Hey GTers, I have a question but didn't want to take over anyone's post. I was followed by Groupthink a few weeks ago and have been posting more actively lately (yay I love not being grey!) but I was wondering how/ if I could get posting priviledges. I'm going through some shit and would looove some support.

This is really adorable, for sure, but I wonder if parenting is turning into an internet-viral-cuteness competition? Keeping up with the Jones's for the modern age? Perhaps I'm just in Scrooge mode though.

I posted this on my own page, but I am just so excited and I know nobody sees the personal blogs unless the person is followed ( I do not have too many of those)

Anyone else have a service animal?

That's what I keep telling people! It doesn't matter if you follow the rules of a belief, as long as you just say that you believe that system.

Take me, for example. I self-identify as a Mormon but people never respect it!

Sure, I've never been baptized into the Mormon faith, never once set foot in a temple, I…

Now they're going to assign her to the U.N.? Awesome! She sounds like a great candidate for making sure people of the world, especially the poor, are treated humanely, with respect, civility, and dignity.

There's a longstanding history in the Church of faithful dissenters. Many revolutionaries have embraced the doctrines that are loving/relevant/community bolstering, but have rejected the ones that are hurtful/outmoded/divisive. That's how we got Vatican II. That's how we got Liberation Theology. That's why there are…

Regardless, its not your place to decide what someone else's religion is. If someone self-identifies as Catholic, and worship as a Catholic, that makes them Catholic, and it's not your place to judge or cast them out.

If your study group comes in for long-term follow up, you can also have them fill out a "Quality of Life" questionnaire. Granted, everyone has a different baseline for miserableness, but it's very useful when tracking patient health over time. I just got involved in a Parkinson's Disease study, on a pilot project to…

Now I really want some Giordano's deep dish with spinach even though it's not even 9am here in good old Chicago. It's all your fault Kimye.

Yeah, my position is that divorce is the worst thing a human can go through. I'd prefer that my husband died and I could cherish his memory and grieve and move on rather than feel like I can never trust again and have to hate the person I loved most in the whole world because the man who promised to love me forever…

Well, I put myself out there. I let my guard down. I used the 'L' word. And now I think it's all going to blow up in my face.

My mom died when I was fairly young. I later went through a very painful breakup. My mom's death has had greater long-term implications for me, of course, but the immediate aftermath of the breakup was much worse. It messed me up for years. A lot of people have been through much worse than I, and I would never claim…

You answered your own question. White, blond, blue eyed girls all have dolls that look them. You are the doll default. Having a doll that looked like you wasn't special. Most other girls don't have that privilege. It's very validating to finally find a doll that looks like you.

I didn't have one of the grown-up dolls, but my mother got me a Bitty Baby for my eighth birthday. I loved her, but I also felt guilty about not playing with her enough, especially because I knew I was supposed to love my expensive gift so much (my parents were divorced, and my mom was working two jobs at the time),…

I still remember how excited I was to find the American Girl catalog as a 6 or 7 year old girl. As a half Asian Pacific Islander (other half is white), there were no dolls that looked like me. They were all blonde and occasionally brunette. But with American Girl, I could have a doll that actually looked like me,…

Long term stressors, such as poverty, etc, increase inflammation which affect things like cardiac health and hormone levels. Both of which affect metabolic processes. Stress is medically relevant, even if there isn't something convenient, similar to a glucometer, to test for it.

So what you're telling me is black people have to work harder than white people to achieve the same results?

Feeling like an asshole because I read all these and am just like, "I'd kill to have this be my problem." And I know that my problems, while shitty, aren't even the worst you can have. And I know that problems are relative and just because someone has something as a problem it doesn't negate other peoples problems. At…

Send me all your good vibes — I'm halfway through a 3-hour take-home final for my grad class. I shouldn't even be posting, but if I stare at my Word doc anymore I'll cry. I'm really BSing my way through this question.