, who is supposed to provide it, and when it is due. Though I had several places where my care continuity crumbled some, there would have been far more if I hadn't done this:
The title of this piece is "how to have cancer," but what it really boils down to is, "things I learned from my own cancer." As I've noted, I'm playing this one on the easiest setting: I have no symptoms, I speak and write English fluently, I am computer literate and reasonably capable of parsing medical/technical jargon. I have excellent insurance.
If any of these advantages hadn't been there, things would have been a lot harder. I'd have needed these lessons even more.
To recap them:
See a frontline care worker as soon as possible: don't wait for an appointment with a specific MD. Practically any health worker can prod a lump and refer you for further testing;
Get a direct phone number for every specialist you are referred to (add this to your phone book); call them immediately after the referral to get scheduled (better yet, walk over to their offices and schedule the appointment in person);
Get a timeframe as to when your results are due and when you can expect to get a follow-up; call the direct number as soon as the due-date comes (use calendar reminders for this);
If you can't get a call back, an appointment, or a test result in a reasonable amount of time (use a suspense file to track this), lodge a formal complaint with your insurer/facility, and consider filing with the state regulator;
Think hard about who you're going to tell, and when, and talk over your own wishes about who they can tell, and when.
As you might imagine, I've spent some time talking to my parents today as these welcome results have come in. My mother is (mostly) retired now, and she's doing a lot of volunteer work on end-of-life care. She recommends a book called Hope for the Best, Plan for the Rest: 7 Keys for Navigating a Life-Changing Diagnosis:
I haven't read it, but it looks like it's got excellent advice, especially for people who lack the self-advocacy capabilities and circumstances I'm privileged with. According to my mom, who uses it in workshops, there's a lot of emphasis on the role that families and friends can play in helping someone whose physical, mental and/or emotional health are compromised.
So, that's it. I've got cancer. No cancer is good. This cancer is better than most. I am almost certainly fine. Every medical professional I've dealt with, and all the administrative support staff at Kaiser, have been excellent. Even the doc who dropped the ball on my biopsy was really good to deal with – she was just clearly drowning in work. The problems I had are with the system, not the people. I'm profoundly grateful to all of them for the help they gave me, the interest and compassion they showed, and the clarity and respect they demonstrated in my dealings with them.
I'm also very grateful to my wife, my parents, and my boss at EFF, all of whom got the news early and demonstrated patience, love, and support that helped in my own dark hours over the past couple of months.
I hope you're well. But you know, everyone gets something, eventually. When you find yourself mired in a broken system full of good people, work the system – for yourself and for the people who come behind you. Take records. Make calls.
#5yrsago The Porch of Doom: a Halloween haunt that sends visitors to a billionaires’ Mars where they are expected to do all the dirty work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpfVhfty_4I
"Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com
"Attack Surface": The third Little Brother novel, a standalone technothriller for adults. The Washington Post called it "a political cyberthriller, vigorous, bold and savvy about the limits of revolution and resistance." Order signed, personalized copies from Dark Delicacies https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1840/Available_Now%3A_Attack_Surface.html
This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net.
Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution.
In brief: I hope you enjoyed the spell of slightly drier air overnight, because we’re already seeing dewpoints start to rise this morning. The front that pushed through on Tuesday will return this evening as a warm front. Another front arrives Friday night, bringing a decent chance of showers heading into the weekend.
Houston rainfall
We’ve made much of the emerging drought across the greater Houston region in recent weeks, with parts of the area reaching ‘severe’ drought levels after a very dry September and October, along with lots of sunshine and abnormally hot days to speed evaporation. So the prospect of rain to end October and start November was a refreshing one, even if it did lead to some minor flooding inconveniences on Houston roadways.
So how did we do? As the rain gauge map from the Harris County Flood Warning System shows, the vast majority of our region picked up between 1.5 and 4 inches of rainfall over the last week, with some locations in southwest Houston even seeing 6 to 8 inches. This was exactly the kind of rainfall the Houston area needed to pick up before the onset of winter to really help out our soils and foliage. We’ll get official information about the drought status on Thursday, but we’ve definitely improved our situation, especially with less rain needed during shorter days with a lower Sun angle.
Rainfall totals over the last seven days. (HCFWS)
Wednesday
We’re holding on to some dry air this morning, but dewpoints will begin to rise pretty quickly today. By this afternoon or evening, pretty much everyone is going to feel Houston humid once again. Skies will be sunny today, with a light northerly wind, and high temperatures in the upper 70s to 80 degrees. With the more humid air in place, low temperatures on Wednesday night will only fall to around 70 degrees in Houston.
