Fun fact: the reason abortion the abortion debate is so closely tied to fundamentalist Christianity in this country is that a group of fundies agreed to support the Catholic Church’s position on abortion if the Church would support their’s on segregation (hint: they were pro-segregation). Before that, in some areas…

Is that her in the photo? Did she cut her own bangs?

Also, if you’re going to throw it into a glass of vodka it probably can’t hurt you too badly, unless it’s really rotten.

OMG stupid Starbucks customers. I worked in frappuccino-heavy stores, and would regularly have this exchange:

Simultaneous thought in all three of their heads: “You know, if I don’t look directly at them, they might disappear.”

Basically. It’s probably some comment on the Roman occupation.

Mythology is weird. Try reading Russian fairy tales sometime. The Bible will be the most obvious thing in the world after that.

“We are many” is absolutely a quote from the Bible. And since it’s a quote from the Bible it was obviously said by Jesus and not, oh, an entire legion of demons. That’s like 15oo demons. So good on Kim Davis for being familiar with her holy writ.

So, D&G is employing overcaffeinated Michael’s craft instructors as designers now? Or did they just give a 5 year old some polished rocks and a glue gun?

I think the major issue is marketing them as “girls’” and “boys’” costumes instead of just “kids’” costumes. Your absolutely right—when your kid is 3 there’s really no physical difference between genders that would affect their clothing, so there’s no reason that parents can’t just say, “Hey, do you want to be a…

The Catholic Church isn’t really the best at actually doing what the New Testament says, either.

Jesus had some pretty choice things to say about people who want the front seat at church, too. So, there’s that.

My name is Maggie. Through about 7th grade there was a group of boys that called me Maggot. I actually got along with most of them pretty well, so I always took it as the kind of affectionate insult/nickname elementary school boys give each other.

I met one of my former BFs through his childhood friends, who all call him a diminutive of his name (say, Ricky). So that’s what I call him, except then we moved to a new city and he started introducing himself by his full name, so now everyone there, including is current girlfriend, calls him “Richard” or “Rich.”

If it were a Victorian novel she just would have died.

The first thing I thought of when I saw the photo of the dog was Fred Willard’s line about “the one with the best grooming.”

It really is.

I mix mayonnaise into my ketchup sometimes because it’s like cheap thousand island and I’m a barbarian.

Great piece! I always think about this history when people talk about boycotting nail salons. There must be a way to insist on fair treatment of workers without demonizing their bosses, who are usually also immigrants that worked their way up through the same or worse unfair conditions.

Your MIL sounds kind of awesome.