Yes! And men! I'm working on a Master of Public Health, and the thing I know most about in terms of allostatic load and negative health outcomes is infant mortality rates and low birth weight (which is why I focused on women). I'm sure you know the stats, so I won't spout them to you, but the impact of race on infant…

The stress of racism is a real public health concern. For example, even when you control for socioeconomic status and access to healthcare, black women still have worse health outcomes than white women. This is not genetic; these outcomes (like high infant mortality and low birth weight) are not observed in women of…

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I'm with you on this. I'm from the South myself (NC, not Deep South, but still) and I've never had a corn fritter in my life. I did grow up with "cakes," "patties," "hush puppies" and "corn nuggets" (those glorious balls of fried creamed corn - HOW DO THEY DO IT). I have had an apple fritter, but corn fried things…

A hushpuppy is not a cornball, to be sure, but a cornball does look just like a corn nugget. OMG sometimes school lunch would have those cream corn nuggets and you could dip them in ranch dressing and then you could just about die from the pleasure of it.

I love that! I'm going to start using it!

Yeah, that jawline makes me feel feelings about that young man.

I'm in public health, which is super interested in health disparities. My focus is health policy specifically in regards to reproductive rights. Before this, I was in the humanities and often used feminist theory as a lens to look at x, y, or z. So being interested in gender is a plus either way. Sucks you can't be…

It's just... WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW WITH THIS BABY SKETCH ABOMINATION?

Happy Birthday!!!

I don't know anything about economics, so I'm curious - why can't you say you're interested in gender? In the two academic fields I've been in, that kind of thing is sexy (academically speaking).

I've weaned off both. Effexor was much, much harder to do than Lexapro. Effexor is just... the worst. Getting off of it was terrible. Lexapro was not nearly as bad. Now, granted, I was on a very low dose of Lexapro, but then again, I was on a very low dose of Effexor there at the end, too. I weaned down off the…

Oh my goodness! We'll send good energy your way for speedy healing. Now, I'm not litigious IN THE LEAST, but I hope you have an excellent lawyer. If someone knew the pin was weakening and didn't fix it... well... that's one of those cases I could get behind. Even if that's not the case, please have someone…

Can someone explain the Rainbow Loom phenomenon? The resulting products are hideous. And then, as a parent, you must be forced to wear those abominations. What about just setting your kid up with a clipboard and some embroidery floss to make friendship bracelets? Those are WAAAYYY less ugly.

I'm surprised you're getting so much sass. I can totally relate to this. I've never had an eating disorder, but I did have a disordered sense of myself when I was in my early 20s. I was fat in high school and, even after I lost the weight, still felt fat when I wasn't. Seeing pictures of myself looking hot helped…

Any time I start to read anything Batkid related, my nostrils flare and my belly starts contracting because I am ALREADY UGLY CRYING. It's instantaneous, with this. I also don't know how long it will go on.

I tried watching a clip of this, but I am in public and I started doing the type of crying that comes straight from the belly and involves convulsing, so I stopped. Just you WAIT till I get home and can ugly cry myself ragged.

Any other North Carolinians crying right now?

I was just about to write THE EXACT SAME THING, but then scrolled down to see if anyone else had gotten there first. Glad to know someone else appreciated that line as much as I did.

I ALSO have a xanax rx rolling around in my drawer that I rarely take. Thank goodness I have a doctor who is totally down with writing me a prescription for 20-30 xanax once a year. I had a doctor who have me some hardcore side-eye any time I'd mention meds for anxiety. He was one of the ones to whom I had admitted my…