YOU WIN!!!!

YES! Networks should just stop putting fucked up families on the air. No, scratch that. Networks should stop putting children—who cannot consent to be being filmed—on fucking reality TV.

Thank you! I’m glad I’m not alone! :) For me, I think that I am so emotionally attached to cigarettes. . . .and then that, combined with how much the world judges smokers. . . .drives me more passionately to not give it up. Not sure if that makes sense. For the record, I do think smokers should be judged if they are…

I am not necessarily endorsing the content of this message:

Tell us your happy quit stories, please! I would like to hear more, “I quit, it sucked, life is still great” stories!

Oh my god, you are amazing. I actually think that we could do a lot to help smokers if more people were understanding of the intricacies of the addiction. I’m NOT blaming non-smokers at all. . . .just saying the mentality of “why don’t you just quit?” or “how can you be so stupid?” is often NOT helpful for an addict.…

That’s how I am now. . . . I’m, I would say, I moderate smoker, always 7-10 per day. But I have a smoker’s cough now that I am 31. And I’m starting to feel pretty gross.

I also think that, while I am totally addicted to nicotine, I am much more addicted to smoking. . . . the feeling of it. . . going outside. . . the ritual, etc. I’m wondering if it is easier to cut down on overall nicotine intake with the e-cig.

Does anyone else have this problem?

Yes! I got a crappy one back in 2011. . . I was like, THIS DOESN’T FILL MY CHEST WITH SMOKE AND BURN MY THROAT, TO HELL WITH IT! Just got a good one with actual vaping juice. My husband was over the moon. . . .

This gives me so much hope. . . . .I just got an e-cig, but I still really prefer real cigarettes. . . .however, I am getting to the point in my smoking-life where I can really, really feel I am a smoker more than ever before. . . .so I am hoping to make the transition.

This. All of this. I want more essays from non-smokers with some hope in them. I think hopeful ex-smoker essays have a better effect on me than the emotional/psychological assault of the CDC’s “Tips from a former smoker” campaign. I know those work for some. . . but the way the CDC measures their effectiveness is…

I just got an e-cig! When you switched, did you switch slowly? Or all at once?

Me too. . . . now I am looking 32 square in the face and still smoking. . . .but, for the first time in my smoker’s life, I am beginning to actually think that I might maybe want to quit smoking for me? And not my husband. And not future me. But, actually me. We’ll see. Still, that small feeling feels good.

Hi there. . . . If you are going to take the science route, how would this information affect your argument?: medically-safe transitions and social support have been overwhelmingly shown to benefit the mental and physical health outcomes of transgender individuals. Like, I’m serious, the evidence is truly, truly…

I’m so sorry about your experience. I also try to do a lot to talk about sexual trauma and it’s exhausting. In one way, I see so many myths out there and I want to disabuse people of those myths. In another, I just want to go on and live my own life beyond trauma. This is an unfriendly world to those who have…

I liked it too, once I got the reference. I like the use of it here more than I actually like the original Magritte.

Hi! I’m fluent in French, so knew what it meant. . . . just didn’t get the reference! Thanks for pointing it out!

I think that’s fairly obvious (that it wasn’t proven). Rape is a crime that is rarely proven true or false, unless the accused admits to it or the accuser recants.

I totally agree. But, also, that’s one of the issues I’m having with it. . . not in a “criticism” sense—just in a “I’m not sure how to judge this” way. . . .