When May Makes You Mad

It is May, and I am so MAD.

I’m driving all over the place, checking off the approximately 567,328 tasks I need to complete, and filling my car up with gas that is now 50% more expensive than it was two months ago.

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week, and tomorrow is the designated “bring in a much-needed school supply for your teacher” day (because nothing says ‘Thank you’ like some dry-erase markers, amiright?)

Meanwhile, I saw that the United States Senate has allocated $1 billion in its DHS funding bill to provide security upgrades for the president’s ballroom.

$1 BILLION.

Schools are literally begging parents to donate school supplies for Teacher Appreciation Week, and our government wants to use OUR TAX DOLLARS for a G-D BALLROOM.

Let’s not forget that it’s also Nurse Appreciation Week (God forbid nurses and teachers get their own weeks!), and babies are dying of vitamin K deficiency bleeding because their parents are being scared into dOiNg ThEir OwN rEsEaRcH, measles cases have reached their highest levels in 30 years, and graduate nursing programs were removed from the list of “professional” degrees that qualify for higher federal loans.

Oh—*checks list again*—graduate education degrees have also been removed from the list. But YAY for teachers and nurses! Let’s give them all a $10 Starbucks gift card and a mug and send them on their way!

This Sunday is Mother’s Day. This government doesn’t a flying f*ck about mothers. If it did, it wouldn’t have passed a bill that includes massive cuts to Medicaid, which threatens to leave millions of mothers and children without insurance. The administration has withheld Title X family planning funding, leading to the closure of hundreds of clinics and reducing access to birth control, cancer screenings, and STI testing. Maternal health care, especially for black women, is abysmal. Childcare costs have reached record highs. Not to mention, tariffs have made baby products, including strollers, cribs, and other necessary accessories, more expensive. And in case you haven’t noticed, the cost of groceries is astronomical (but no SNAP for you!!!) So go on, have more babies, moms! We need to repopulate the country!

Ironically, May is also Mental Health Awareness Month. The administration initially tried to cut $2 billion in mental health and addiction programs, which triggered a backlash so severe they begrudgingly had to restore the grants. Cuts to the VA have made it harder for veterans to receive mental health services, and services for the LGBTQ+ community have been slashed or defunded. Meanwhile, Medicaid is the single largest payer for mental health and substance use services in the United States, but hey, we can cut that because the HHS Secretary is starting a new ad campaign to get people off antidepressants!

Finally, we have Memorial Day. We remember all those brave souls who have given their lives for this country, including the six who died in Kuwait in March because they were manning a poorly-fortified “makeshift” command post that didn’t have adequate protection against drone strikes during a pointless war in the Middle East we started with no clear strategy or end goal. Survivors said the unit was unprepared to defend itself, despite the fact that senior defense officials were well aware of the risks to their safety.

It’s May, and I’m losing my damn mind.

Because even though absolutely none of this is normal, we’re supposed to just carry on like everything is fine and dandy.

We’re hemorrhaging money on gas and groceries and utilities and childcare and health insurance and apparently BALLROOMS, while we’re still shuttling kids to sports, and planning graduation festivities, and sitting through end-of-the-year concerts, and remembering to send a card to our mothers-in-law, and making dinner, and hosting birthday parties, and chaperoning field trips, and doing laundry.

And I, for one, am MAD about all of it.

If you voted for this administration, I don’t want your lip service to teachers, nurses, or moms this month.

I don’t want to see a semi-colon on your social media profile.

I don’t want to hear one damn word about the sacrifice of our fallen soldiers.

You can’t claim to support any of these people, causes, or initiatives because the government you voted for is actively trying to undermine, restrict, defund, or leave them out to dry.

I guess you could say I’m pretty f*cking mad about it.