Author | Lightnews

Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC

@lauritadianita.bsky.social

1.5K followers 850 following 2.8K posts

I ✍️ about AK politics, health equity, feminism, advocacy 4 kids, documentary films, 🎨, 🎶, 🥘,🌱 , ADHD, synesthesia. Social worker, public health professional, & lactation counselor raising Alaskan-🇨🇴 kids on Dena’ina ełnena. www.lauranortoncruzconsulting.com

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Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 9h

And my mom explained it to me too back in the early 90’s. Always medically accurate, non-sensational. I’ve proactively taught my kids but mostly it just comes up. My younger kid has asked multiple times “How can someone make sure they DON’T get pregnant?” And I explain sex, IUC, IVF, multiple ways.

Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 10h

Of course. I’ve been sprinkling it in for my kids’ whole lives as was appropriate 4 their development & based on their curiosity & based on whatever happened to come up in conversation. So it’s not 1 talk but many - & 📚. 1st the general idea of sperm, egg, uterus, & birth. Eventually how they meet.

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Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 12h

We can all do our part with mutual aid & handing out real food to trick or treaters, and food banks will do their best, and NONE of that is enough to replace a functioning government nutrition program & functioning laws to require living wages & affordable housing & price control.

A few bags I got together this morning from my pantry and freezers & homemade jarred stuff for a neighbor mom of 2 losing SNAP in the shutdown. Pictured is one of pasta, jarred smoked salmon, protein shakes, rice noodles, homemade applesauce, etc. and another bag of frozen salmon & halibut & homemade fish patties & frozen vegetables & homemade apple juice. Not pictured here a few pounds of rice and a bag of flour and a snowsuit too. Thank goodness for Buy Nothing groups that help us find neighbors who need help.

A large bag of mandarins and a box of fruit leather. Treats for trick or treaters this year (actually, every year I give out stuff like this, much to my kids’ chagrin, but it’s especially important this year).

Treats to give to trick or treaters this year. 2 Costco boxes of Top Ramen

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Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 12h

As a white woman w/ friendships x many racial groups, I agree that white women seem less likely to engage in the kind of solidarity,warmth & showing up that knits people together. The ones who DO it in my experience are the ones in more diverse social circles & committed to feminism & anti-racism.

Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 14h

Before I was born, my parents went 🚗 shopping & the salesman accidentally called the defogger the defrogger. It became part of the family lexicon & the story family lore, so whenever I talk about the defroster, I imagine the salesman stumbling over his words & I imagine little 🐸s breathing on 🚗.

Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you, that story is delightful and this whole thread made me laugh cry.

Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 1d

I think this is going to stick in my brain now. (Also, 👋🏻 AlaskaSky)

Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 1d

But with military pay 😬…https://bsky.app/profile/gxldsociety.bsky.social/post/3m45ohcstzk2c

Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 1d

Problem is, anyone who would say such a thing probably believes that demons and devils are *very* real. And are somehow worse than Nazis, which is the part that’s harder to grasp…

Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 1d

🤦🏻‍♀️this is so embarrassing

Reposted by Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC

Ivan Hodes @chugachmtnblues.bsky.social · 1d

Strange that there aren’t any billionaire Trump fans volunteering to pay for people’s SNAP benefits

Reuters @reuters.com · 2d

US Department of Agriculture says no food aid benefits will be issued next month reut.rs/3WohHMk

US Department of Agriculture says no food aid benefits will be issued next month

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Saturday that food benefits under one of the country's biggest social assistance programs will not be issued next month amid the ongoing federal government shutdown.

reut.rs

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Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 1d

2/2: I love Jeron's writing, voice, exploration of emotions & sensations & relationship. I hope publications seek this beautiful artist out to write & provide compensation. These are the voices we need. Heartfelt, personal, up-close, with lived experience. So moving. www.kyuk.org/arts-culture...

'A whole new concrete jungle': A typhoon evacuee lands in urban Alaska

Jeron Joseph, an evacuee from Kwigillingok, shares an account of adjusting to displacement in Anchorage.

www.kyuk.org

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Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 1d

1/2: This is a beautifully-told story in 2 parts by a musician/composer named Jeron Joseph from Kwingillingok. The events of Typhoon Halong & climate disaster that brought Jeron's voice to a larger audience are devastating, but I am so glad this writing is out here now. www.kyuk.org/arts-culture...

