I went to this school.  Would love to know which house though!  

It is a pleasure to speak with you again too!

Those are horrific stories. I had a good experience last summer studying with a medicine woman who only works with one student at a time and really walks the walk, but she’s almost invisible—definitely has no followers. The amount of damage corrupt “spiritual” people can do…

You and I had an exchange about the dangers of spiritual teachers (especially male teachers) years ago. May I just say that you were so right? I studied with a teacher I thought was amazing, and then she abandoned her young family for 3 years, running off to Bali to do an “Eat, Pray, Love” thing and write a book. She…

A dear friend of mine who is Aussie did this to herself with sunflower seeds. Somehow she didn’t realize that you weren’t supposed to eat the shells (maybe they do not have them in Australia?).  Eventually she had to go get a professional enema and the lady giving it to her actually cried.    

Sometimes it pays to be a piglet! Our house was burgled one summer and I’d been given some diamond stud earrings from my mom as a special birthday present (I think she wanted to cheer me up as my dad had died recently). Anyway, I hadn’t worn them to my internship that day, but I’d put them in a random paper cup on my…

In this case, I’d hold up my had in the universal stop sign motion and say, “You are bothering us. We did not invite you. Go back to your meal.” That’s more specific but here are a few that I have honed over time:

44 here. If you are in a public place and feel physically safe, you can stop putting up with that nonsense. It was so freeing to me when I realized I didn’t not have settle for astonished but polite when men do something bizzare/awful like interrupt you when you are talking with your boyfriend about wine. This may…

Ha! Thank you. That was an amazing typo. I was a little sad to update it.

Seriously, this is the best life hack I’ve ever read. I haven’t had fried bologna in ages, but it was a special treat in childhood and I feel a craving coming on.

That’s kind of why I liked the first pair? I dunno, I enjoy them.  But in all fairness, I have been told that I like ugly shoes.

I think most of us in the commentariat believe that what Pitt did was really commendable. And many of those us on the coasts come from families or communities equally protective. So please don’t think that the author’s snark applies to the rest of us.

I went to an early release of the new movie and if that’s what you are into, you will love it. It starts out a little clunky but within 10 mins you’re back visiting old friends. And there is a lot of Dowager Countess/Mary love.

Same.  I try not to hear his voice ever, and I avoid saying his name.  

Thank you so much for this information.  For real.

We are now friends forever.

Correct. I wouldn’t go so far as to download a Timothy Olyphant app, but I will watch anything featuring him, and maybe even specifically hunt down and listen to the Terry Gross interview more than once.

That is a good and even more disturburing theory.

Thanks, you got to the heart of what I was trying to say.

Your explanation makes a lot of sense.

I used to read Dear Prudence and remember that while a lot of the advice was good, Emily Yoffee would go off the rails whenever anybody talked about rape or consent. It’s really odd that she would proactively choose write about rape and sexual harrassement stories in defense of the potential criminals. Even if she…