Thursday and Friday
Rain chances return to the forecast on Wednesday night, and we’ll see something on the order of a 1-in-3 chance of light to moderate showers on both Thursday and Friday. Both days will be mostly cloudy, with humid air, and highs around 80 degrees or a touch warmer. So we’re going back to a pretty warm and humid pattern. Some modest change may arrive on Friday night, in the form of a weak front.
Rain accumulation forecast for now through Saturday night. (Weather Bell)
Saturday and Sunday
Our region’s weather for the weekend depends on the impacts of said front, which is likely to limp into the area on its last legs Friday night or Saturday. I expect this front to bring at least some scattered showers with it on Friday night into Saturday morning, and possibly some thunderstorms. Rain chances appear best before sunrise on Saturday, but showers could linger into the daytime hours. Highs on Saturday are likely to reach about 80 degrees, with slightly drier air, and lows Saturday night dropping into the 60s. Sunday again will be in the vicinity of 80 degrees, with a slight chance of showers. Lows on Sunday night will likely drop into the 60s, although it’s difficult to predict how far into the 60s.
Next week
Veterans Day should have fair weather, with sunny skies and highs around 80 degrees. There’s a slight chance of some daytime showers. Tuesday and Wednesday also look warm and fairly humid before the probable arrival of a stronger front on Wednesday or Thursday. The details are still uneven, but the signal for colder and drier air is becoming more convincing.
Track forecast for Hurricane Rafael. (National Hurricane Center)
Tropics
You may have noticed that Hurricane Rafael formed on Tuesday, and should move into the Gulf of Mexico today where it will continue trucking northwest toward the central Gulf. If this were August or September, we’d definitely be on high alert for some tropical activity. But my friends, this is November. And although this has been an extremely warm year for sea surface temperatures, the Gulf is nonetheless going to be pretty hostile to Rafael in terms of dry air and shear as we get toward the weekend.
Put more succinctly, we can expect Rafael to move northwest into the central Gulf of Mexico by Sunday. However, as it does so, it’s probably going to get chopped up by those hostile conditions I mentioned above. My sense is that Rafael eventually succumbs to these conditions and peters out in the Gulf before reaching land, but the bottom line for Texas is that we should have minimal concerns about the system at this time. We’ll of course alert you if that changes.
The county agency that oversees flood mitigation and response says maintenance of its channels and detention basins have been underfunded for more than two decades.
A Russian court has demanded Google pay $20 decillion—or 20 followed by 33 zeros—for restricting Russian state media channels on YouTube, a sum so unfathomably large that it dwarfs the size of the entire global economy. What do you think?
“Okay, but if anyone has more money than the world’s economy, it’s Google.”
Danny McBriarty, Map Folder
“I’d be surprised if they get more than one or two quintillion out of this.”
Stuart Faust, Box Sealer
“Unhinged rulings like this could seriously damage the reputation of the Russian justice system.”
PALM BEACH, FL—In a five-minute phone call that both campaigns described as largely cordial, President-elect Donald Trump reportedly called Vice President Kamala Harris Wednesday morning to congratulate himself on winning. “Madame Vice President, I want to be the first to congratulate myself on running one heck of a campaign, and to let you know I’m doing everything in my power to ensure the Trump administration has a smooth transition to the White House,” said Trump, telling an entirely silent Harris that it had been the honor of his life to have been in this race with himself, and extending his genuine gratitude for everything he had done to keep the race civil, even at its most heated. “I’ll tell you what, despite everything—I know it’s been a hard-fought race—but I’ve really always secretly admired myself. No, I’m serious here, I really am. Just believe me when I say this: Yesterday the better man won, which was me.” According to reports, Harris half-heartedly muttered, “Thank you, Donald,” before hanging up the phone.
WASHINGTON—Sinking deep into the blissful delusion that they were the “Chairman of the Board,” residents of the mentally broken nation reportedly began dressing and speaking like Frank Sinatra on Wednesday. In what appeared to be an increasingly bizarre coping mechanism, the deeply unwell Americans—regardless of their age, their cultural background, or what part of the country they lived in—were emulating the late crooner’s style by donning oversized pinstriped sharkskin suits, silk ties, and trilby hats, as well as carrying around a whiskey on the rocks. The troubled U.S. populace was also heard muttering “In llama land, there’s a one-man band, and he’ll toot his flute for you” and “Here comes Ol’ Blue Eyes, the Sultan of Swoon, the Voice” under their breath as they snapped their fingers. At press time, reports confirmed violence had broken out in the streets as the American people began tussling over a toupee.
