I disagree. I have travelled (at great expense to myself) many thousands of miles for my friends' weddings, usually at times when it was very inconvenient for me to take off from school and work, and I have never not been genuinely happy to do so. I know that for me everyone's wedding has been a unique opportunity to…

That reminds me... This Maleficent movie could be fun: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt158731…

Thank you. I always feel like I'm taking crazy pills when people talk about Darcy as a beast archetype: a bad guy transformed by love. That doesn't happen in the book. There is no transformation. (In fact, I think the hallmark of all of Austin's novels is that people don't change in them. People are very simply what…

Thank you. I always feel like I'm taking crazy pills when people talk about Darcy as a beast archetype: a bad guy transformed by love. That doesn't happen in the book. There is no transformation. (In fact, I think the hallmark of all of Austin's novels is that people don't change in them. People are very simply what…

No. You don't give them any clue what the intervention is for. You just say generic things like, "You have a problem." "This has been going on for a long time ago, we just none of us wanted to see it." "I think it's been a slow slide..." Make them wonder if they are so deeply in denial that they don't even know what…

I seriously want to throw someone a surprise party but stage it as an intervention. Like invite them over and then solemnly greet them and lead them into the room where all their friends and family are. And then have everyone read out heart felt letters. And then have the last person be like... "Not... Happy…

My original post actually had nothing to do with "bravery."

Now I have to keep this comment. Because of the elegance with which you present your ideas, if nothing else.

This whole experience is blowing my mind. I just replied to another person who just asked me, in all seriousness, if I have studies or statistics proving that children aren't brave.

Ok. Again. For the thousandth time. I am not dissing children. I am not saying, "Hey... children are pussies."

It's very seventies. It is my favorite.

"No wonder everyone I know who majored in education said their training was more detrimental than helpful, or complained that it was clearly designed to take into account large, impersonal classes and low expectations."

Please reread the post you are replying to. I did not now say that she is capable of bravery. I very clearly said that the word brave doesn't have any descriptive value in this case. That it doesn't apply. That it makes no sense to use the word brave when talking about MY.

"Reading comprehension fail: I said not a thing about big university classrooms."

Here's the thing. Is there a way that Malala Yousef could have responded to these events that would NOT have been brave? If at any point growing up she had, say, become agoraphobic and stopped leaving the house altogether or even if she had become a spokesperson for the Taliban, would we then say that she wasn't…

You're probably right about me diluting my point.

Your posts are just becoming abusive at this point.

I didn't major in education. I don't have any degree in an education related field. And I'm not "a teacher."

Yeah. In general I am against allowing minors to participate in reality TV. But this seems like a case of people who didn't have that much to begin with taking advantage of a weird cultural phenomenon to improve their lives and secure their futures. I don't think any of these people are the type who hope, before it's…

No. Of course not.