To be fair, literally all of us have reaped the benefits of previous animal testing. Everyone. Doesn't mean we can't want such testing to stop.

Uh, no. It’s not like, well over here we have a pile of our American dollars. That funds our cruelty-free products. Over here, we have our Chinese yuan. Those fund our animal testing. It’s not that she doesn’t want to end up with an eye shadow that was tested on an animal. It’s that MAC has had a policy of not testing…

Well, as someone who has been in the field of humane education myself for decades and as someone who ran a no-kill animal shelter for twelve of those years, I can tell you that it is exactly the same thing. Shelter and animal rights work is thankless, often horrifying, discouraging and there are no fortunes to be made.

It’s good that she keeps abreast of these things.

Yep, at least we have pretzels to soak up all the tears.

Pennsylvania - The Northern Florida

Reminds me of a helpful truth my dad old me as a teen.

I’m afraid I don’t know of this essay, but I can speak from the other side of the matter. Now that I’m middle-aged, I find that always having been plain at least affords the advantage of having an identity and self-worth not based on your looks already in place. Good luck trying to convince anyone it’s an advantage…

That’s because it’s true. For every dancer out there on the court, there are at least 100 others who would take her spot in a second. Further, they could fire the entire team, replace it with a new one the next night, and 90+% of the fans would never notice.

I think that’s the main reason why they’re paid jack shit. The supply of willing dancers is great, and there’s only so many teams. Cheerleaders as a whole would have to strike, and somehow prevent scabs from taking their spots. I’m not sure if that’s feasible.

It would be great if the creepy dude ended up being Ballmer because, you know, he is a creepy looking dude.

He's probably sober by now, though no less creepy.

Once, in my own time as a musical theater kid, a choreographer taught me how to “spot,” or keep my balance while pirouetting: to find a place to focus on and keep my eyes there, no matter how quickly I turned. At the end of a series of spins, you will always end up at the place you have been spotting. This is what…

The creepy dude was waiting for her at her car? And.... then what? Is he still waiting there?

This might be a stupid question, but why are women subjecting themselves to this? What is the plus to this? These women can fight back and insist on a pay raise, but why fight to be a cheerleaders at all? This is like on the level of pageantry to me. It all just seems so outdated and offensive.

Do you think most of the women do this because they love dancing and cheering, or are they looking to get their foot in the door to be the next Paula Abdul or find the right rich man to marry? I’d imagine cheerleaders meet a lot of rich, powerful men who might give them an audition or other opportunity they might not…

So is this a continuing story, or did it just end abruptly with no resolution

Trust me. No one can. I am secretly hoping Kansas has been a blue state for the last couple elections and it’s just rigged machines. Kansas City is pretty liberal, even parts of the state are at least libertarian. Like Lawrence is super liberal, tons of teachers and unions etc. They are recommending paper ballots…

And yet you continue to visit the site and comment on articles.

He’s just a whore. He can be whatever the people he is trying to woo want him to be. He is the personification of a majority of the Republican party at the moment because he wants their vote. If he wanted your vote, he would probably be super cool and wearing a Bucky Barnes outfit. (?)