Thanks for sharing your story. I’ve seen a lot of people speaking on behalf of refugees lately, but it’s much rarer to come across refugee stories in their own words. Thanks for adding your perspective.

I HAD FORGOTTEN ALL ABOUT THIS. Thank you, kind internet stranger!

I wonder how our attitudes in the US compare to attitudes in similar countries abroad. I’ve always felt that Americans have a particular aversion to being seen as either too rich or too poor. Exchanging salary information with someone gives you a no-nonsense idea of who’s richer and who’s poorer and I think all of us…

I don’t think of it as “for kids only”, but I’ve been trying to wean my parents off of Christmas gifts for years now to no avail. I’m an only child, so they got used to showering me with gifts as a kid and they can’t shake it. It’s weird now that I’m grown up and have a job. I see something I want, I buy it. Anything…

The entire Republican party is an insult to elephants.

I had forgotten about the Bachelor(ette)! Really wonderful/terrible TV there. Especially because a single episode feels like it lasts roughly 4.5 hours, so I always end up feeling like I’ve marathoned it even if I really spent less than 2 hours in front of the TV.

My mom has been in AA for 21 years. I’m so incredibly proud of her; it was not only a fantastic bit of self-care for her, it was also the greatest gift she could ever have given me as her daughter: a mother who is present and healthy and who loves herself. I learned how to take care of myself primarily by watching her…

I currently live in a place without a bathtub and I regretted it almost immediately after I moved in. Long baths are the easiest way for me to relax. I’m going to try to remind myself to prioritize bathroom luxury in my next place, even if I have to give up something else in compromise.

I would have gone Pixar-angry and shot flames out the top of my head. Like, let’s dunk you in a vat of smallpox and see how YOU “cut it.”

don’t know if you’ve ever tried to speak in a foreign language while feverish but it was like playing the Sims and everything he said was ambient gibberish. I had to keep asking him to repeat himself and would take long pauses to try to comprehend him while my thoughts scurried away from me and meanwhile my nose was…

I burst into tears at an IHOP once. The guy I had a crush on had just started dating someone else and I had been keeping it all pent up, and my friend made some comment about all of us hanging out and I started bawling all over my pancakes. People looking and everything. *Shudder* Solidarity.

Dental hygienist: “So, the anesthetic the doctor recommended sometimes makes patients’ heartbeats go up. I like to warn patients in advance so they don’t think something’s wrong.”

Yo,

There seems to be confusion going around about what was in the original email versus what was in Brigham’s email to the Washington Post a few days after his first message went viral. All of that stuff about offering a make-up exam and him following university guidelines was in his explanation to the Post. None of that…

I think the OP may have misread something. Brigham emailed that more-detailed explanation to the Washington Post after his original email went viral and the Post reached out to him to confirm what he’d sent. His original email seems to be true to what’s been reported.

I think the OP may have misread something. He emailed that more-detailed explanation to the Washington Post after his original email went viral and the Post reached out to him to confirm what he’d sent. His original email seems to be true to what’s been reported.

I think the OP may have misread something. He emailed that more-detailed explanation to the Washington Post after his original email went viral and the Post reached out to him to confirm what he’d sent. His original email seems to be true to what’s been reported.

Are you quoting from this Salon article? (emphasis mine)

“I know which side I am on.”

Somehow I butchered Padma Lakshmi’s name, but every time I edit the original, the photos go away, so it’s gonna stay that way. (Sorry Padma!)