Yes!!! When I talk makeup with my friends and say I have bad skin, or talk about the different products I wear because of my skin, or go shopping for makeup and explain that I have terrible fucking skin, everyone always says "You don't need all that makeup! Your skin is so beautiful!" Yes, I know it looks beautiful!…

In my opinion, "Thin-shaming" falls under the same category as misandry and reverse-racism. It's not to say that it doesn't happen or that it doesn't exist, but what people need to realize is that when you come from the perspective of the privileged class, there's a huge difference in (pardon the pun) weight being…

Here's the thing about this that no one ever seems to talk about: most upper middle/upper class students, and even many middle class students, are given access to lots of preparatory materials/classes. Parents see it as worth the money because it's a huge part of determining their kids' college options, so this…

The main differences are:
The ACT tests higher level math where the SAT does not.
The SAT tests higher level vocabulary (seriously, like, shit you'd never need to know in real life) where the ACT does not.
The SAT requires an essay where the ACT essay is optional.
The SAT is theoretically an intelligence test and the…

That's another huge problem with the tests. They are testing endurance just as much as they are allegedly testing "reasoning skills" or "aptitude." They also essentially test your access to resources at the time of the test and as you were growing up. I can't tell you how many kids I can't help much on the reading…

I take similar issue with the "Bechdel Test" for women's characters in literature—as a female writer (and a person who hates having to use the phrase "as a writer") I'd like people to kindly lay the fuck off of how I'm supposed to write female characters. For real, putting all these weird rules on how women (but not…

Yeah, I did the retin-A micro for a few years, but it aggravated my skin too badly. I was acne free, but my skin looked like a peeled red pepper, even on the lowest dosage.

If you'd told Joe McCarthy we'd be playing Domestic Policy Gay Chicken with Russia in 2013, he'd have skipped the hearing and had you committed for your own safety.

And all Russia had to do was give one guy asylum!

tuition is also climbing. I was a freshman in 2001. Back then, you could comfortably pay your tuition by working and going to school.

Can I brag, just a little? I got some good news this week, but it's not the sort you can tell your friends or coworkers. I had a physical the other day, and found out that I have officially crossed the borderline from "obese" (according to the BMI chart) to "overweight". The doctor even said my weight wasn't a…

Does the report also look at outcomes for women who report rape? When I worked at a uni years ago it was quite common for the men to graduate and the women to drop out due to stress of having to be on campus with the accused, pressure from the accused friends, PTSD, etc.

Whoa, wait a minute. I'm in this movie?! Cool. Oh, whoops, I didn't see the part about "in Hollywood". Let's see now...

Seriously, Donnie, don't you have anything better to do?

No, you're not (it's ok, I can laugh at myself...and if you say the word often enough, it starts to sound weird and lose meaning, you know what I mean?)

As kids, the sibling and I both went through that phase where you say something mean and follow it with, "Just joking!" Mom explained the concept pretty well:

Asking other people for money to spend on car insurance, or the mortgage, or to put in a retirement fund is even worse. People who aren't having weddings need to do those things just as much as you do, and considering them allowable expenses just makes people ask for more, keep asking for those things when it would…

I mean, by way of example. My boss went to a silver store and bought me this (really, quite ugly) silver platter for our wedding. I could have thought, "why didn't he buy me a platter I registered for?" But of course I didn't! I thought, "How nice of him to go pick out something he thought I'd like."

The idea is you throw a party that you can afford, invite the people you really want to be there because you love them and want to celebrate them and do what you can to make them comfortable, within your budget. Period. Their presence is the celebration of your marriage and you're responsible for doing things that…

If we're going to talk about how class enters into wedding gift giving, then let's make sure we do it properly: many people give gifts (even, gasp, off-registry gifts!) because actual gift-gifts can be found at a bargain, and they cannot afford to give a cash gift that they don't feel embarrassed by. A gift is a…