This is a brave thing to write. You're obviously already getting a lot of backlash, but I'm glad this was written and I'll definitely be picking up this book.

Haha. I get you on that, certainly. A lot of the time when I'm reading these articles on Jezebel of all these poor unhappy ladies who've been dealing with real asshats, I do wonder why people aren't being a bit more pointed and rude, and why they're giving in on so much. I mean, I don't think I'd be any kind of a…

Additionally, in Khartoum all the wedding venues (which are only that, giant halls where they hold weddings and nothing else) provide the food, and there's no guesswork about it - each hall has a meal they prepare, and that's what you get. I think you pay by the amount of plates you want (say 200), and the…

I once spent almost $80 I really couldn't afford on a pair of "brazilian" embellished jeans back when those were a thing - they were cute enough to look at, but not really suited to my body type and ALSO a generous half-inch too short in the inseam. But they were closer to fitting my long-ass legs than any other nice…

I'm a big believer in patronizing local cosmetology schools for haircuts and color. I live in a big city, so hair styling prices can be absolutely through the roof, but the local Aveda school branch has been doing my hair for years - $50-$80 to get my very long, very thick hair cut and colored, depending on the…

Can we just take a moment to appreciate Ruth Goodwin for just generally being amazing? I love history, so much that I feel like I can never quite get close enough to it to really see all the details I want to (which has something to do with why I have licked both the Tower of London and a triceratops) but her programs…

I was wondering about the pronunciation, too, but then surely the brand should be Kottex, in keeping with general spelling & pronunciation rules?

When I was living in Sudan the corner convenience store would sell you one maxi pad at a time, because people just... don't have a lot of money? Like, if you have only five cents and a full pack of Always costs a pound and a half but you need a pad like, NOW, it's a workable solution. I know a lot of people on the…

In Sudan I sent my laundry out to men who will iron it with a coal-heated iron, which is pretty cool! I'd imagine there's some real skill in using that so that you don't scorch people's clothes.

Exactly. It was called a mangle. Which is prescient because if you weren't careful it would absolutely maim the shit out of you.

5 cents seems like a lot to be spending on something single-use that you bleed in, in a time when you could get entrance to a double feature film WITH popcorn for the same price.

Especially given that the whole flavor of the monogrammed thermos that gives it that je ne sais quois isn't just that it's someone being a special snowflake, it's a very particular KIND of finicky, self-important special snowflake that's actually really far removed from the super-crunchy-granola quality that this has.

If you tell me that "Oh, thank goodness," isn't in fact said in a slightly disappointed tone, you're lying.

You're going to get a lot of responses to this that insist you have a problem that no one's ever told you about - like, for a DECADE? Come on. But I will say that the necessity for a lot of these products varies person to person, and some of them can actually make you dependent on them - like, if you're shampooing…

One of my roommates in senior year of college was the daughter of an ambassador - she took a class that required her to cook something to contribute to a class potluck at the end of the year, and she literally called me out of my room to come break the eggs for her. Because she was afraid of getting shells in her…

I honestly have never met a person who had access to/used regular bathing spaces and didn't have a medical problem who honest-to-god needed to use deodorant. I mean, if you're homeless you probably aren't smelling great, and I knew some guys in college who clearly were not regular bathers who were awful to sit next to…

Maybe it would be similar to the weddings I went to in Sudan, where the invitations were just souvenirs for "close" family and friends (meaning anybody more removed than 5th cousin doesn't get one), and they are not a reflection of who is actually going to show up, because anybody who finds out about the existence of…

My boss in Sudan had kind of a tangentially similar problem for her wedding - in Sudan, they don't use last names in the way we do, your full name is your name followed by your father's name folllowed by your grandfather's name and your great-grandfather's name. So your name might be Sarah Mohammed Ahmed Mohammed.…

I know Miss Manners lives in like 1932 constantly, and that's fine, but surely by now she's received enough tearful letters from stress-dead brides who just cannot. get. anyone. to RSVP. that she should know better about this advice. Even when 99% of the work is done for people - the pre-printed cards with check boxes…

This was just a roller coaster ride from beginning to end.