You’ve seen the voting tendencies among standard demographic groups, but there is so much more to explore. For YouGov, David Montgomery has the breakdown for less standard groups.
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…
1. Manager is always scratching his chest inside his shirt
I am a recent transfer to my current office, 10 years with my company, and I have an issue with a manager. “Mark” wears his shirt with the top three buttons undone and he is rarely seen without his hand inside the shirt, scratching his chest. Am I wrong to be grossed out by this?
Mark is my direct manager, over my immediate supervisor. I have talked to my supervisor about my feelings and I was told that if I felt like this was a serious concern, I should take it up with HR.
What can I do? Short of reporting this to HR or trying to ignore him, which is hard to do since he will stand right in front of you and scratch his chest while he talks to you.
You’re not wrong to be grossed out; someone regularly having their hand inside their clothes is odd, and three unbuttoned buttons is more skin than you see in most offices.
That said, your supervisor is correct that unless you think it’s a big enough deal to take to HR (and I agree that it’s not), there’s nothing you can do about it. Mark’s scratching his chest; he’s not fondling his man parts or otherwise crossing glaring lines. The behavior is uncouth, but it’s not obscene.
At most, the next time he does it you could say, “Are you okay? You keep scratching yourself” — which could make him realize he’s doing something noticeable enough to be remarked on — but if that doesn’t work, then realistically you probably just need to accept the dude is a bit boorish (or very itchy).
2. Is it OK to drink non-alcoholic beer at work?
In your opinion, would it be okay for an employee to drink non-alcoholic beer in the office? Since it contains no alcohol, they wouldn’t be getting drunk and negatively impacting performance. But maybe it falls under the category of “not work appropriate.”
In most offices it would seem pretty weird. It’s an optics issue, not something strictly logical. Partly it’s that people won’t necessarily know it’s non-alcoholic at first glance; a lot of non-alcoholic beers look exactly like regular beer, and it’s not a great move to look like you’re swigging a beer at your desk, whether or not you actually are. Many people won’t stop to check and will just assume they’ve witnessed you drinking at work. But mainly it’s just going to come across as a weird choice in an office — like you’re trying too hard to be provocative, or not sensible enough to know that it will come across strangely, or just too invested in the choice in some way.
If you want to debate whether it should be okay to drink non-alcoholic beer at work, that’s a different question. But realistically, in most offices the optics are going to be bad.
3. My employee won’t take any time off for an injury
I work for a mid-sized city and was recently promoted to the division manager (leading eight staff overall). Our work group is tight and hardworking, and we are all super passionate about our work. As is often the case in the public sector, there is always more work that can be done.
One of my coworkers, Faye, has always worked long hours. She works late and nearly every weekend, and almost never takes time off. Even when she goes on vacation, she usually works part days throughout. She is extremely smart, dedicated, conscientious, and hardworking. Faye is now my direct report, but we worked for years as colleagues running parallel programs. I consider her a work friend, but she is older than me and we are figuring out what our new work relationship is.
When we were peers, how she took time off was none of my business. Now that I am her supervisor, I’m running into an issue because Faye is dealing with a really bad back injury. We are going into the third week of her working through extreme pain. She has been continuing to work through it from home, since she says it doesn’t make a difference if she’s working or not. She’s been working slightly fewer hours, but mostly just pushing through, working through pain and pain-induced insomnia.
I know it’s not appropriate to manage her time off, but I am starting to be concerned because I strongly believe in taking time away from work, unplugged, to heal and recuperate. I also don’t like the expectation it sets for the rest of the team. We get generous time off, with interchangeable vacation and sick time that rolls over into the next year. Faye has about 10 weeks of time saved up, in addition to access to paid medical leave through our state. Our workplace also has a donated leave program.
What is my role here? Is there anything I could/should do, beyond letting her know we can cover if she needs to take time off? I did encourage her to turn on her out-of-office message so she feels she can step away from email, which she did. And I’m covering any in-person duties (which are pretty minimal).
I agree with your philosophy about real time away, unplugged … but I also believe in letting adults make their own choices in that regard until and unless it’s affecting your team.
