Thanks. It’s so hard to think of him as geriatric; to me he’s still my little boy! But he had a malignant tumor on his leg a year ago, and although they seem to have gotten it all with no sign of recurrence, I understand the importance of what you say.

For those who don’t recognize it, this is from the English translation of the extremely famous, highly comforting 1845 German children’s book Struwwelpeter, by Heinrich Hoffman. It was first translated into English before 1850. Here are some pages from my copy of The English Struwwelpeter, dating back to about…

Very, very good advice. Especially since you can’t switch cars until the next stop, so you’re trapped with the overwhelming odor.

I think the parts of Washington Heights that were working class and Hispanic are still pretty much that; the parts north of 181st and west of Broadway never really were. There are even still some very, very old German Jews around, which is why the neighborhood was called Frankfurt on the Hudson! Ruth Westheimer still…

My orange boy, Ziggy, is 11. You’re making me worry!

I’m so, so sorry. Remember that he led a long and good life, and he was loved. And knew he was loved. What more could anyone ask. Also, he looks like such a good boy. I have an 11-year old orange boy myself, named Ziggy. I don’t know how I’ll manage when the time comes, since he’s my very first cat.

Congratulations! And don’t worry, fancy firms love hiring people from clerkships.

What’s next? Men giving advice on breastfeeding?

I also wanted to add that I NEVER commented on feminist websites back in the day — Feministe, Feministing, and so on — until after I transitioned. I may have known that I wasn’t a man, but I was still living as one (most of the time), and I simply felt uncomfortable at the idea of commenting in women’s spaces until I…

I always wonder why men like that — and other men who aren’t seemingly problematic at all — seem to get out of the grays in about five minutes, while on the other hand I’ve been commenting here for years and years, and people seem on the whole to like what I say, but I’ve NEVER been out of the grays at all. Not that…

I have to admit that my own first thought, every time someone advocates for “woman-only” spaces, is “what exactly is your definition of ‘woman’?” Because more often than not, it excludes trans women. Intentionally or otherwise. See the dubiously-named Double X blog, referred to above.

You don’t need to do better yourself. Except that if you have the opportunity, perhaps you can remind other cis women that it’s important to speak up. Because we can’t do it all ourselves, over and over again.

Sciences? You don’t think it’s just as bad in the humanities? (Except that I suppose there’s a much higher percentage of women professors.) And it’s certainly true of the legal profession. The partner who was my boss for almost 20 years at the last law firm where I worked was the most abusive, narcissistic asshole…

I agree. Which is why I’m quite cynical about all the cis women here who claim to be trans allies, but then sit on their behinds with their mouths firmly shut whenever a TERF shows up saying vile transphobic things, leaving it to trans women to defend themselves.

As I said, the transphobes are out in force today with their usual claptrap. Being a trans woman has nothing to do with “doing feminine things.” There are plenty of butch trans women and femme trans men. It has to do with gender identity. It’s not about gender roles or gender expression, or high heels and dresses, as…

I see the rabid transphobes are out in force today. Of course what you say is nonsense. The definition of “sex” encompasses far more than chromosomes.

Gender identity is innate. As scientific study after study continues to show. Gender roles and gender expression? A construct. So it’s not difficult at all to understand, for minimally intelligent people.

No, I’m not familiar with this, and I think it’s a wonderful idea. And long overdue. The hanging columns and the names — a bit similar to what I was visualizing. Perhaps the graphic photographs and other images should be left to museums and to memorial websites on the Internet, where they can be very powerful tools of…

It needs something like the Marshall Plan. If we could do that for Germany and Japan, we can do it for Puerto Rico, which by the way is part of this country.

I think it’s not only the shipping, but the inability to transport goods on all the roads that have been destroyed, especially to get to rural areas.