I’m so glad you got to do this - it’s a thing I never could, even if I had an invitation, because I know in my heart that it would end with security pulling me off Tom Colicchio.

I go to a nurse-midwife for my lady parts care, and until I was ALL the way through menopause she reminded me often that it’s actually a fairly high-risk time for pregnancy—women assume they’re infertile or nearly so and get sloppy about birth control, and ovulation is unpredictable. She always made sure I had a…

Elder-brag: Back in the mid-60s I sold them for 50 cents a box. Door to door, zero supervision. But there were no Samoas in those days. Some people say the dinosaurs ate them all.

The brushing-off thing is such an odd and deliberate gesture, I kind of wonder if she did it intentionally, knowing there were cameras on her and it would get giffed and memed all to hell. All respect either way.

Sweet Adelines are awesome! I bet y’all brought more than what you’re letting on.

I still lie awake at night sometimes and remember mean things people said to me in third grade, so I’m right there with you.

Gah, YES. Plus even here it’s totally fine to mock her for being heavy and kind of old and dressing weird and not wearing makeup or cutting her hair.

For what it’s worth, that resolution never made it out of committee—even in solid red Blount County the commission overwhelmingly voted not to bring it to the floor. Although it is sadly true the most bat guano theocratic crazy people in the state seem to be concentrated in state legislature and the lieutenant…

But we have to allow an exception for the Santaland Diaries and the elf costume lady: “And don’t tell me, ‘I don’t wear underpants. I’m a dancer.’ You’re not a dancer. If you were a real dancer, you wouldn’t be here. You’re an elf, and you’re going to wear panties like an elf.”

I know it’s heresy in these parts, but she gets on my nerves something awful. Everything, EVERYTHING is about her, as long as she can make it self-promoting. So she tells this story, which was only marginally relevant to her topic but makes a point about what Hot Stuff she is. (And makes a big point out of how willing…

Yeah, it was horrendous, and I love Chrissie Hynde. The best spin I can give it is that she’s clearly feeling defensive these days.

Oh, yeah. I spent about an hour once inside a grade school dumpster looking for my kid’s retainer on a hot spring afternoon. Do you have any idea how much milk goes into a grade school dumpster, or how it smells after a few hours of May sunshine? But I found that sumbitch. Not impressed with this wedding dress thing,…

Just adding to the Mika love. I didn’t know about this either.

Deliciousness aside, it’s the only candy you can make emergency vampire teeth out of. Maybe that’s not an important part of everyone’s value system, but maybe it SHOULD be.

Probably more than you’d think - it’s a university town. And in Kentucky you can (as she was fond of pointing out) to to another county for your license.

There can hardly be a harder loss. Thank you for sharing it, and heartfelt sympathy.

I love that tweet from RHE. She’s just all-around terrific.

I’m close with family members of similar beliefs to hers, and while I am at the far opposite end of the spectrum I love these people dearly, so this is familiar territory. First—and this can be hard, I know!—try to hold her in some empathy. Especially if she’s a new convert, her world view is probably still in…

They got away with it because they were marketed as feisty old ladies, when most of them were in their 50s, the same age as a lot of guys in action roles.

Until you’re old. Then it magically becomes just boning.