Oh, Resplendent Effervescence, I feel you. For me, my deflated like for humanity has taken the darker road, where I'm less likely to take whatever glimmer of hope shows itself, and quicker to decry something as dead to me, forever and ever amen. You're sorry, Belvedere? I don't care. Keep your sorry. Fuck you and…

This, and thanks.

Do you credit your diminished experience of pain just to not being medicated? Or to being at home? Or in water? Can you share a little about what you have learned that can ease and support the birthing process? Because I truly believe that most women aren't looking for some easy way out, they're just looking for…

I second what Vagabondella wrote about the potential for cascading interventions. I also think that some women go the natural route for reasons similar to, like you said, why some people choose to run a marathon: it's a physical experience of being human that some people value and want to have. On the other hand,…

i can't believe you remember the pink shirt! i really think there was something sexually formative for me in that threadbare pink thermal shirt with the top buttons undone.

Skittery, big time. Played by a pre-Party-of-Five Michael Goorjian, and had maybe 2 or 3 lines, and a couple of solo singing lines.

For SURE. You guys are right, and you're talking about a level of respect and basic acknowledgement that we don't see a lot in our public figures. I was reacting initially to what seemed like an avalanche of "as if he couldn't get more perfect, he KNOWS SIGN LANGUAGE TOO!!" posts, which left me feeling like it was…

Eeshk. Guys? Am I going to get slaughtered for saying that I don't think Obama knows sign language? I LOVE me some Obama, and pretty much everything he or FLOTUS do makes me weak in the knees with gratitude that we have a president and first family who have active, nuanced minds and a sense of humor (not to mention…

Amber Tamblyn is my new spirit animal. Sorry, barn owl.

Oh man. I feel like that woman's little chin-to-shoulder tick is like a pre-murder tell.

I agree, and I think this whole situation is a lot more difficult and complicated than there seems to be room for in the narrative. It seems like the accepted summary of what happened was "closeted gay boy publicly outted by homophobic roommate posting hidden-camera sex tape online," but that's not what happened. …