The city I live in has three elementary schools. We’re in a pretty white part of the country, so every school has a very large majority white students. But of the three, the lowest performing school (probably in large part because the poorest neighborhoods go there) is also the most diverse. Most people want to get…

My father in law would have thought it was wonderful if my husband had been having a sexual relationship at 13. Probably not if it was a teacher and probably not if she got pregnant, but some men are deeply invested in their sons’ “sexual prowess”. And my mother in law just went along with whatever my father in law…

I read about a study several years ago where they sent three groups of subjects to doctors. Group one went in with a set of symptoms. Group two went in with symptoms and also asked the doctor if there was a drug they could take to relieve them. Group three went in with symptoms and asked the doctor about a specific…

My cousin has been battling schizophrenia for about 25 years now and the toll it has taken on his family is horrible. They have gone to such lengths to help him as his condition has worsened. All I see there are parents and siblings who love him, who are desperate to help him find some kind of peace and stability. To…

This is why Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney is one of my favorite children’s books. The main character never marries and has no children but the book presents that as a perfectly wonderful choice a person could make. And in the end, she is shown making a huge impact on her community and having a close relationship…

Do you think Michael Steele is off somewhere laughing his ass off? Because I feel like I would be were I him.

Everybody deals with a miscarriage differently. I had a miscarriage (of a deeply wanted pregnancy) at 6 weeks and, while I was really depressed for a few weeks after, I don’t really think about that pregnancy any more, or think about the fetus (embryo? zygote?) either. I have a friend, on the other hand, who also had…

I would bet money that he doesn’t even know enough about Cinco de Mayo to make that error.

This is why this election is going to be so unsettling. The GOP’s advisors are going to keep trying to domesticate him and it’ll work for a day or two and then he’ll be back to his real, ridiculous self.

“Make America Fair Again”? When was that magical time that America was fair?

I knew someone who is (or was—not sure if she is still) a producer on WWYD. She was a friend of a friend and had one of the most wonky moral compasses I’ve ever encountered.

Okay, well, that’s slightly less distressing, but it just sounds like a great way to wind up with uncomfortable dryness.

OH MY GOD, WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT?!

I am old enough to be the mother of someone born in 1996 or 1997. I mean, I would’ve been a teen mom, but still. I don’t like to think of myself as old but, uh, I might be.

I think it’s not so much that there are a significant number of people who will go see a movie because of the star. I think it’s more that Entertainment Weekly will be more interested in interviewing Scarlett Johannsen about her new movie than another actress with no name recognition, which amounts to free publicity.…

In fairness, I’m sure it’s a hell of a lot easier to raise the cash to get the movie made if it stars Scarlet Johansen than if stars an Asian actress without name recognition.

I really appreciated that season 2 began with a swimming scene. They really could have waited longer before toweling off, though.

He has a podcast called Scriptnotes, and it’s very good if you find writing or the business of Hollywood interesting at all. He does occasionally address the Ted Cruz thing, and is always very funny. He said that he receives about 6 calls a week from various TV news organizations to come on and talk about Ted Cruz but…

That is a pretty big upside. Nevermind. I revise my earlier position. Colloidal silver for everyone!

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that “natural” and “organic” become more popular at the same time that religion declines. People want assurances that everything will be okay, and there are lots of people (priests, “natural” practitioners) that will promise that if you are pure enough, everything will be fine. It’s…