Dr. Rachel Levine was announced to be a pick for HHS deputy secretary, and I’m happy because now it seems very clear to me that Biden is choosing really talented people. Dr. Levine is from my state and is the current Director of Health. I thought i wrote a post about her previously, but maybe I didn’t. She’s transgender and will attract a lot of controversy, which is too bad, because she’s an excellent pick.

I watched Covid briefings where she answered question after question from reporters — who soon stopped talking because they were avidly listening — and the difference was profound between her briefings and the national ones from the White House. We actually heard information corrected & clarified, and information on what to expect next. And it was all WITHOUT the hesitating, fumbling and trying to cover up that we kept hearing daily from White House people (other than Dr. Fauci). She’s a wonderful public doctor.

After the first press conference I saw her in, I jumped and wondered, “Oh! Who’s this with the wild hair?” Afterwards I suddenly wanted to send her a necklace as a present. She wears these long pendants.

Speaking of unusual gender situations, I started watching the show Outlander on Netflix. What interested me was that it’s partly time travel… and then when it started, it seemed more like a historical romance. It’s both.

The writer & producer is Ronald Moore, who produced Battlestar Galactica, my all-time favorite show. The thing that is similar between the 2 shows is that he writes unusual plots that involve surprising gender roles. The main character of Outlander is an enormously assertive woman from 1948 — she is constantly telling people what to do and how to do it, which makes her a really good wartime nurse but difficult to deal with on a personal level. In fact I now am tired of how much of a jerk she is, at times. The man she meets in the past (1740s) and becomes involved with is a very masculine guy, but still I think I’d call him a betamale.

Bad things that happen to him make him shut down and react in ways that many women could absolutely relate to. And he’s furious at the woman, for not understanding how this has affected him. The writing for this part is insightful. I don’t want to spell out what occurs in case you watch it. Ronald Moore is pretty good at this. Battlestar Galactica also had some of strongest female characters I’ve seen, which I loved about it.

Coincidentally, I’d been looking at sewing patterns online, including costume patterns because I was trying to find a very specific type of dropped shoulder in a top. I ran across a historical costume pattern that said it was an “Outlander” pattern. I didn’t know what that meant, until I found the show online. It was interesting, they also had a dress pattern exactly like Sansa’s 1st wedding dress from Game of Thrones. I wish they’d put as much effort into patterns for regular clothes.


The Sansa Dress. just take off the sleeves.