Oh, agree. I was specific in my wording because I don't think it make sense to imply that everyone is working at an equal level everywhere. But I do think the exceptionalism that prevails at ivies (and I was at ivy #1 or #2, depending on whom you ask) does not reflect reality fully.

The ivy thing.... they're basically told the whole time that they are the best of the best, especially, I think, in undergrad, and so become very invested in believing it. I went to public school all the way till my PhD, which I did at an ivy. I knew some undergrads at the ivy that were ridiculously, frighteningly…

I'm tempted to ask.... what shade of pink?

I felt the same way about Miss Piggy.

Bluestocking

Please let gay marriage be legal, because I so want to marry you right now.

Oh, finally someone who isn't crazy about those MAC collections! I've looked at the blogger swatches, I look at them in store... and I think... really? Just another pale pink?

Word. This is one of the strangest commenters I've seen. Apparently, megarich stars are highly put upon. Didja know?

Are you one of their PR people? I never said there was anything wrong with making money, but this kind of pity — "oh, poor them, they're just trying to connect with their fans, nothing at all to do with building their personal brand, and here is a mean blogger being mean to them" — is just plain weird.

Oh, poor stars, just trying to connect with their fans, and ragged on by Jezebel.

Oh, I should say — I hear everything. I hear everything now. I just don't have that automatic response that says, "go to the noise." My automatic response is, "Gosh I wish this noise would stop."

We certainly could have survived as a species with a variety of caretakers responding to an infant's needs. A lot of people of both sexes report an intense need to do something when a baby cries, and, well, a lot don't. It doesn't compare to pregnancy, but men undergo hormonal changes during their partner's pregnancy…

Nah, sorry, none of the women in my family had that particular gene. Guess we're not real women, I suppose.

I would have agreed with you before having a child, but having had one — and having been one of those mothers for whom the "magical transformation" happened slowly, more like 9 months into my baby's life — I want to shout from the rooftops that you are so right. In every sentence.

You really can't comment until you've had every woman's experience. I certainly woke up when the kid cried, and still do, but it's always my husband who is moved to get up first. My instinct is pretty much always to let baby cry, unless he sounds like he's in real pain.

As a new mother, I can confirm for you that not all women are biologically programmed to respond to a crying child. I could really let him cry for hours — it's just my brain that at some point tells me that maybe I should go check.

Quick note: most people won't know you added this comment, because they only get a notification if you reply to their comment. I only looked further up the thread because a different poster replied to one of my posts.

A bit late on my reply, but I just had to write and say: EXACTLY. I feel precisely the same way about both the abortion question and the issue of working. If anything, even more so than I used to. I've always thought no woman needed an excuse to work, and that in fact, it's a bit of a myth to think every child will be…

This is the kind of picture that always gets taken of me... makes you realise how nice it would be to have editors choose the three photos in which you look good, and discard the 300 in which you have five chins.

I could have written this post ten years ago, subbing "early/mid 90's" as appropriate. Basically, it is the nature of SNL to have always been better in the past. I loved the Dana Carvey/Phil Hartman years, but everything afterwards — including that annoying "newbie," Adam Sandler — seemed stretched and boring. One day…