I don’t disagree with much of what you’ve said, but this is a problem:

I *may* have named a black cat Blackie when I was a child. In my defense, I was 5 and maybe not very creative. In my parents’ non-defense, why did they let me??

Yeah, this really doesn’t read to me like a dig at Kate Middleton, though. On the one hand,

I haven't been following this super closely, but didn't it only come out because his wife secretly recorded him during their couples counseling sessions together and he spoke about it then?

Another fine option - I approve!

We've got 8-packs, 2 for $7 (just local grocery store, not Whole Foods). There are some pros and cons to living in the rural Midwest, but this is all pro.

Does Diet Coke taste good? Not exactly. But drinking non-diet sodas just makes my mouth feel gross, as though my teeth are covered with a sugary film that's going to start rotting and giving me bad breath within minutes. That said, I've recently discovered the delight that is La Croix sparking water—unsweetened, with…

There was a loooong discussion about this on another Kitchenette post recently. The order you describe is only weird if you assume that the only reason someone would order a Diet Coke is to save calories. But many of us actually like the flavor of Diet Coke better.

"Turning into the culinary skid" is officially my favorite phrase I've read all day (and I'm grading intro-level college essays, so this might be an actual compliment. Then again, it's not a high bar to clear).

Calling them "boyfriend jeans" isn't only a problem when we do it with babies' clothes, it's just more obvious.

I realize I'm coming late to this conversation, but: one of the objections that POC have made to the focus on equal wages for men and women is that, for, say, Black women, having wages equal to those of Black men would not be much of a victory. Equal pay laws that focus on gender but ignore larger issues of economic…

My (lazy) solution has been: tucking my shirts in.

I got this one (Angelica), too. Not only is it a terrible match for my actual lingerie "personality" (what, there wasn't a sports bra option for sporty lesbians?), but it's really, really creepy. More like the softest blush of roses playing peek-a-BOOOOOO, Britney.

I can't speak to your question about whether this is a cyclical issue, but I will say it's fairly complicated. The construction of sex=biology, gender=culture is a useful way to get students thinking critically about some of the differences they might believe to be natural, which is great in a Gender Studies 101-type…

"Woman" or "man" will do, when a noun is needed. Masculine/feminine for adjectives. For me, it's not just a question about grammar and parts of speech. Part of what they're supposed to learn in my class is the distinction between biological sex (where male/female is more appropriate) and culturally constructed gender, …

As someone who teaches social science courses on gender, I will say that I get the "females" and "males" language a lot on student papers. I've tried to explain it to them—oh, how I've tried!—but I think some of them are trying so hard to use formal language that this female/male language becomes some sort of a tic.

... actually, plenty of folks I know from Andover (and other northeastern prep schools) are college professors, city planners, comedy writers, run programs for gifted low-income youth, became nurses and physicians, and went on to do all sorts of other jobs—many of which focus on contributing to the public good (and…

Low-income women deal by paying through the nose for menstrual supplies, or by hoping that someone has donated those things to their local shelter/food pantry/charity. I wonder, also, whether low-income women might be at higher risk for toxic shock syndrome, if they try to "stretch" their tampons to last longer than…

Ah, thanks for catching that! I was, indeed, thinking of FSAs—that'll teach me to post before double-checking my terminology :)

I would assume birth control is eligible for HSAs because it's a prescription. I know I'm allowed to use my HSA for contact lens solution. What I'm less sure about—and what I was referring to—is whether tampons, pads, Diva Cups, etc. can be bought with HSA pre-tax money. I'm pretty sure they can't, though if anyone…