Yes! Cynthia Voight belongs right up there with Judy Blume and Lois Lowry. Her characters felt so real to me.

You’re right - in fact, more children die from faith-based medical neglect in Idaho than in any other state in the US! I belong to a group called Children’s Healthcare Is a Legal Duty (CHILD) that tries to pass laws that prevent medical neglect. We have had a long fight on our hands in Idaho because folks in power…

I used to walk to work. I am a 5'10" tall woman with broad shoulders. I was once wearing brown steel-toed work boots, baggy mens jeans, and a huge black poncho that went down to my knees. It was a pouring rainstorm - I am not even sure how the men driving by knew I was female! Yet men in passing trucks still slowed…

I went to a small private college where the fraternity system was completely de-recognized in the 80's. I think it was not too toughto move them physically because all but two of the fraternities at that time were not located on campus, they were on surrounding streets.

Me too! I’m in my late thirties, and just sad that I haven’t been invited to MORE weddings!

Yeah, my best friend from back home has two kiddos in elementary school, and so much of their lives have been posted on Facebook. It has made all of the regular events of their lives - a day trip, a craft project, etc. - into performances as well. Some part of any event is always spent on documenting and publicizing…

Yes - and don’t forget female carpenters/women in construction! I do newsletters for my organization (in green building), and try to use pictures that represent the wide diversity in our industry. But I have long since given up on using stock photo companies because they are so bad - I just take lots of pictures…

See I’m hoping that Hillary has had to be more moderate all her life because she’s a woman and obviously has to downplay what she really thinks (like me in every work meeting ever). So I’m hoping once she hits the highest office in the land, she quickly becomes gives-no-fucks-Hillary.

I also felt my Barbies were vain. I think I had absorbed a confusing mix of feminist ideals from one side of the family, and an idolization of the feminine ideal from the other. So I would dress my off-brand or uglier dolls in nice clothes, and my Barbies would wear clothes made from Kleenex, held on by spit. To me,…

Don’t stress! If you love it now, you will look back fondly on it later. I went to prom in 1994 and my dress choice was so freaking far from all of these pictured that I don’t know how I didn’t end up causing a scene or being featured in the school paper or something. I wore my mom’s wedding dress from 1978, with…

Awww!

Your story is amazing - I am in awe of your strength. Thank you for sharing, and I wish you safety and peace.

I didn’t know this about shoulders in petite sizes! Plus sizes have the opposite problem - everything is batwing and/or has shoulder seams that come halfway to my elbow. Makes me look sloppy as hell. Talbots Plus is a little too preppy for me, but I still snap it up on sale because they are one of the few brands that…

I work in the U.S. deconstruction industry, which is quite small, only a few decades old, and pretty male dominated (this year’s conference was maybe 85% male). This would never, ever fly with deconstruction folks. But we are quite different than the construction industry - people who like to salvage vintage lumber…

I applaud the effort to be gender-neutral with the shirts! I am picturing that you are offering a variety of colors and fits and cool designs, and are frustrated when the temp staff try to give the pink and purple shirts to women and the black, green, and navy shirts to men.

Today, I was coming home from work and listening Robert Siegel interview Senator Sherrod Brown about the Supreme Court pick. Siegel asked something like, “He’s pretty centrist. If he is not confirmed by the time the next president comes in, if they are a Democrat, do you think they should continue to support his…

At our store, replacing the toilet paper and paper towels is covered in the first hour of orientation. It is then covered again on the second day. Employees are told that no matter how hard they work, or how much they may try to impress senior staff with great ideas and friendly service, they can immediately kill…

I had never saw Siobhan spelled correctly as a child. I did know several girls with that name, but their parents were not Irish and had picked the name because there was a soap opera character with that name in the 1970's. Because they never saw it in print, they just made up the spellings themselves - Shivahn,…

I have heard lots of explanations for why lower-class folks are more creative with name spellings, and middle-class and wealthier folks prefer traditional names and spellings, but this is one that rang most true to me, based on my hometown friends who grew up very poor. From a 2012 article by Stephanie Pappas on…

I was once young and toned and thought I was having pretty good sex. But I had no idea! I am now fat and older and so is my sweetheart, and sex now is amazing.