This is just a sensational piece of writing:
That is, that morning in Cambridge, I was identifying myself with the two of them, the Japanese Nisei being sent to a concentration camp and the black youth who began to be scared by having premonitions about his own identical fate. Of course, no one came to take me up by the roots. But for nearly 50 days until that morning, since my arrival in America, I had not been scared for a single moment, I had not looked at myself through the caricaturing eyes of an American, that is, through the most sharply objectifying eyes that the Japanese in America could suffer. When I was looking at TV with seminar colleagues in the common room of the dormitory, even when more or less caricaturized Japanese appeared on the screen, no one paid attention to me, and I couldn’t care less, either. In other words, for nearly 50 days, I had had the illusion of blending into American society like a colorless solvent. But my experience that morning (to be fair, it was the only experience of that kind that occurred during my four-month stay in America) gave me, at least in the world of my consciousness, an opportunity to imagine the presence of the eyes of Americans looking at me with the most sharply caricaturizing intent, an opportunity to reflect on it.
A night out with the actually perfect Renée Elise Goldsberry:
Last Monday was date night for Renée Elise Goldsberry and her husband, Alexis Johnson, a lawyer. Along for the ride were three couples, neighbors from Harlem.
“We’re friends through our kids,” said Ms. Goldsberry, 44, who plays the piercingly intelligent Angelica Schuyler in the hit Broadway musical“Hamilton.” “We all have children, and tonight we all have babysitters.”
Miss Fisher as plus-size style icon:
Miss Fisher is certainly not plus-size herself, but I WANTED her style so I set out to hunt it down on the internet… with very low expectations. After all, I’ve always assumed that 1920s fashion was unattainable for the plus lady. Dear lord I was WRONG. So, so, SO wrong and happily so. I couldn’t believe my eyes as I scrolled through pages and pages of dresses, wraps, shoes, and accessories made for all sizes… including fat girls.
The big-name astronomer at UC Berkeley who’s been sexually harrassing women for years:
He’s won all sorts of awards and has risen beyond the confines of academia to become a kind of intellectual celebrity. In person, he’s described as charismatic, approachable, and “aggressively empathetic.” He’s been dubbed a “finder of new worlds” by the New York Times, a “brave thinker” by The Atlantic, and a “natural showman” by Wired. He has even appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman.
“Not only is it the case that he is very senior and very well-respected, it’s also the case that he’s a collaborator on a lot of large projects,” said Ruth Murray-Clay, a former UC Berkeley graduate student who is now an assistant professor of physics at UC Santa Barbara. As a theorist, she does not rely on his data. But many others do. “You don’t want to make an enemy with someone who has access to data you might need,” she said.
My friend Carrie’s new puppy is visiting her grandma:
Roxane and Ashley are taking submissions for their sexual assault anthology:
Victims and survivors of sexual harassment, assault, and abuse have been taught by this culture that whatever horror they have endured could have been worse. At least you weren’t touched. At least you weren’t raped. At least you weren’t killed. This world effectively silences those who have been violated by demanding their first reaction be gratitude for what did not happen.
Not That Bad is an opportunity for those whose voices were stolen from them, to reclaim and tell their stories. This anthology will explore what it is like to navigate rape culture as shaped by the identities we inhabit.
Contributing to this anthology is a chance to own your own narrative with all of the complexity of reality without shame or condescension. Because too many of us have lived this truth, there is no one way to tell this story.
We warmly encourage submissions from people from all walks of life and across the gender spectrum.
Super amped to work through this list of the best music documentaries:
28. Say Amen, Somebody (1982)
Gospel music has a subculture all its own, with a performing and recording circuit that largely exists outside the mainstream. George Nierenberg’s Say Amen, Somebody treats these lesser-known histories and personalities with the same seriousness with which other filmmakers have treated the stories of big-time bands or iconic music scenes. More important, Nierenberg revels in the rapturous performances of veteran singers, making it clear why this chapter in American musical history matters. Roger Ebert nailed the spirit of Say Amen, Somebody when he called it “one of the most joyful movies I’ve ever seen.”
Top 100 Baby Names Selected By the Registered Members of Metal Band Fan Site CattleDecapitation.net:
1. Megalodon
2. Megalodawn
3. Darth Cletus
4. Witchylde
5. Necrobert
6. Umlautumn
7. M’Alice
Hey! I’m a dude. How can I be a good ally and also what is rape culture.
Deleted comment of the MONTH:
okay this one is okay too:
Aaahhh, you freaked me out, Toast! You and your surprise American holidays.
Surprise FAKE american holidays. I mean, whoo hoo for days off, but fuck Columbus.
Now I have to go hunt down my mail carrier and find out where my new tights went for the holiday–the tracking says they were delivered. Yesterday…
I literally had said (ridiculous) holiday off and I was still surprised (and sad) when I went to The Toast yesterday and saw nothing new.
I know! I kept forgetting and forlornly reloading the page, hoping to not have to focus on my work.
Despite my American-in-America-ness, I was at work yesterday, and at first was all “oh! someone forgot to put the link roundup together! how charming!” and then slowly slipped into utter despair after I realized that yesterday was a holiday recognized by the toast.
