She is such a self-righteous shit-heel. When Daniel Ortberg took over Dear Prudence, it took me a long time to even think about reading the column, because all I knew it as was “that place where Emily Yoffe calls women sluts”. She’s a complete and utter Serena Joy who is so filled with fucking malice that she’ll…

It sounds like you two just didn’t...mesh.

Mesh shirts are big ol’ YIKES, although the bouquet of roses sounds lovely. Someone picking you up from the airport feels like the definition of love--when I started dating my boyfriend, we both lived in Arlington, and I took the bus to Dulles to pick him up after Christmas. Sadly, against my better judgment, I…

This is why I try to take guys out for a very messy meal before we hook up--I want to make sure that they aren’t too fastidious in other pursuits. Threading the needle between “too precise” and “disgusting and sloppy”. 

The straight-outta-undergrad students were often so, so clueless about how clueless they were. It was terrible.

I refuse to date men with the same name as my dad (or my stepdad). The one time I broke this rule because the guy was hot--WHAT A SHOCKER, he turned out to be an emotionally-stunted man child who only called when he wanted something, just like my father! 

We hadn’t started dating yet, but we were at a friend’s Halloween party and kept talking. I had mentioned that I was going to leave at 1 AM to get some sleep before choir practice. We kept talking and flirting, and eventually he looked at his pocket watch (part of the costume) and said “Oh! It’s after one. Don’t you…

Men who drink gin. I used to joke* that my type was “tall skinny white boys who drink gin and don’t actually want to be with me”, but without fail, every guy who liked gin (and especially the ones who insisted that I just hadn’t had the ‘right’ gin yet) would get tired of me in short order, usually after blowing hot…

Exactly! And even if you could, people don’t have to be healthy to be human, to be treated with respect, or to be deserving of basic human dignity. 

Also, I just got a notification related to this thread, and I just wanted to say: I took your recommendation, and I found a WONDERFUL UU church in DC. I went the Sunday after this thread, and I’ve actually become a practicing Unitarian now. It’s been such a deeply beautiful and enriching experience, and I just wanted…

There was a PBS adaptation a year or two ago, starring Maya Hawke (now on season 3 of Stranger Things). 

It isn’t a betrayal of Jo to go to Europe--it was something they both wanted, and the relatives made it clear that they would rather spend that time with Amy than Jo, since Jo couldn’t pretend for a single visit that she would be an agreeable travel companion. And since Jo made it clear she didn’t want to marry…

Honestly, Gabriel Byrne could STILL get it—he remains fine as hell.

I will say, though, that Rachel stayed hella racist, and wouldn’t let her Congolese brother-in-law stay at the hotel. She was practical, yes, but also a racist piece of work. 

And truly, a talent for friendship is not to be underestimated. It makes life richer--especially important when your family is so insular and tightly-knit as the Marches. It also has the potential to open professional doors, something Jo didn’t appreciate until she lost out on the chance to go to Europe. 

This is so true! And Amy points out herself that she doesn’t see being able to perform good manners in the way rich people do as being incompatible with the moral underpinnings of all manners—namely, respect for other people and their comfort. She just thinks she should be able to have that AND a nice dress, and the…

Poor kid. Thank god someone is finally taking your concerns seriously, and trying to get him the help he needs. I’m so sorry your family is going through a hard time. Hopefully you’ve also got someone to talk to; this can’t be easy for you. 

I’ve had this happen to me too sometimes. I’m on antidepressants, which doesn’t help (I actually went on a lower dose because it was murdering my sex life). I’m also in a long-distance relationship, so I don’t actually get to have sex with my partner, but I want to make sure I haven’t forgotten how when I do get to see…

Until I met my boyfriend, I did basically all of my dating through apps (and drunkenly making out in nightclubs, but w/e). I met some really great guys and gals, a whole bunch of chucklefucks (par for the course in my old city), and generally had a pretty reliable series of people to go out for drinks with. 

Holy shit!