Ooh, this sounds like an ex of mine (I know...) except Italian/Peruvian and Brooklyn. Really though, where are your black friends from Bay Ridge (!) who said it was cool?

Just give me a cookie and a paper business card and get out of my face. I hate promotional trash.

You’re right. Plastics can be recycled into lower-quality plastic. Glass can be remade more easily and I think it depends one the type of metal how good the process is.

At my local store (and the one I used to work at), I would stop at a register on the way in and have them weigh my containers and write down the tare weight. I write the tare weight on the thing so every time I need to refill, it’s already done. It’s standard practice for bulk bins; don’t feel too weird about it.

Miiiiike, this is so sweet. I’m glad you got to experience this with your kid. My dad and I also started playing games together when I was 7 so this really punched me in the heart.

Very very true. It’s shocking that more white people are unaware when it’s so obvious. But their entire way of seeing the world is predicated on what they’re taught (or not taught) about how different people are treated. White people DO need remedial activism because there are some ignorant people who will be swayed…

God, this is so much like the old Sunday dinners my dad’s family used to have at Grandma’s. Except holidays were easier in a warmer climate. Send the kids outside to eat on the deck where all the sodas and secret beers are. Also it was always 100 degrees in the house no matter how cold it was outside.

I know some of you are surprised that this letter, but have worked with some real dumbasses in my time. There were always one or two of these people at each service or retail job I’ve had. They were always bouncing from job to job complaining that they “had to be fake for money.” “Being fake” = wearing appropriate…

Weeeeeell, he also gifted me a sense of unease and insecurity so I went in the opposite direction and became a perfectionist. I am recovering from that still.

I desperately want this story about Dee’s mom. Also, nice library.

My dad was an engineer so he attempted to drill this type of thinking into me early.

CLT has a tequila bar right across from the BBQ place now. It’s also near the rocking chairs and piano. Buuuuut getting picked up in CLT is insanity on a weekend. I waited almost an hour for my partner to get through the line of cars while the lady directly traffic went ballistic on people.

Duke always surprises me--she’s kind of sociopathic. I keep thinking her character is younger than she actually is because her thing is that she acts like a baby to manipulate Sam. But then her treatment of these other kids made me think “holy crap, Duke is actually pretty messed up.”

I was also that kid. My teeth are great!

I agree with Pang about Sour Patch Kids. I love the flavor, but the texture makes me disappointed and angry. There’s an “organic” candy company that makes Sour Heads or something and they used to have a much nicer gummy texture. They recently changed the texture to approximate SPK and it ruined my whole day.

Those are some tasty-looking trilobites.

Oh my god, why hasn’t this movie been made yet?? Call Sandra Bullock. Make sure Rupert Holmes gets a cameo.

I was raised by a librarian and this is pretty much how it went. We had a house full of books and an old encyclopedia. When Windows 95 came out, my parents started referring me to the computer for info. They taught me how to ask questions and explore the things I was interested in. They also taught me how to look at…

Oof, so real. 

Drunk on that usher power!