Reasons to tell Faye she needs to disconnect would be:
* if you’re seeing signs that other team members feel pressured to mirror her behavior
* if “working through pain and pain-induced insomnia” is affecting her work quality or output (hard to think it wouldn’t, but who knows)
* if you have reason to think she’s burning out
* if you need her at her well-rested best for something more important in the near future
* if her never being away means you have no chance to spot weak points or cross-training needs on your team (or fraud, for that matter — there’s a reason many financial jobs require people to fully disconnect for two weeks each year)
* if your sense is that she’s doing this because she truly feels there are no options to cover important work (in which case you’d need to work to find some)
I suspect at least a few of these are in play. But if they’re not, you can urge her to take real time off and emphasize that things will be covered in her absence, but otherwise should leave it to her to decide.
4. My manager won’t take any responsibility for us dropping a ball
Last week, my boss messaged me, “So, how’s project A going?” and I had no answer because I had done … nothing! This is a project that usually requires over a month of preparation and coordination between multiple teams at the company. However, I never knew it was my responsibility! I replied that I didn’t know it was my responsibility and I thought another team had it handled. He mentioned a meeting we had with the other team a few months ago where we had apparently agreed to handle the entire thing. But it didn’t come up in any documentation, meeting notes, my monthly goals, our yearly goals, and he hadn’t checked in until today, a week before the project was supposed to be completed!
In my work life (eight years) and under this manager (1.5 years), this has never happened to me before, and certainly not on an assignment that requires so much preparation. I have always gotten really good feedback on my ability to juggle multiple projects, prioritize, and communicate effectively, so this really rocked me. I feel like my manager dropped the ball on this, but he refuses to take any responsibility for it.
I did work like crazy to get everything figured out in less than one week so we are still on schedule, but it was one of the worst weeks I have ever had at work. We had a follow-up conversation where I mentioned the lack of communication or documentation, but he seemed completely nonplussed at the situation (and definitely not apologetic). I apologized for any miscommunication and really tried to give him the benefit of the doubt … but I can’t help feeling that I shouldered the entire situation and he has walked away oblivious to how big of a problem it was. How do I get across to him how much this affected me? And how do I prevent this kind of thing in the future?
If he’s normally a good manager who communicates well, one option is to leave it where it is now, since you’ve already had a follow-up conversation where you mentioned your concerns. I see why you’re thrown by his response to that (or lack of response, really) but if it’s not part of a pattern, you could just figure it’s been addressed, you see it differently for whatever reason, and it’s now settled enough — as long as it doesn’t keep happening.
But the other option is to go back and say something like, “I know we talked about it a bit, but I’m pretty rattled that I was unaware of such a major project for so long, and I hoped we could figure out where we miscommunicated so I can make sure it doesn’t happen again. If your sense is that I dropped the ball somewhere, can we dig into what happened so I’m better prepared next time? Or if your sense is that something else caused it, can we figure that out too?” There is a danger here that if your boss feels it’s already been discussed and handled, it could be annoying to reopen it, so you should factor in your sense of that, and also how open he’s historically been to acknowledging when he has messed up. If he’s not one to admit fault, there may be no point in revisiting it — not because he doesn’t necessarily need to hear it, but because in that case his previous non-response is probably as good as it’s going to get.
Also: he mentioned a meeting you were a few months ago where your team agreed to handle the project. Unless you have reason to doubt that’s correct, one takeaway might be that you need to be more proactive about following up with your boss on those types of commitments yourself, rather than assuming he’ll check in with you about them.
5. Submitting a reference from a job not listed on your resume (because you were fired from it)
My partner, Linda, was recently fired without cause after a month at a new job. She was still within her probationary period, the job was not a good fit, and the training was extremely lacking, which is why her performance suffered.
At this job, Linda worked closely with Tracy. Tracy was in a tenured position but not in Linda’s chain of command. Tracy was very pleased with Linda’s performance and was definitely one of her cheerleaders during her time there. Now that Linda is back in job-search mode, Tracy reached out and offered to be a reference.
However, Linda was only at this job for a month and, due to the nature of her departure, she is not including this position on her resume. Is it appropriate for her to list Tracy as a reference? If so, how would she note that Tracy is a reference from a job not listed, and with such a short length of employment? I’m concerned that a hiring manager will see yellow flags at best if Linda includes Tracy as a reference. Linda has other options for references, but they are from a position that ended in June.
