I’ll grapple with it until I can wrap my head around it

Lake Superior State University has issued its annual list of words that should be banished for “Mis-use, Over-use, and General Uselessness.” This is their 44th annual list. A few of the words in this year’s list:

Yeet – a word I hadn’t heard. Maybe it’s a Lake Superior thing. It means to vigorously throw or toss. Banished before I have a chance to use it.

Wheelhouse, as in “It’s not in my wheelhouse to …” But most people have never seen a wheelhouse.

Wrap my head around – a physical impossibility.

Grapple – wrestlers grapple, issues don’t.

Eschew – nobody actually says it. It’s just a written filler.

Thought leader – thoughts aren’t ranked or scored. How can someone hold a thought-lead?

Most important election of our time – a phrase that has been applied to the last seven elections.



Senators and representatives display flags outside their offices. There is the American flag and the state flag. There is also room for one more.

New Representative Jennifer Wexton, Democrat from Virginia, chose as her third flag the pink, blue, and white trans pride flag. She chose it because she is the aunt of a trans child and Danica Roem, a transgender member of the Virginia House of Delegates, is one of Wexton’s constituents. Said Wexton:

This is personal for me. We're talking about my family and friends. I want everyone in the trans community to know that they are welcome and loved even in the face of this administration and its attacks on who they are.

Jeremy Moss, the first openly gay member of the Michigan Senate, has been selected as the Assistant Minority Leader.



New Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer has been issuing a series of executive orders defining how her administration will act. In the top ten is an order to protect LGBT state employees and to also require recipients of state contracts, grants, and loans to also protect their LGBT employees. In addition, the order also prohibits discrimination in state services.