CW: Suicide

Agreed. I think we forget that not everyone is at the same starting line. I grew up in the rural southwest and we’re about a generation behind in a lot of areas, including knowledge about finances, college, health and fitness, and diversity issues. My family’s internet is DSL because that’s all that’s available and…

Agreed. Our general refusal to staff businesses appropriately so that people can actually take the time off they’ve earned without suffering for it is ridiculous. 

Right? I work in mental health and I have a wonderful and understanding boss. She approached me and expressed concern about burnout and encouraged me to take some time off. Great! But what I really need is 3-4 weeks and what I can afford is 3-4 days. I think that’s true for most Americans, since we get so little time…

Same. I’ve all but stopped visiting the site completely. A lot of commenters seem to have gotten greyed out over the last few months (maybe there was a Kinja thing I missed?) and the commentariat is really where the value is here. 

That’s the question. I’m halfway tempted to start paying again because I’d hate for this to be used as a reason to deny forgiveness and the program is such a cluster to start with. 

It was basically a pyramid scheme. The girls would be paid $200-400 to give a massage or they’d be paid the same amount of money to bring another girl with them who’d then give the massage in their place. A lot of victims became recruiters in order to avoid being further victimized. And he went through 3-4 different…

When I took my licensing exam (not the bar) we had to leave everything in a locker and weren’t allowed to take anything into the testing room. They took our finger and palm prints every time we left or returned to the room and the proctors has to visually inspect our forearms and the back of our necks each time as…

Side note: the virtual backgrounds don’t know what to do with curly hair, so curly folks are probably better off going with your actual background. Definitely makes us less distractingly Medusa-y.

To add to that, a lot of therapists are drowning in student loan debt. STEM students get paid for the professional internships they do during their training, but most therapists in training don’t get paid. Couple that with low wages for any kind of social service profession and it’s often a struggle to stay afloat.…

Judging you for good taste! She seems like she’d be so much fun to hang out with. I don’t think Tatum could keep up, but I’m sure he’d have fun trying.

“It causes me no harm or offense that people believe in imaginary beings. Why would it, unless I weren’t quite sure of my own beliefs?”

For me, I’m interested because it’s one of the only ways you can get insurance without actively working. Every time I start a new job, I worry about something awful happening in the gap between coverage, because even something small would bankrupt me. The idea that healthcare rests on your employment status is…

This. People are fucking dying: in school shootings, as a result of lack of medical and mental health care, etc. Hell, my retirement plan is suicide because despite having a PhD and making a decent living, I’ll never get out from under my student loans and my retirement savings are paltry because of that. I understand…

Agreed, but I’m also one of those assholes who thinks people’s pets should stay home. I flew through SEA-TAC during the winter holidays, though, and they had some of the best crowd control I’ve seen. Roving performers who were silly but not over the top made it a lot harder for people to have meltdowns, they didn’t…

Work culture really is the culprit. I don’t have kids and I fully support paid parental leave, but we also need to get back into the habit of hiring temps when someone’s out or decreasing workload expectations. I don’t want to be the kind of asshole who resents parents and parental leave, but having to regularly do…

Y’know, I thought a food chopper might be a good solution, but the last time I used one I managed to injure my boob. “The food chopper did it!” is both a hilarious and unbelievable explanation when your partner asks where that giant hickey came from. (And thanks for the recipe advice!)

Exactly! I’m a horrible cook with minimal interest in improving because the learning curve is so steep. When you have no knife skills or sense for spices or cooking times, every recipe feels like a battle you’re going to lose. But a lot of the BA folks don’t seem too preoccupied with getting it right; they’re there…

Seconded. Gawker and Jez were my primary reads but all the blogs were in my rotation. I’ve been reading here for at least ten years and while I may not have been super active, I always felt like a part of an awesome community. Without knowing it, y’all got me through a PhD, losing a few family members, a couple of…

Agreed. I honestly enjoy grocery shopping, but I live in a city people than space and Mad Maxing it is a pretty apt description. Pickup at my local store is $4.99 and it’s damn near the best money I’ve ever spent to retain my sanity and limit my hatred of humanity. (But sweet bippity I’ll be happy when I move and can…