Hey gals and guys, just a note - if you're wondering where some of your old Jezzie friends have gone, you might check out [yippayap.com] It's sort of an independent alternate groupthink forum, with a generally positive vibe. New posters are always welcome! #Groupthink
If you are leaving Jez, continue joining some of us over at [yippayap.com] Good times, very little drama. #Groupthink
Quick note - Bobby Brown = ex-husband of Whitney Houston. Bobbi Kristina Brown = their daughter. Bobbi Brown = famous makeup artist, no relation.
I think it would be pretty easy to figure out. It's basically just a knit beanie, with the top decrease section worked in a contrasting color and a little nub of i-cord on top. I now want to find a pregnant friend to give one to.
As a fellow Kentuckian, I can testify that the folks behind Kentucky for Kentucky and the Kick Ass Kentuckian campaign are awesome. I have one of their posters with Daniel Boone. Mostly I just want to say "Wooo Kentucky."
Now, they need to get on a Johnny Depp poster (another kick ass Kentuckian).
Mindy! My question is about writing - what was the hardest part about writing your book? Ideas? The discipline to actually do it? Did you write it in your pajamas at 3 a.m., or in a nice neat orderly manner at a desk during normal person waking hours? Or were you a mysterious chick typing away in a coffee shop? Basically, what's your writing style?
Our coldest season comes after Christmas here, so I think I might sew up a bunch of fleece scarves and do this. Brilliant idea!
If anything, layaway is more responsible. It doesn't carry huge interest fees the way my credit card does (yes, I weep daily about my credit card balance, and wish I'd had the good sense to pay cash on installment for things, rather than charge them).
Seriously. I wish someone would give me a bunch of money just so I could go do something like that.
I would just look for a big box store near you that does layaway, and call to ask. They might be different stores, but I'm betting someone up there does layaway.
First off, there's no reason for anyone to get moralistic about layaway. There's no shame in using layaway. It lets you pay stuff off without credit card charges, and lets you lock in early sale prices or secure merchandise before it's sold out. It's a lot more economically sound than charging everything on a high-interest card. Heck, I thought about using layaway myself, to lock in some good early season prices on a few things I wanted to get. Layaway isn't for profligate spenders, but for people who need to break stuff up into a few payments.
Second, I can get behind this. Little kids don't understand that they might not get gifts because their parents, for whatever reason, don't have a lot of money. They generally believe that Santa or whoever/whatever is going to pull through, and if it doesn't work out then they are going to be sad. Whatever the cause of their parents' economic situation (and in this economy there are so very many possible reasons), it's not the fault of the kids, so I can totally get behind making Christmas a little brighter for them.
I'm not rolling in extra dough, but this makes me want to head down to my nearest big box store and chip in on someone's account. If it's the difference between some kid getting a doll or truck on Christmas morning, or being humiliated because he or she is the only person in their class who was skipped by Santa, I'll pony up to make their day.
A lot of anti-abortion/anti-choice advocates are also anti-birth control, which kind of gives the lie to their "concern" about women's well-being.
A friend of mine is currently pregnant, with a very much wanted child. But she is having some serious complications - high blood pressure, full-body swelling, body parts turning red and hot, general bad stuff. She has been admitted to the hospital a couple of times, and now at about 30 weeks pregnant is on full bed rest in the hospital with 24/7 monitoring until delivery - which they're trying to stave off as long as possible, while also pumping her full of steroids to encourage lung development in the fetus. She has had to withdraw from law school, and isn't sure when she will be able to return, depending on when the baby is born and what her health and the health of the baby are like. She is okay with rescheduling her life, because she wants to be a parent and to ensure the best medical outcome for her and the baby, but she is terrified and completely physically and emotionally miserable.
Pregnancy can be scary. If she were doing this under coercion, it would be completely horrifying. To everyone who says "if you don't want the baby just carry it to term and give it up for adoption" I would point to cases like hers, where life comes to a total stand-still and the woman faces real danger to her health from the pregnancy. Pregnancy is a big huge deal, and nobody should go through with it who doesn't want to. The more friends I see who have gone through difficult pregnancies, difficult births and general life-altering stuff surrounding being pregnant, the more pro-choice I become.
Pregnancy can be scary. If she were doing this under coercion, it would be completely horrifying. To everyone who says "if you don't want the baby just carry it to term and give it up for adoption" I would point to cases like hers, where life comes to a total stand-still and the woman faces real danger to her health from the pregnancy. Pregnancy is a big huge deal, and nobody should go through with it who doesn't want to. The more friends I see who have gone through difficult pregnancies, difficult births and general life-altering stuff surrounding being pregnant, the more pro-choice I become.
As someone who's getting married soon, I think you speak the truth. I love my partner, I really truly do. I am romantically and physically attracted to him. But there is no flippin' way I would marry him if I didn't know we're also good general life partners. We have complementary strengths, work well together, like each other a lot as people, and have lots of respect for each other. I like to think those are the things that will keep us together even if we're annoying each other or not feeling particularly interested in sex for a while.
