This is Hurricane Laura.

It is a Category 4, meaning it is one shy of the strongest — a 5. It is 400 miles across. It will hit land around midnight around the border of LA and TX. Lake Charles will perhaps be the first bigger town to be hit. That’s where my husband works. His office may not be there tomorrow.

This storm is so bad that it will be a Cat 1 or a tropical storm when it gets to Shreveport. A lot of people I love live there — it’s my hometown. As far as I know, this is unprecedented. Haven’t we had enough unprecedented crap this year?

Pray for Louisiana, Texas, and the states in its path.

Houston is close enough to the Gulf Coast to be highly inpacted by hurricanes, as it was three years ago with Hurricane Harvey.

This is Laura.

This is where I live.

Yikes.

There is a hurricane that’s about to enter the Gulf, which I’m used to. I’ve lived in the Gulf Coast for almost 16 years and my first hurricane was Katrina, so I’ve been to this rodeo. But instead of talking about hurricanes, I’m going to tell you why my current town, Houston, is great.

We have Supernova Furniture. And they make commercials like this:

There are two hurricanes heading for my state, so this Cleo Wade poem stuck out to me today, but wow — she is one great poet.

Today is one of my favorites, Dorothy Parker’s birthday Dorothy Parker was a writer (theater reviewer for Vanity Fair, essayist, poet, author of short fiction as well as screenplays from the 1920s-1950s. She wrote the screenplay for the original A Star is Born, which has been adapted 492 times. She was amazing. Her witticisms are timeless. And for that, I give you my favorite DP quotes. Not to mention, ”men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses.” Bet you didn’t know that was hers.

”This wasn’t just plain terrible, this was fancy terrible. It was terrible with raisins in it.”

”There’s a hell of a distance between wise-cracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply calisthenics with words.”

”Now I know the things I know, and I do the things I do; and if you do not like me so, to hell, my love, with you!”Why is it no one sent me yet one perfect limousine, do you suppose? Ah no, it’s always just my luck to get one perfect rose.

“Why is it no one sent me yet one perfect limousine, do you suppose? Ah no, it’s always just my luck to get one perfect rose.”

“Once, when I was young and true. Someone left me sad – Broke my brittle heart in two; And that is very bad. Love is for unlucky folk, Love is but a curse. Once there was a heart I broke; And that, I think, is worse.”

“Friends come and go but I wouldn’t have thought you’d be one of them.”

“Hold your pen and spare your voice.”

“If I don’t drive around the park, I’m pretty sure to make my mark. If I’m in bed each night by ten, I may get back my looks again, If I abstain from fun and such, I’ll probably amount to much. But I shall stay the way I am Because I do not give a damn.”

Omg, please swerve, Mr. Tropical Depression (possibly Tropical Storm of Hurrican Marco). We didn’t do anything to you. Just turn around, even stop, collaborate, and listen — chill out there in the Gulf. We don’t need anything else. Seriously, we can only take so many shit storms at a time.

One hundred years this week, the 19th Amendment was ratified, giving women the right to vote. I mainly copied these items from Facebook because they did the work for me.

100 years ago today, American women won the right to vote. It took even longer for women in marginalized communities to gain their right to vote. A century later, there’s still work left to do. So ladies, here are 19 reasons to exercise your 19th Amendment right to vote this year. Register now at the Voting Information Center.

#1 Women are 51% of the US population, but just 23% of Congress.

#2 And only 18% of local governors.

#3 There’s a luxury tax on tampons.

#4 Maternity leave is not guaranteed in America.

#5 Better access to reproductive healthcare.

#6 The gender wage gap.

#7 The gender hiring gap.

#8 The strong female characters in film gap.

#9 Pink razors cost more.

#10 A quarter million untested rape kits.

#11 The less than 8% of female CEOs.

#12 Sexism isn’t dead yet.

#13 Not everyone believes assault is a fireable offense.

#14 Not everyone believes your sworn testimony.

#15 Not everyone believes you’re a woman.

#16 For the Suffragettes.

#17 For the women of color who still couldn’t vote till decades later.

#18 For the women who paved the way for you.

#19 And the women you’re paving the way for.

I snapped a pic of these yesterday at CVS. At one point, I had an M&M’s addiction during a period of major depression, but now I only enjoy them once in a while as a treat. Take it from me, they were emotional support candy.

@Mikes_ed hits it on the nail again.

Colbert’s people are the best. I was not expecting some of those faces.