Some asshat from NASA called me Joe’s “PR girl” at the rocket launch today, and I’ve spent the day trying to talk myself down from quitting rocketry forever.

I’m 25, I’ve been dealing with this shit for over a decade in STEM, and it STILL gets to me sometimes.

A thread 👇 I maybe sound dramatic to you if you haven’t been in my shoes, but this is the kind of bullshit that makes girls quit STEM.

Reminder, I am a degreed engineer whos gotten that comment thousands of times, and it STILL triggered me into a spiral of “well f*ck, I don’t belong here”

I'm seeing a ton of jokes about learning to fly but being broke on twitter today and I can't tell if they're serious but if they are LET ME TELL YOU A STORY.

It took me 11 years to save up and get my PPL. I started working illegally in the food industry at 13, and never stopped. I've known this is what I wanted to do for as long as I remember. When I was ~10ish I took my first flight through the @EAA Young Eagles program where kids get a free flight, and that totally sealed the deal.

Ya guys. Showed up at the airport to get checked out in a C172 this morning (I trained on C152s) only to be told the owner saw my post about sexual harassment/carbon monoxide and is trying to ground me for "writing a bad review" and that the CFI was instructed not to fly with me

https://twitter.com/XylaFoxlin/status/1308953281549524992

I wrote about my honest experiences on my own personal social media and didn't even name the school.

I had screenshots of inappropriate behavior. My CFI showed them to the owner. I reported the carbon monoxide directly to him and he told me "nah you're imagining it sweetie".

I did the thing. Finally. Today, after 11 years of obsessively saving money, 9 instructors, 5 plane swaps, 4 rescheduled checkrides, 2 sexual harassment reports, and 1 plane trying to kill me with carbon monoxide... IM FINALLY A LICENSED PILOT #aviatrix (moral of the story. When you finally save up the $$, spend the extra $10/hr for a flight school that isn't sketchy as all hell, can retain instructors for more than a month, and has CO detectors in the aircraft)

It's that time of year. I am now accepting applications for @BeautyandBolt's 2021 Princesses with Power Tools calendar! This was a HUGE success last year and I can't WAIT to see what this year brings.

If you're a woman in STEM or the trades APPLY HERE: forms.gle/SNErEtGFhy3eS8… PSSSSST. Paging @astronaia @ravenscimaven @TheSpaceGal @Afro_Herper @RealSexyCyborg @starstrickenSF @SeeSydSoar @AlexDainis @jessphoenix2018 & SO MANY MORE <3

When the Cuyahoga River caught on fire for the 9th (possibly 13th) time in 1969, @TIME magazine published this striking image and called attention to the effects of the industrial revolution on our climate. This sparked nation outrage and in 1970 EPA was established. By 1972, the Clean Water Act was signed into law, and thus began the long (and still in progress) journey of revitalizing our nation's waterways.

So @AnyTechnology sent me a very inconspicuous care package because he's an amazing friend and hooman bean...

.....but opening to find this should have been a warning Anyway we were chatting one day and I was complaining about dudes who try to cop a feel at salsa dance socials and how I wanted stun gun booty shorts to shock them away

AND HE MADE THEM FOR ME AND I LOVE THEM

🔥MOVING SALE!🔥 BURNING RIVER TABLE. Make an offer. Located in Cleveland! Sold as is, it's got some flaws. I made it last summer in honor of 50 years of the Cuyahoga River not catching fire (though it recently did again because it's 2020)

Build video: Please help me get rid of it it's currently taking up space in a unit I have to be out of asap.

(The laser engraving is of headlines at the time sparking national outrage regarding pollution that eventually led to the EPA)

Learned my lesson last night with the freighters and just decided to completely dock tonight for this C H O N K Y B O I It's pretty cool watching them get tugged along though, not gonna lie. This one was a CEMENT SHIP!

🧵:Went for an evening paddle tonight with my friend (who recently finished building his skin on frame kayak!)

We paddle by a couple guys who yell "Hey nice canoe! Did you make it?"

To which I get to respond "Yeah I did!"

And then they start cussing me out "Like hell, liar!" "No you didn't. Your boyfriend made that for you. Your BOYFRIEND MADE THAT FOR YOU!!"

I laughed and was like "actually no, I made it."