I wouldn’t use Tracy as a reference, unfortunately. It’s more likely to cause concerns than it is to strengthen her candidacy (because of the firing, but also because one month of working with someone generally isn’t enough to produce sufficiently strong and nuanced feedback to outweigh the firing, or even to count for all that much on its own).
The exception would be if Tracy is personally connected to someone Linda is applying with; in that case, it could change that calculus (in part because Tracy would be able to talk more candidly about what happened and her assessment of Linda would carry additional weight).
After Sheila Jackson Lee died of pancreatic cancer in July, her seat was left vacant for the remainder of her term, which ends in January. Her daughter Erica Lee Carter will finish it out. Jackson Lee had also won a primary race for re-election. Former Mayor Sylvester Turner will serve that term.
Tropical Storm Rafael is likely to become a hurricane soon.
It is moving through the Cayman Islands and will approach Cuba tomorrow with hurricane conditions there.
The Florida Keys will experience tropical storm conditions tomorrow and tomorrow night as Rafael passes comfortably west.
Heavy rain will spread into portions of Southeast Georgia and South Carolina leading to localized flooding.
Rafael is expected to weaken significantly as it approaches the U.S. Gulf Coast and no significant impacts are currently expected.
(NOAA/NHC)
Rafael to impact Cuba and the Caymans, then the U.S., sort of
Tropical Storm Rafael is on the cusp of hurricane intensity this evening as it bears down on the Cayman Islands. A look at the storm on satellite shows a lopsided but otherwise tidy storm that is clearly on the upswing.
Rafael is likely to become a hurricane tonight as it passes through the Caymans en route to Cuba. (Weathernerds.org)
I would anticipate that Rafael becomes a hurricane tonight as it tracks toward Cuba. While further strengthening is likely, the good news today is that models are in decent agreement on there being a functional ceiling for Rafael, probably up around category 2 intensity. That certainly is not meant to minimize the potential impacts to the Caymans and Cuba, but it would be nice to have a storm not do a worst-case scenario thing again. Either way, hurricane conditions are likely tonight for the Cayman Islands, while conditions will deteriorate in Cuba. Heavy rain will continue a bit longer in Jamaica as well before Rafael maneuvers into the Gulf tomorrow night.
Flash flooding is a good bet for the higher terrain of Jamaica, as well as potential mudslides. Same for the higher terrain of western Cuba. (NOAA WPC)
Rain totals could exceed 8 inches in spots, particularly the higher terrain of western Cuba. This should produce flash flooding and the potential for mudslides.
Rafael should peak in intensity either before it feels some impacts from Cuban terrain or not long after it moves back into the Gulf of Mexico. From that point on, the combination of dry air and wind shear should begin to enact a weakening trend on Rafael.
Rafael should peak in intensity around hours 48-60 in the southern Gulf and then begin a steady weakening trend before it gets to any further land engagements. (Tomer Burg)
You can see how most tropical and operational model guidance supports this weakening trend outcome. From this point of view, I don’t believe that this will deliver any serious impacts to the United States Gulf Coast, but it still is worth watching. The track is less confident, with a wide possibility of options but a weak majority favoring a general path toward Louisiana.
High confidence in Rafael’s forecast track exists until it gets to about 25°N latitude. From there, it will take a somewhat circuitous route whilst undergoing its demise. (Tomer Burg)
Whatever happens here should not matter much, and in fact it’s even possible that a weaker Rafael meanders in the Gulf until just getting absorbed into a cold front next week. The official NHC forecast has Rafael as a weak tropical storm once near Louisiana.
The moisture out in front of Rafael is another story though. The Florida Keys will see tropical storm conditions likely on the heavier weighted east side of the storm as it passes Cuba. A few tornadoes are possible there as well.
(NWS Key West)
Moisture will link up with a trough on the East Coast as well, spreading heavy rain up into Georgia and South Carolina, again south of areas severely impacted by Helene earlier this season.
Heavy rain will move into Georgia and South Carolina tomorrow, leading to localized areas of flash flooding. (Pivotal Weather)
Rain totals will be on the order of 3 to 6 inches between Macon, Savannah, Charleston, and Columbia. This won’t cause catastrophic flooding, but it may lead to localized flash flooding in spots. Conditions should improve on Thursday.
Beyond Rafael, there is a slow increase in odds that something may form north of the islands this weekend or next week. For now, I wouldn’t worry a ton about this, but we’ll look at it closer in a day or two if development odds keep increasing.
