Which has led to an undercurrent of fucked-up-ness. Look, they're my people, I was being a tiny bit glib, mostly because I wanted people to read Barry, who I think is one of the best of a terrific bunch of modern Irish novelists. And whose books will rock your world.

Take a gander at Sebastian Barry's fabulous novel, "The Secret Scripture" for a look into the misogynistic/paternalistic/tribal mindset that lead to a lot of this stuff. Actually, pretty much all of his novels are about how fucked up the Irish are — thanks to the English and the Catholic church and their own damn…

Best advice I ever got as a little girl was from my fierce grandmother. Third grade — the boys were doing all that "I see London ..." crap. She made me matching bloomers to go under my dresses, and told me "If any of those boys bother you, you kick 'em where it counts." Permission granted, never used it, but became a…

Yeah, between this, and incipient menopause changing my whole body shape (and because it's creative procrastination for part of my book I dread rewriting), I've started sewing again. Clothes that fit. Ahhhh.

Wow. Thank you for your service. I could hardly read the piece, much less all the garbage these guys are spewing. Maybe we need an organization to keep track of misogynist haters the way the Southern Poverty Law Center tracks racists?

My mother used to call this kind of thing a "Mom move" —

Ha! I did go to a very fancy, 8-week summer camp for girls for 5 years, which to be fair, saved my life (I was raised by an even crazier, Betty Draper, one who didn't remarry well), BUT I went with sheets that had cigarette burns in them (thanks Betty), and old wool blankets that were one step up from something you'd…

Sweetheart, or, if I'm feeling Irishy — Himself. I kind of love Himself, because it's gendered, and we're both old, so "boyfriend" or even "sweetheart" sounds like we're in fucking high school.

I have a soft spot for her. She's just lovely, and comes off like such a good sport. No great talent, but terrific looking and seems fun.

Working at home helps too. I've been making bread a couple of times a week in the winter for years now (I don't have AC, so no oven at 450 in the summer for me). Also, flatbreads are your friend — regular bread dough (I have a sourdough but you don't need one), then roll out into flat circles and cook on a hot…

To me, that looks like poop-face.

Me, 13 years old, the year Barishnikov danced for Balanchine. Barishnikov wearing very little, dancing Prodigal Son, and we had orchestra seats fairly close to the stage. He was beautiful, nearly naked, and leaping overhead and I remember thinking "Oh! That's what Mom meant when she tried to explain the difference…

Please people, get over the idea of "wedding favors" — I have never yet remembered to bring one home with me. A nice meal, some drinks, perhaps some dancing, seeing you two pledge your troth and happiness — this is plenty. I don't need a tchochke, and I really don't need you to stress out about a tchochke.

I got a nice thank you from a young groom last summer (1st wedding I'd gone to as a friend of the parents. Sigh. Turn turn turn.) Was SO impressed. A perfect thank you note, handwritten, describing my gift, saying how they looked forward to using it, and since I'm friends with his parents, I was glad to see he was…

Just turned 50 and my curly hair is going grey, which I really love. I think it's cool looking. However, a) I was never conventionally pretty so I'm not having the issue losing my looks that some of my other friends are struggling with and b) I looked young for my age for so long, which in combination with being short…

I was never really a makeup girl, and now that I'm older, I find I hate hate hate the crunchy feeling of mascara. If I'm going out, I'll wear a little eyeshadow, and I like bright lipstick, but I've never been someone who wears makeup every day. I also don't live in a city, and I work at home, so the pressure is…

Oh, I stood behind him once (decades ago) in the hot dog line at the Southhampton Horse Show. He's about 20 feet tall. I looked at the elbow hole in his sweater and thought "what do you say to a guy that survived the Dresden firebombing that won't sound totally inane?" Said nothing.

Well as a short person who is not thin, I will certainly be without pants if they go under. They have the Only Pants That Fit. Sigh.

Blame it on Karl May. Moab is chock-full of German tourists coming over to see the "Wild West" landscape where their beloved Winnetou and Old Shatterhand characters romped. Awful books, but apparently, sort of like the Lone Ranger ... everyone read them. Of course, May never actually travelled to the west, nor,…

Wasn't disagreeing with the impulse to help her, but bake sales for a single cancer victims, and fundraisers for a lone single mother in trouble do serve to distract people from the larger systemic problems that we all refuse to face and will not work to change. We can all feel better because we helped one person,…