Just commenting to add in that, as a majorly depressed kid in a blue collar town, the fact I was one of the College Bound! ones was all that registered...as long as the grades were good, it was just “eccentric” and “you know, nerds are weird” and not “hey, this kid wants to die because of major issues.”

I’m really fascinated by this. In my family growing up, both my sibling and I (different genders) were expected to behave in the way you describe. In our case, it was because my mother had an unstable childhood and had no concept of how to raise children, but wanted to put a veneer on everything so we looked like an…

I have to admit the lowest and most predictable delight as this story keeps unfolding. It’s about the stupidest thing to get caught doing, and then every time they deny and double down...ah, sweet schadenfreud.

Your third point--so much. That kid really does deliver. I have no idea if it’s acting, directing, or just that the show went past characters into cardboard cutouts, but he sells it. 

This show has gone from must-watch to on-in-the-background, so I can’t disagree with your main point, but I didn’t think they botched it entirely. Maybe because I’m dealing with aging parent stuff myself, without Phil’s resources to just drop everything and hop a plane, but the mundane “are you okay” stuff (admittedly …

Very nice coverage.

I get the letters aren’t real and the advice is near-ironically always about increasing the tipping percentage, to draw clicks...but I enjoy this column. Some of this is stupid and fluff, but I appreciate a modern-day etiquette column in the guise of tip promotion.

The strange thing is, hearing these stories my brain somehow defaults to a 1970s imagery of bad-old-times, although I lived through the exact things in the neon 1990s but some part of me reasons “oh, things were better by when you were a teen...” even with explicit facts to the contrary in another part of my brain. 

That’s an interesting POV. Thanks for sharing. We’ve been starting a Women’s Bar Association and there’s some inter-generational strife...I think everyone means well, but there are some veteran “that’s just how it is” and youthful “no one should put up with that” groups that are having trouble coexisting. 

My parents were blue collar drones who wanted the best for their kids, but had been programmed their whole life that they were to shut up and work and not create a ruckus. So when teachers were unfair or corrupt or incompetent, they would still side with Authority over the child, because it’s Authority’s job to take…

I really appreciate you putting this out there. So many well-meaning people today don’t understand the power dynamics are very different than even a decade or two ago. 

edit: not worth it.

I hate to sound like an Old, even though I am...but I was part of the generation that watched morning Sportscenter for hours straight instead of going to undergrad classes. It wasn’t perfect, but it featured a lot more of a range of content than it does now. 

I meant the ESPN website. Which doesn’t give the scores. But thanks for being condescending.

I find JJ to be a giant self-promoting cornball but I’m moved by his tweet and publicly speaking up.

It sounds like that story about his manspreading on the subway when the full detail was it was a near empty car, but someone just wanted to say bad things about him.

I feel much the same way. My liberal acquaintances talk liberal talking points like health care reform or Mid East diplomacy. My conservative acquaintances want to yell about me for not being grateful about Trump.

Yeah, my MIL could maybe sell the newest Chico’s stuff if she could find other old ladies, but the worn-once outfits dating back to when she started working in the 70s...

I can break china by looking at it, so it doesn’t have a lot of value to me for daily use if it can’t survive the walk to the table. 

My parents, in planning to eventually move to senior housing, have been shedding stuff over the years. My in-laws...that scares me. (Well, for many reasons...) But as their kids grew up, they stopped getting rid of everything. Empty bedroom? Hang some shelves...now it’s a walk in closet. They have fifty years worth of…