An ‘orchestra from Hell’: A firsthand account of the Halong flood

Jeron Joseph, a survivor from Kwigillingok, tells his story.

www.kyuk.org

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Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you for this QT because I definitely want to follow more artists with analysis like that!

And also, yes to your and her take on that.

Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 2d

Also, I should be clear: in situations of racism, I expect white men to confront other white men & expect white & lighter-skinned & 🇺🇸 citizen men to confront ICE. I do understand that men of color & particularly Black men face different threats than I face, particularly around assumption of guilt.

Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 2d

It’s just not fair that more of it falls on us. Men need to develop & act on their conscience too.

I will step in, but if I get injured, who’s around to take care of my kids? That’s what I mean about the cost is often higher — & if we’re smaller then the likelihood of injury is greater anyway.

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Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 2d

I’ve found myself in similar situations where I, a 5’2” woman, am braver than the men around me in confronting threats. The research supports this, bc women are more likely to be active bystanders preventing harm than men are. The bro club pact far too often > the self-assigned role of “protector.”

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Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 2d

Look, I know women are brave & badass & I applaud the women up front getting that Nazi out, just like the woman in NYC in her work clothes standing in front of ICE vehicles.

But CAN MORE MEN PLEASE STEP UP?!

I know some are but it’s not proportionate, esp given how much more we have to lose.

LorennaCleary.bsky.social @lorennacleary.bsky.social · 2d

A closer view of this asshole and the assault.

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Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 2d

This made me laugh and I had to send it to my sister bc we had a lot of back and forth about the CR report and the pushback by various nutrition science people.

Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 2d

I love Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. Thank you. Language matters. Language shapes dehumanizing practice and policy.

LorennaCleary.bsky.social @lorennacleary.bsky.social · 3d

Thank you, Chicago.

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Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 2d

Lots of typos I’m realizing. I was voice contacting and then sort of editing with one hand while getting kids out the door 🫠

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Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 2d

Here you go! It’s a little vague, haha, but I don’t remember more details. I just go by sight and feel.

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Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 2d

I’m trying to be own little counter-balance, so in addition to big gloomy posts, here are some things I’ve cooked recently that turned out well if you’re looking for food inspo.

Oaxacan-style chilaquiles de frijol negro, Persian kuku w/ the last of the garden herbs, halibut cheek tacos, arroz rojo

Weekend breakfast photographed on a blue plate held above my houseplants. A fried egg sits on top of brown stuff with spots of green and red sauces on it.

This is:
Chilaquiles de frijol negro al estilo Oaxaqueño, with non-spicy salsa verde (I made it with only boiled tomatillos, garlic, onion, and cilantro -- no chiles) and very spicy salsa roja (that I made with chiles de arbol).

The black beans I cook with epazote and a chile pasilla plus garlic and onions, then I blend them with more (raw) onion and garlic plus a toasted avocado leaf and plenty of bean broth before frying that blended mixture. I learned to make this in 2002 in Oaxaca and haven't seen it outside of that region.

Persian kuku I made with the last of the garden herbs, Australian goat cheese, and barberries. It’s photographed here in low light from above, still in the cake dish I cooked it in lined with parchment paper.

One of my best meals of the year, BY FAR. Halibut cheeks (from Rio's bday fishing trip in Kachemak Bay) in a delicious carne asada marinade I made on tostadas with radishes from the garden.

It’s photographed from above on a blue plate with a line next to it. The halibut cheeks are nicely charred and the radishes are funny looking

A pan photographed on the stove from the side with the lid partially on.

I made Mexican arroz rojo from scratch but used brown rice. It took 3x as long as I expected but came out delicious.

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Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 3d

Yeah, that makes it hard to prioritize or feel good about. Especially if it wants to replace Meta products, then it has to ALSO (in addition to bad news), encourage and reward people sharing funny stories or pictures of their food or pets and their art and their progress or whatever else.

Laura Norton-Cruz, LMSW, CLC @lauritadianita.bsky.social · 3d

Given our governor’s trouble with fiscal transparency, I wouldn’t count on him to be closely watching and reporting 🫠.