Yeah, I think those two pieces of advice really need to go hand-in-hand. An experienced writer with decades of practice should only need a thesaurus when the right word is on the tip of her tongue and she wants to jog her memory. But a fledgling 18-year-old writing his very first short story? Part of the joy of…

Car-related places (dealerships, mechanics, whatever) are at the top of my "I'm probably going to get sketched out and/or condescended to (maybe both!) while I'm there, better wear my unsexiest clothing" list. Any such place whose advertising was over-the-top sexualized would never, ever, ever get any business from me.

Dreadlocks have been around since, oh, the dawn of human history. Just because you associate them with Jamaicans and weed doesn't give that connection a teensy, tinsy bit of validity. Had you typed "dreadlocks" into Google and opened Wikipedia (which is the second link down after the Z/G scandal), you would have found…

Back on his first season hosting American Idol (when there were TWO hosts named Ryan!) the three judges were wisecracking after a performance and he chewed them out, "This is a really nerve wracking moment for a young person on stage, can you cut it out and take this seriously?" He certainly didn't set the tone of the…

Start with the science to frame the reproductive stuff, then explain that sometimes sex is just about feeling good and people can have sex even when they can't biologically reproduce (eg gay sex, infertility, older couples). The variety of examples lets you be inclusive but also helps explain things like…

Watch or read something sad? "The Body" episode of Buffy would do it for me I think. (Though perhaps not if you haven't seen the whole series.) Some movies are called tearjerkers for a reason!

In my area JNCO was for (white) skater rebels and FUBU was "for-us-by-us" on-trend black folk clothing; I desperately coveted a FUBU denim jumpsuit in Charade but I knew I'd be laughed out of my predominantly black school if I tried it. Sooooooooo imma go with no, but I'll be curious to see other responses.

RIP dELiA*s. You and alloy made me the woman of questionable fashion I am today.

I'm so sorry that happened to you! There's no excuse for his behavior. It had absolutely nothing to do with you and everything to do with him being a giant dickweasel. Unfortunately there are certain people in this world who have a sixth sense for identifying people who are vulnerable in some way and who get off on…

Gawkerverse etiquette question: I have never really liked my username and would like to change it someday, maybe soon. It probably won't bear any resemblance to my current UN. Do I just flip it over and continue on as before with no fanfare, or create some kind of transitional name for an interim period, or what? I…

Truer words never spoken.

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They included the Writing SAT II in 2005, jumping the potential high score from 1600 (Verbal 800 + Math 800) to 2400 (+ Writing 800).

They included the Writing SAT II in 2005, jumping the potential high score from 1600 (Verbal 800 + Math 800) to 2400 (+ Writing 800).

Sometimes I can manage a quick & dirty, but sometimes I need more preparation. And sometimes I read a scene in a book or see something on TV and it gives me ideas I want to try out in detail, in which case the backdrop of a car alarm going off really kills the mood. Varies day by day!

One of my best friends married the guy in high school who chased her for a few years. She didn't start dating him until he took her "no" for a no and stopped pestering her...after which time she got to know him as a human being because he wasn't trying so goddamned hard. Then she had to chase him. I don't think he…

I was at a NYE party once and the host's boyfriend suddenly got down on one knee, coughed to get everyone's attention...and then asked his girlfriend of many years for a refill of his drink, with a shit-eating grin on his face. She gave him a you're-an-idiot-and-thank-god-it-wasn't-a-proposal-because-I-expect-better…

Fair point. But like you said, if someone can make the cognitive leap that a service dog is well-trained enough not to be dangerous, they should also understand that its training was for a more serious purpose.

I once had a guy tail me for three blocks, during which he did nothing but stare at my ass, and when he finally caught up to me (despite me darting across an intersection to try to avoid him), went with "Yo wassup can I get your name and number?", a question he managed to direct at my ass despite the fact that he was…

We are so behind so many countries in math and science. They are not even getting the basic education because they are getting taught that evolution doesn't exist, that the earth is 6,000 years old, that vaccines cause autism, that climate change is a liberal wet dream, that women's bodies can reject pregnancies from…