Y’all, is 50 all that old? JLo could run a marathon on a 5 second notice if she had her shoes with her. She’s physically fit. She’s obviously conventionally attractive (not that that matters when it comes to sexuality- it really doesn’t). Why are we surprised women of any age are sexual beings? Really?

I don’t get Jennifer Weiner’s point at all. Pretty much everyone is hotter now than they would have been at the same age in earlier decades. My mom, at 67, looks better than Blanche did. We wear sunscreen now, and don’t settle for old lady hair cuts at 45 anymore.

Different societies have different gender norms, stereotypes, expectations, taboos, etc. Something that’s considered typically masculine in one place can be seen as typically feminine in another. Or during another time in history. A society develops ideas about what is considered feminine and masculine, as well as…

I don’t have anything made with leather or canvas. I have a degree in art history, an eye for design and I’ve been collecting 50ies pieces for years. I know what I’m doing, but thank you for mansplaining something I’m an expert at

My Grandfather died on Christmas day so now, whenever I feel overwhelmed by the noise and nonsense I announce that I need to pray about Grandpa. I then retreat to a quiet room to have a nap or read.

Twenty or so years ago, I and my four brothers are at my grandmother’s house in a wealthy suburb of Boston. Our unmedicated, bipolar mother is there, and she’s agitated and starting to drink (she went through periods of thinking God had cured her of her bipolarity and would then abandon her meds, and why not a week…

My father died on Thanksgiving Day twenty years ago. Thanksgiving dinner didn’t happen that year, and neither did Christmas. We were very close and it was very traumatizing.

The last time I traveled for Thanksgiving was when we drove up to my uncle’s house when I was pregnant with my youngest child. We were a full two hours late because it took us almost 8 hours to get there in some of the worst traffic I have ever seen on Thanksgiving Day. I spent the entire drive with a pie on my lap,…

I think it’s also important to remember that 10-12 years ago, no one was available for constant texting, Facebook messaging, or video chatting. We’re now all suddenly supposed to be expected to drop everything for anyone the moment they reach out through any channel (and there are many!).

That’s not the point at all. It’s that all of us are already carrying a certain amount of emotional burden on any given day. There is nothing narcissistic to recognize their are moments in which we don’t have the bandwidth to safely carry other people’s.

On the one hand, it IS good to check in with people before you’re about to dump something on them. It feels like an ambush sometimes when someone just dumps a bunch of heavy emotional stuff when you aren’t in a position to handle it or respond. If someone just woke up or is running late, they’re not going to be in a…

It’s one thing to see the misleading NTY’s tweet misquoting him and then firing off angry reactionary tweets, but it’s another to have the full context of his statement and still decide to sit down and write about it and pretend he said something he never said.

People don’t understand what the ACA cost Obama and the Democrats. They had 59 seats (with the Independents) in the Senate and a 79 seat majority in the house. Even with this massive advantage they couldn’t get a public option through the Senate and ended up passing the ACA in the senate with a 50-50 tie broken by Joe…

I tend to say that in the majority of human history, the poor were just literally starved to death. Whereas now, we have unhealthy, cheap, subsidized food where the poor are killed by diabetes or heart disease instead. And then blamed for it.

At about 3 weeks pregnant (I always knew very early), I had horrendous abdominal pain. I couldn’t even stand. I was in bed, sweating, and couldn’t move. When I was sent to a (Catholic) hospital, the nurse who did my intake asked me basic questions: name, age, previous pregnancies, religion... when I mentioned I’m…

no booze is fine, you are right. What is not fine is making people wear heels and then pay for booze. That is rude

Counterpoint, having been to many Methodist weddings (meaning, no booze at all), is no booze at a wedding is PERFECTLY fine.

Please do not disparage my good blog. All regular blogs are Just Look Nice; blogs in the feature format are Very Fancy.

that is Very Fancy thank you for asking

This is a really interesting question. I don’t think destigmatizing really works like that, unfortunately. Professional vanlifers destigmatize their own experience by tricking out their vans in the trappings of middle class, Pinterest-flavored prosperity — white countertops, succulents, Pendleton blankets, twinkly…