Tragedy Is Not a Competition: How to Talk About Boston

Welcome to a very special episode of Friendzone, Jezebel's column devoted to dealing with the valuable people in your life who you're not humping. In this installment, we're tackling one from the comments on Boston: dealing with your sanctimonious friend who says we should reallllly be talking about [insert other…
For Team Newtown Strong, Boston Bombing Is a Tragedy Within a Tragedy
In the days and weeks that follow the Boston Marathon bombing, media outlets will begin the grim task of sorting through a matryoshka doll of personal tragedies, although one such doubly tragic storyline has already emerged: the race was dedicated to the 26 victims of the Newtown school shooting, and not only did nine…
Reporter Uses Boston to Make a Poorly-Timed Point About Abortion
That's what New York Magazine's Dan Amira suggested earlier today when he shared the following tweet Rubin sent a little more than an hour after news of the Boston Marathon explosions started making the social media rounds:
Boston PD: Marathon Explosions Are an ‘Ongoing Event’ [Update]
Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis has described the two horrific explosions at the Boston Marathon as part of “an ongoing event” after a third explosion occurred about an hour ago at the John F. Kennedy Presidential library, five miles southeast of the Boston Marathon finish line in Copley Square.
Young Couple of Expectant Parents Killed En Route to Hospital, Baby Survives
A pair of extremely young expectant parents were killed on Saturday night when the car they were taking to the hospital to deliver their child was struck at intersection in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood. That, unfortunately, is only the first half of the tragic set-up to a modern-day Dickens serial — their baby…
Monopoly Is Retiring One of Its Beloved Game Pieces Forever and It Better Not Be Fucking Shoe
Look. I don't even like Monopoly that much because it takes forever and, I don't know, I'm just not that tickled by recreational real estate brokerage. I'm more of a Game of Life kind of girl. (Runner up: Mille Bornes. CREVE!) But come on, it's MONOPOLY. It's America's game! You can't just go around changing it and…
Jacintha Saldanha’s Body Returns to India and the BBC Cancels Prank Patrol Down Under
The body of Jacintha Saldanha, the nurse who apparently killed herself over a prank phone call from two hapless Australian DJs looking to get details about Kate Middleton's pregnancy, is being escorted from the UK to Mangalore, India today by Saldanha's husband and two children. According to the BBC, the burial will…
A Very Brief Profile of Nancy Lanza Intimates That She Was an Overwrought Mother
The mother of Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old man police have identified as the gunman in Friday's horrifying massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., is quickly becoming an object of media fascination (and thoroughly sensationalized speculation) in the wake of a school shooting that that left 20…
Sadly, the Most Famous Alpha Female Wolf Was Shot and Killed by Hunters This Week
And now for some sad news from Yellowstone National Park — the New York Times reports that 832F, the very photogenic alpha female of the park's semi-famous Lamar Canyon, was shot and killed on Thursday beyond the park's boundaries thanks to state-sanctioned wolf hunts in Wyoming.
Let's Talk About Kasandra Perkins for a Change
A lot of people are talking about the murder of Kasandra Perkins. But not so many people are talking about Perkins herself. Maybe this is because she was murdered by a famous man, NFL linebacker Jovan Belcher, who subsequently killed himself—because we want to forgive our heroes, salvage their characters, and absolve…
Hospital Nurse Duped by Prank Phone Call About Kate Middleton Commits Suicide
Jacintha Saldanha, the hospital nurse who was duped by a prank phone call from two Australian DJs posing as Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles, has reportedly committed suicide. Saldhana was a duty nurse working reception because of a staff shortage; she patched the DJs through to Kate's nurse, who unwittingly gave…
Remember Wyclef's Haiti Charity? Angry Haitians Are Having a Hard Time Forgetting.
How badly did hip-hop celeb/liar Wyclef Jean fuck up his charity efforts in Haiti? So badly that the New York Times published a lengthy A-1 story that probably only skims the surface of his mismanaged, dysfunctional charity, Yéle. Wyclef, who was born in Haiti, founded Yéle in 2004, but it only had $37,000 in assets…
Innocents Abroad
Boston University students including Tori Pinheiro, left, of New Bedford, Mass., and Austin Brashears' girlfriend, hold a candlelight vigil on Marsh Plaza at Boston University, Saturday, May 12, 2012, for three students studying in New Zealand who were killed when their minivan crashed during a weekend trip. At least…
The Real Reason We Love to Watch Tearjerkers
We all know the value of an evening spent in, drinking wine and watching a tragic movie that makes our tears flow freely. As sad as those movies are, we seem to crave them and whatever magic they perform on our souls, and now science has figured out why that might be. It turns out watching tragic stories unfold, while…
Your Morning Cry: Single Mom Found Dead With A List Of Dreams In Her Pocket
We all have dreams, but few of us are committed enough to write down a list of them and carry it around as a constant reminder of what we're aiming for in life. But Donna Fountain, a 38-year-old from Brooklyn, did just that. Sadly, police found Donna's list with her when she was killed by a hit-and-run driver on…
Black Female Firefighter Reflects on 9/11 Experience
In case you've been living under a rock or are altogether confused about what day it is, today's the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. Everyone who remembers that day remembers where they were, what they did, the anger, fear, and hopelessness that they felt. They remember the iconic…
On Caring About More Than One Thing At Once
A quick Twitter search for "Amy Winehouse" leads to a page riddled with finger wagging superiority. "Now everyone forgot about Norway!" remarked one. "Kids get shot all the time; Amy Winehouse only dies once," remarked another. Fjord kayaking Christ with a beehive. It's possible to care about more than one thing at a…
