I think we've interacted before regarding our abusive, mentally ill mothers, and I (once again) totally agree with you. And honestly, even if he DIDN'T have control over his actions, my sympathy will always be with the victims (a category in which the attacker will never be included in my mind). Once someone is the…

I totally agree! I get agita every time I see the word "flushable" on the packages. Or see those commercials (that they've got in Canada anyway) with that British woman talking about bums and how they ought to be clean and can only become so with this totally "flushable" product. Also, this is a non sequitur, but is…

I loved this show!! When I was twelve. I had a huge crush on Jake. I didn't realize the show was Canadian, but in retrospect, of course it is.

Yeah! Rules like this create two classes of girls on the basis of something they can't control (their shape and size of their physical bodies): those who are allowed to wear more comfortable summer wear (not-crewnecks, not-thick strapped tank tops, maybe because their bras don't need to have industrial-strength…

As an almost-Canadian sitting on the floor of my sauna-like 15th-floor Toronto apartment, I was about to fire off an indignant reply and then I read yours and was like...yeah. So true! :)

Ooh, I encounter those a lot because I like classical music and know much more about it than about most other kinds. I was brainwashed to like it at an early age by rabidly Narcissistic parents, but to be fair to them, they actually liked it because they liked it, not because it's Culture or something. I tried hating…

YES. My examples are less universal then yours, but it reminds me of a phenomenon I've encountered at the Early Years baby drop-in centre I frequent (I'm in Canada), which is in a sort of hipsterish urban neighborhood. They have stroller parking outside with bike locks, as opposed to in the large secure area outside…

I know, right? I actually gave wrap dresses ONE last chance when I was breastfeeding, which was a big mistake. When I found that safety pins looked kind of awkward on me, I sewed on snaps or hooks, which ended up looking just as awkward, since the two sides of the torso part (thorax? LOL) of the dresses were…

I would happily yell this! Unironically, even.

Me too! I'm very hourglassy, and drapey loosey-goosey crap is not my best look. Nor is stretch fabric—they always recommend it for hourglass figures, and it's like, "sure, let me wear something that clings and drapes and highlights the minutest wobble of my boobs, that'll look SOOO PROFESSIONAL, guise!" (Especially…

No, I don't adore the massive gap between rich and poor in the United States either. But there is a larger one here (yes, I'm in Toronto) than is commonly advertised. I think it IS easier to be poor here than it is in the United States, but—given our particular situation—we WOULD most likely be able to find better…

I love that you named your trumpets, and also your trumpets' names. I'm inspired to name all my flutes now. Maybe I also ought to rethink Shira as a possibility for myself!

I agree with you completely. As someone who, currently and at times in the past, has far less money than my education and experience and even appearance would indicate, I end up with friends with similar interests and education but who have never been anything but solidly upper-middle-class and just don't get it. I'm…

Yeah, writing this out I started feeling kind of cheated! I'm considering changing my name, just because fresh start from abusive upbringing, yadda yadda, but I guess Shira (or She-Ra?) was still my mother's idea, so it's probably still out. Unfortunately.

Ugh, yes. I lived in Europe in a commune with locals. This was a very egalitarian culture, and the commune was full of supposedly progressive and egalitarian hippies. I lived on the bottom floor, and my neighbor was a close female friend of mine who was generally irritable and nervous and quieted her nerves by…

Mr. Chortcake is not American, and comes from a very patriarchal culture, but does do a bunch of chores unbidden (frequent cooking, all the catbox drudgery, uneven, insufficient-yet-efficient blitz cleaning when we have guests, the heavy lifting parts of the laundry because I still have physical postpartum issues).…

Thank goodness for that—our baby's going to have an ironclad immune system in that case.

My mother said that she had planned on naming me Shira (which means "song" in Hebrew—we're Israeli-American among other things and it's my first language) when I was born, but that the L&D nurse said in a very nasal, American accent, "SHEE-rah? What kinda name is THAT?" And my mother realized that nobody would ever…

That is a wonderful way to put it!

Amen! I've always had migraines, bloating, and intermittent weight gain. I go and live in Europe, lose lots of weight, and feel better. I eat extremely healthily and modestly in North America too, and got the same amount of exercise as I did in Europe, so it's not the "Americans cut out Big Macs and go for actual…