I have a theory (newly formed and I am a renowned armchair theorist) that it's probably related to primate style grooming, which, while an intimate act ISNT like *nudge nudge wink wink* intimate.

OMG thanks for this! The bob ross reference has been on the tip of my tongue! I have never slept better than when I fell asleep watching bob ross.

I can't listen to these because I do get this weird physical reaction to them that is tingly and pleasurable and stuff but I'm like embarrassed by that because from New England.

No prob. I would love to read some of your other stuff. Your style just seems like it lends itself well to discussing tough issues and being able to say "yeah this is fucked up" without putting people on "the other side" as it were on the defensive. Which I find to be really impressive.

Right, as far as we know, "kept in touch with" meant he liked an occasional Facebook post and she just ran from there. Just a possibility.

I weirdly had a similar situation. A younger girl on my street moved to LA with her stage parents and would call occasionally or send postcards. I thought it was cute/funny that she thought I was 'so cool' and being an obnoxious teen thought absolutely nothing was weird about that.

I cannot begin to understand the pain and anguish and unrelenting grief of losing a child. But then to have to cope with that on a public stage with strangers saying the asinine bullshit that is all over the media? I cannot fathom that. But to do it with this grace? That's simply amazing. I hope they can find peace…

What I'm saying is that we don't know they were "in a relationship" that went beyond friendship, at least in his mind. You're 100% right that if that was true, it would be super-creepy. I'm just trying to reserve judgement because it sounds like she did this without his knowledge. I don't want to say that teenagers…

Racists are going to fill the comments here with complaints that these mothers even DARE grieve the loss of their children. They demand that these mothers see their children as monsters who deserved to die and to be ashamed they raised monsters. That is the essence of this racism - simply being offended that the…

This is just what I do too, and it works well for me.

Oh jeez, you have my sympathy. Family members can be the worst when they're judgy and in right there front and center to let you know exactly how they feel. That was a good article! I hadn't read it before, and I'm saving it for future reference, thanks!

Yeah, yy default on FB and nearly any other site I use is friends only, but I don't bother filtering people who are on my list. I mean, they're there for a reason. Serious life stuff isn't anything I put on FB anyway. That's just my preference, though I will share photos of my beastly cats, heh.

"I wish we had more blacks, Generic Grant Foundation would love us." Actual words spoken by a co-worker. I hate how nobody acknowledges that non-profit jobs are overwhelming staffed by affluent white women who have no connections to the community they serve. I was once interviewed for a position at a homeless shelter…

Girl, working at a non-profit made me hate people. Hearing co-workers talk shit about clients and try to sabotage other organizations who had similar missions was just too much for me.

No one is asking Wahlberg to get on his knees and beg anyone for forgiveness. People are pointing out just how fucked it is that a man who enthusiastically participated in several violent, racist attacks is now loudly whining over the fact that his violent racism is making it very slightly harder for him to become…

Christ, there are more people like this out there? Hold me, please.

I kind of don't care, though. A fairly high percentage of American men in their 40s have served time in either jail or prison. Many of them have committed less troubling crimes. I'm going to guess a decent number of them are remorseful. Almost all of them deal with far more difficult aftershocks from their criminal…

White teenager violently robs a convenience store, viscuosly assaults two Asian men, and uses racial slurs-45 days in prison. Unarmed Black teenager steals cigarillos-shot to death. Same people defending MW saying he was young and made a mistake say MB acted in a way that got him killed. And race has no factor?

I'm extremely relieved to know that his victim wasn't permanently injured because of the attack.

I love that clip. Not even a fan of Ms Minaj, but that clip right there warmed me to her.