Oh man when the main girl from across the road goes undercover as the quarterback. I WANTED TO GO TO MRS SCRIMMAGE SO BAD. Well, not go there because finishing schools sound awful but I definitely wanted to be friends with all of them.

But are we talking about naturopaths or homeopaths? It’s unclear whether the route these people are taking (based on the article) is alternative medicine or tinctures that someone prayed over.

I never caught that one but I agree it’s a travesty.

Oh man, this article made me so happy. I LOVE Korman and have always been so surprised that he somehow never went mainstream (I grew up in NY and — besides Jia and Jez commenters apparently — am the only one I know who read these books as a child).

It shouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t.

Bad casting. This show is about Latinas, not Asians.

No, they’re time traveling condoms.

I think Elle Fanning would be great in this role.

The contents of the box are remarkably comprehensive. I like that they include condoms, which is something a lot of people would overlook.

You’re right. I’m using the terms more interchangeably than I should.

I’m aware. But just because it’s now approved by the medical community doesn’t mean it didn’t start natural and that it isn’t given by naturopaths. I worked in medical research for a decade, I am not interested in getting involved in a debate on the internet about the merits of alternative medicines. I believe that it…

That’s not true. There are some herbal medicines that have been shown to have actual medical benefits.

Nah, I don’t buy that. Some naturopaths work in conjunction with medical doctors and focus on pairing with Westernized medicine rather than superseding it. They’re just less common than the other kind.

Katy Perry should not be allowed to let her grubby little vocal cords near 9 to 5.

I haven’t followed her before this but I’ll take your word for it on that. In my experience the vocal proponents of both sides of controversial issues usually suck. They often get so tired of being contradicted that they lose all nuance and ability to try to coax people to their side instead of banging them over the…

If that’s true (and this is a clear example of my speaking on something without reading all the background!), I fully retract and hope the other children end up with caregivers who will support and protect them.

Snake oil salesmen (and that’s essentially what these kind of naturopaths are) are very charming and convincing and I can entirely buy that these people thought they were doing what was best for their kid. I’m sure s/he had available legitimate looking “studies” from “journals” and “websites.”

There’s a really interesting AMA going on right now with an OB-GYN about natural parenting and pseudoscience that is worth checking out.

Not sure where you got fabulous apartment from or the suggestion that I had the run of any place — my sitter was a 50 year old woman who was a surrogate mother and far stricter than my own parents. Also I’m not sure driving through the South for 10 days (2 weekends, 1 week) and staying in econolodges qualifies as “the…

I grew up in NYC and when my parents were away (they both traveled a lot for work) we had a sitter or grandparent stay with us, sometimes for over a week at a time. This rule would have been completely incompatible with our lifestyle.And single parents, as you said, would be completely screwed.