I agree that this is pretty common, particularly among my parents' and grandparents' generations. My mom was the stay at home parent and my dad worked long hours sometimes at his job, so she did the bulk of childcare and housekeeping. He did hang out with us a lot and fix breakfast every morning, which was considered pretty progressive at the time.
My grandparents both had super duper traditional arrangements, even though both of my grandmothers also worked outside the home. The women did all kid stuff and all things pertaining to the cooking and serving of food, organizing the house, cleaning, etc. To this day my grandfather doesn't even know where to find a saucepan in his own kitchen.
My grandparents both had super duper traditional arrangements, even though both of my grandmothers also worked outside the home. The women did all kid stuff and all things pertaining to the cooking and serving of food, organizing the house, cleaning, etc. To this day my grandfather doesn't even know where to find a saucepan in his own kitchen.
I once attempted to buy a cottony bra in VS and was informed that it didn't come in my size "because, you know, this line is for young girls". I was about 25 at the time, and they said the Pink line was aimed at teens. In practice, though, I see an awful lot of tweens buying that stuff.
I grew up in a really rural and conservative area. As it turned out, I didn't have sex in high school, but had I wanted to get contraception my options would have been fairly limited.
Condoms are easy enough to get, right? They were sold at two drugstores in town, both run by friends of my parents. I wouldn't have felt comfortable buying them there. I could have driven 35 minutes north to the next nearest town, but that would require access to a car, gas, and an excuse to be out of town for the afternoon. Not every kid has that. The health department had them, but one of my relatives was the head nurse. She probably wouldn't have narced on me, but I wouldn't have risked it. No school nurse was available.
The pill would have required an Rx. I was a minor on my parent's insurance, so an undetected doctor's visit would have been hard. HIPAA wasn't a thing then, and even if it had been, I wouldn't have trusted the hometown doctor and his wife (the receptionist) to keep it quiet. Out of town doctors would have still required an insurance charge. And I would have had to, again, drive at least 35 minutes north on a regular basis to get the Rx filled. And it would have been pretty spendy without my parents' insurance. The nearest Planned Parenthood was almost two hours away. Not very doable for a lot of teens.
Had I needed an abortion, I don't know how I could have managed that. It would have meant at least a 2 hour drive. My state has a 24 hour waiting period, so that would mean driving 8 hours in two days back and forth, or getting a hotel room. No way I could have pulled off being gone that amount of time. And the money - what teen has $500-$800 hanging around?
So yeah, probably no shock there were lots of teen pregnancies at my school. The entire town wasn't very contraceptive-friendly.
Condoms are easy enough to get, right? They were sold at two drugstores in town, both run by friends of my parents. I wouldn't have felt comfortable buying them there. I could have driven 35 minutes north to the next nearest town, but that would require access to a car, gas, and an excuse to be out of town for the afternoon. Not every kid has that. The health department had them, but one of my relatives was the head nurse. She probably wouldn't have narced on me, but I wouldn't have risked it. No school nurse was available.
The pill would have required an Rx. I was a minor on my parent's insurance, so an undetected doctor's visit would have been hard. HIPAA wasn't a thing then, and even if it had been, I wouldn't have trusted the hometown doctor and his wife (the receptionist) to keep it quiet. Out of town doctors would have still required an insurance charge. And I would have had to, again, drive at least 35 minutes north on a regular basis to get the Rx filled. And it would have been pretty spendy without my parents' insurance. The nearest Planned Parenthood was almost two hours away. Not very doable for a lot of teens.
Had I needed an abortion, I don't know how I could have managed that. It would have meant at least a 2 hour drive. My state has a 24 hour waiting period, so that would mean driving 8 hours in two days back and forth, or getting a hotel room. No way I could have pulled off being gone that amount of time. And the money - what teen has $500-$800 hanging around?
So yeah, probably no shock there were lots of teen pregnancies at my school. The entire town wasn't very contraceptive-friendly.
You would not believe the stuff I have randomly tossed behind speakers to make the backdrop look decent for TV. Any kind of official-looking books are good, random plants from other people's offices, beakers full of pointlessly dyed water for scientists, a Nalgene water bottle to add a blur of color, whatever. One of my clients has this one little bitty bookshelf in their conference room and I always set them against it for interviews. Anything photographs better than a plain beige or white wall.
I'm not even from a big family, and my grandmother goes through at least four names before she gets to mine.
I think we should still support freedom of choice in the legal sense, in that no law should impinge on a woman's right to either bear or not bear a pregnancy.
But on a personal level, I'm totally fine with saying that this is insane, and because they have put themselves in the public eye they are basically opening themselves up to criticism. And personally, I think it's arguable how much choice she actually has in the matter given the tenets of their religion and its emphasis on men as head of the household.
But on a personal level, I'm totally fine with saying that this is insane, and because they have put themselves in the public eye they are basically opening themselves up to criticism. And personally, I think it's arguable how much choice she actually has in the matter given the tenets of their religion and its emphasis on men as head of the household.
