Just out of curiosity, where was this in the world that you saw the turtle? I'm interested in musing upon what kind of turtle it was.

You and me both, friend! And I see turtles literally every day.

My people, all here on this thread. There are literally dozens of us!

I doubt that the fearsome foursome really stopped that many people from eating turtle soup. What they did do was get a lot of small red-eared sliders into people's homes as pets for a year or so, who then ended up in local waterways where they didn't belong.

They were too quick for me!

As a turtle biologist, I'd love to be able to say that turtles really are quite intelligent and that their reputation for slowness is undeserved, but…nah, they're pretty dim, for animals of their size.

Turtle and turtle egg poaching was (and remains) a problem in Mexico, to the point where, perhaps a decade or so ago, they launched a big campaign against it, with multiple Mexican celebrities (including models and luchadors) proclaming that they or their men did not need to eat turtle eggs.

Not too much to add to this post, though I do have a question - what's the most common turtle harvest in the US for sale in Asian markets? It's got to be red-eared sliders, yes? Wonder if they were ever considered tasty - I certainly don't remember hearing about them as a gilded-age delicacy (oh, and that reminds me…

I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about!

Indeed he is! Now we have commercial sign!

Finally, the article I was born to comment on - it's Tristan_99's time to shine! Give me all of your turtle questions!

I don't really have a comment on your situation, but I wanted to say "welcome!" and thanks for coming over here - it's fascinating to have a letter-writer on the site! Good luck!

Thanks! I do appreciate old-school message boards. For all their faults, they're still often shockingly better than certain (ahem) more modern commenting systems.

Thanks much for this - it was helpful. If nothing else, it helped me to realize that "AV Club After Dark" and "The Avocado" are the same thing.

So…what exactly was the question with that call? I'm genuinely curious.

Right back at ya. And basically everyone else here too.

I seem to have repeated many of your points (this comment just showed up for me). And yeah, it's also possible that Amber is worried that she's being "ableist" (that's the word, right?) by only being attracted to a certain physical type. It's a not-uncommon worry amongst many well-meaning young people.

I think that we all are missing some of the context of that quote. I haven't read the book or even that section, but third-person narration notwithstanding I think that the quote is likely to some degree from Amber's point of view - that's the language that she would use to describe herself. Similarly, the perceived…

Fair point - you want a response from Dan? Then you've got to skeaze your question up until it's entertaining enough to print.

Same here - about 19 years old when I started dating the woman who is now my wife, which would have made her about 21. And she was the one who brought up handcuffs and tying up and all of that. It's kind of crazy how much she trusted me, even after knowing me for maybe half a year.