Oh sure. I’m just saying that I don’t think it has impacted my actual life much to get maybe one Christmas ticket home every two years or so. If I didn’t get those, I just wouldn’t go home most likely.

Yeah, this is the only one my parents (occasionally) do, mainly because they have miles they can cash for free tickets. When they don’t I either stay home or pay myself. I don’t feel too bad since they guilt me into visiting 2 or 3 times a year, and most of those tickets I buy myself. I never really thought of it as…

I do see the difference. And I support the second one. I just don’t like the way we all blindly come down on ‘appropriators’ because I think it has a serious chilling effect. I mean, look at this yoga class as an example.

The article you linked says, “A deeper understanding of cultural appropriation also refers to a particular power dynamic in which members of a dominant culture take elements from a culture of people who have been systematically oppressed by that dominant group.”

Of course judging you for wearing something in a different way than I would judge someone white would be completely wrong. In fact, judging someone for what they’re wearing in general is wrong(I mean, within reason - I judged Lady Gaga’s meat costume like crazy). I would say that goes without saying, but maybe to some…

Thank you. I hate hate hate this idea that enjoying food/objects/etc from another culture is now somehow racist. As if the idea of keeping AWAY from all those things isn’t way more racist. Keeping European culture pure, ammirite? So stupid. That may not be the stated goal, but it’s certainly the result. Those on the…

I did the test but am torn on the results. They don’t seem accurate to me. I KNOW for a fact that for many, many generations one entire side of my family is from Italy. Everyone was born there, we’ve got records, it’s a fact. And even if there was a little adultery here or there (because who really knows?) most of…

Listen buddy, you get TWO questions and two questions only. Follow the rules and no one gets hurt. ;-)

Yeah, they are awful. I was 5 minutes late for checkin once due to horrendous traffic, on Christmas Eve, and they refused to make any effort to get me on the flight. I think it may not even have been a full 5 minutes. Worse, they were so blase about it. I ended up spending the night in the airport. The next day the…

I may possibly be more outraged at this than at the thought of Starbucks now existing in Italy. Please! Keep the shitty chains out of Italy! Please do not ruin awesome Italian food with American crap! Prices are low enough they’ll get SOME business, and once they get a foothold good luck getting them out. Yuck.

There is an awesome documentary, Armor of Light, that just came out and explores EXACTLY this conflict. Follows a pro-life preacher as he begins to question the morality of guns everywhere. Very interesting.

Thanks! :-)

Me maybe? I’m not particularly cool, but not a troll either :-).

I feel like speaking the language fluently can hurt you actually. I speak fluent Italian yet couldn’t do an “Italian” accent in English to save my life. Despite my mom having a heavy one.

I’m with you. I don’t think people doing pointlessly dangerous things are brave or compelling. Useful dangerous things, like running into a burning building to save someone or going to space to eventually save the human race from the destruction of our own planet (so disagree with you on the space point) are great.…

You shut your mouth. Paul Newman, at any age, is far hotter than him.

Yeah. Never been pregnant (yet) and can go a couple weeks even now without having a drink at all. But if someone tried to tell me I shouldn’t drink while pregnant one day, I think I would pour myself a glass of wine and sip it slowly right in front of them, just because where do they get off telling me what to do with…

Lol. Ironically I find myself slouching too more often then I’d like and then basically mentally yell at MYSELF to straighten up. Like I said, I’m a weirdo.

I think fair or not, I’d be ok with another woman saying that to me but not necessarily with a man doing the same. Not sure why. But I don’t consider it giving someone a nickname, it’s just an expression that (old-timey) people use.

She is very pretty and very talented but (and I know I’m a weirdo) I can barely watch her on screen because she’s always slouching. I feel like a 90-year-old saying so, but I just want to yell at her to straighten up. It’s a strange pet peeve of mine that I can’t stand it when people are habitual slouchers.