"Nahhh no you didn't"

My friend pipes up and goes "Yeah she did, we both built our own boats. We are BOTH boatbuilders."

I've been struggling with how to tweet this or tell this story but the TL;DR is that my dream until high school was to be a fighter pilot and I DISTINCTLY remember the moment I realized I wouldnt and it has everything to do with what's happening to the women in our military. (1/) My apush teacher pulled up cspan for something and some headline or title bar or something caught my eye so I looked it up when I got home

Basically a woman in the air force was raped by her commanding officer and lost the case because she was wearing mascara that day

Help me pick a canoe video thumbnail! 1, 2, or 3? 🛶

Want to own something I made? DONATE OR SIGN A PETITION! I made 2 prints, one will go to the highest BLM donation and the other will get raffled amongst everyone else.

I've donated the money I can, but I still have some maker-skillz to offer. THREAD👇🏾👇🏿👇🏼👇🏽 Drop a receipt of your donation or screenshots of 3 petitions you signed:

blacklivesmatters.carrd.co

I fucking love rockets. Let me be clear. I love science and space and engineering and I've woken up at all hours to watch random launches over the years.

But I didn't watch yesterday's launch live, I couldn't. I was here, peacefully protesting the unlawful death of #GeorgeFloyd

https://twitter.com/andrew_mason1/status/1267136662557122565

Because it's honestly not the time to be celebrating an American launch for the 1st time in 9 years when our black brothers and sisters have been getting murdered for so much longer than that.

I built my career and got my education in a city practically built on racial disparity

Civil engs are the butt of a lot of eng-school jokes (like violas in orchestras) but it's worth pointing out that having all your vectors add up to 0 is REALLY DIFFICULT in real life.

I joked in my video about sleeping through statics, but this taught me maybe I shouldn't've (icymi: )

Ever shut down a company that made internet hugs 2 years before a global pandemic?

Womp womp

https://twitter.com/DigitalTrends/status/851982463865942018

In all seriousness, I'm glad I'm not running Parihug anymore. I just felt like I should say something since people keep talking about Parihug lately

Hey wooden canoe lovers, we've got this 17 ft beauty for sale in Vermont, asking $1500. She's brilliantly fast and is the canoe I grew up paddling with my aunt and uncle. ~65 lbs.

More pictures in thread (including some of 8yo me with my badass sword aunt wielding paddles!) She's a great deal because she's seen some shit and has some scars, but she's paddled hundreds (if not thousands) of miles with my family, and likely many more before my aunt and uncle rescued her in several pieces out of a neighbor's woodpile.

So I built this cedar strip corset out of scraps from building my canoe and I'm out on the backyard taking pictures and my aunt just walks out and hands me this sword and is like "looked like you needed this"

She wasn't wrong. Here's what the corset looks like btw. Swords aside

Ok full honestly time: my partner and I are relocating to LA this spring/early summer.

I'm looking for a job and/or a place for Beauty and the Bolt to land.

Anyone hiring a creative generalist mechatronics engineer? I'm really good at building and prototyping! 👩🏻‍🔧 My resume in a snapshot:
Currently executive director of Beauty and the Bolt, a non-profit lowering the barrier to entry for girls and minorities in engineering, making, and the trades.

I make videos about building things, and also run our #PrincessesWithPowertools program

Imagine being so fragile in your masculinity that you tear a woman down in an ART piece for safety issues, but thanks to your complete lack of knowledge you got it wrong.

You want to talk safety? Let's shred this together. (THREAD)

https://twitter.com/Mosasaurologist/status/1218175175625101313

First of all, I find it important to clarify this photo was taken with a team of machine shop professionals including a safety officer. The hair is an unpinned wig so that it literally could not hurt me at all if it got caught in anything.

I'm SO EXCITED to announce the launch of Beauty and the Bolt's 2020 #PrincessesWithPowerTools calendar! Here's how it works:
Step 1: Buy a calendar and support an awesome 501c3 nonprofit that teaches thousands of girls to use power tools every year. beautyandthebolt.com/calendar Step 2: Hang it up and have awesome conversations with your kids, coworkers, & friends about how femininity and engineering are not mutually exclusive and WE CAN BE BOTH #BrilliantIsBeautiful
The calendar features 2 mechanics, 3 @Forbes 30U30s, 7 @aaas @IfThenSheCan ambassadors