Maybe there should be a calendar of holidays observed by the toast?
yes, agreed, would cause less heartache!
I don’t begrudge our goddesses days off. They deserve them, they should take them. Whether or not they coincide with national holidays. I just like to be prepared!
i can weather the storm– if only i know to bring the umbrella! etc!
I was also at work. It was after 11:00 before I realized that no, the link roundup wasn’t late, it just wasn’t coming! And it didn’t even bother to call…
Perhaps the Toast was just observing Thanksgiving (Canadian). That’s a real holiday, I had the day off and everything!
I could sooner see the Toast observing Canadian Thanksgiving or Indigenous Peoples Day instead of Columbus Day!
Well, Nicole is Canadian (though living in the US), soooo….
That was my assumption.
That’s what I thought, too!
My school is too awesome to celebrate the holiday that will not be named so we still had class. I kept refreshing and hoping for something, completely oblivious to the fact I should have had another day off.
When did bikes get so expensive? I’ve had an urge to get a bike for a little while, thought it’d be nice to do my shopping etc. All I want is a reliable second hand bike, why is this £200!! I swear you used to be able to get alright bikes for under £50.
Anyway, how have people fared with buying used bikes on the likes of gumtree/craigslist? I had thought it’d be simple but then I fell down a google hole and there was all sorts of warnings about mechanical issues and buying stolen bikes (this had not occurred to me!)
If anyone is London-centric, any decent used bike shops that I could get something <£100? Nothing fancy, just a womens bike that works, google has thrown up a few shops, but most only do new/custom bikes, or their second hand stuff is very expensive.
(My council are doing scheme where you can hire a bike for a month for £10 to try it out, I have applied, but I’ll have to wait until the end of November, so I thought I’d just pick up something cheap now instead)
(Also boo US holidays. I spent an hour refreshing yesterday.)
Perfect place to introduce my last (erm, second) bike: I found a folding, (electric!) 20” bike on our local craigslist-equivalent. Everything works, the battery’s there, it just didn’t have the charger. But it works great as a regular bike!
So, this model goes for about €1100-1200 new. I got it for €100.
I think the lock I’ll need will cost about as much, though.
How did you find the foldy bike? I’m seeing quite a few for a reasonable-ish price (around £100), and I am tempted, but I also kind of want a proper bike (with a basket and a luggage rack for all the stupid amounts of shopping I do).
Foldy bike would be very handy to get the train to work and then cycle home, but I fear I’ll find it too awkward to carry around and annoying to ride.
If it helps, I saw a foldy bike that someone had taken with themself on the tube, and it had a little handle like a trolley, so it could be pushed along when it was folded. I wasn’t quite close enough to see how it all worked, but it looked pretty convenient. Didn’t have a basket or any extra storage though I don’t think.
When I lived in Texas and did my shopping by bicycle, I just wore a really big (camping sized) backpack. But that could be a hassle on the train, since it would usually be too heavy to take off and put back on gracefully.
I’ve see those sorts of things too, I’ve need a few Bromptons with extra little luggage wheels on them. That’s all far to fancy for the likes of me.
I’ve never really done proper shopping on a bike, at the moment I get the bus with my backpack and carry extra bags as needed. I was thinking a front basked would be nice, and then get some pannier bags for proper shopping. Who knows I might splash out and get one of those little trailer things (they look so cool and I super want one even though I have no use for it.)
Ah yes, the trailers! I have coveted those, but never gotten one because they’ve been out of my league price-wise. Although it might not be the same here, as everything I’ve looked into is topsy turvy: in Austin you could get a used bike for about £50 and even cheaper if you went to one of those places where you can basically trade your labor for a frame and parts and whatnot. A new bike would run from £85, which is what mine cost when I got it a few years ago (and now I kind wish I had brought it with me), upwards to kind of unbelievable prices for fancy sport cycles. Anyway, maybe it’s the case here that bikes are expensive, but the accessories are less so? Some people do make their own trailers, but I think that takes some serious talent.
I haven’t even looked to see how much the trailers are; I don’t want to cry today. I did see those bucket bikes for transporting children (I don’t know what their called, everyone in Berlin had them, and I love them) and it was well over £1300 new. So yeah, NOT YET.
I’m thinking a Toast London bike ride is in order if/when I get myself organised though! (Nothing to strenuous, a few laps of a park or something.)
That would be great! I’ve been walking everywhere, but I really miss my ride to work. Something really nice about a leisurely bike ride to shake the cobwebs off.
Yes! Where did you end up moving to? If I don’t get a bike off Gumtree I’m thinking of trekking up to bikes for good causes in wood green to get a bike.
I was thinking of going down to Crystal palace park for my first ride out, I’ve never been and its supposed to be amazing!
It’s *really* comfy to ride: I’m kind of short, so regular bikes are too big for me. Mine’s got a proper luggage rack, and I’ve added a basket, but I don’t fold it much (since it’s electric, it’s a bit heavier than usual, too). If you really want something you can carry around, a backpack would probably be the best option.
I’m pretty tall, so I worry i’d feel like a heffalump on one, with those teeny wheels! I’m thinking if I can get one cheap enough I might just go for it and then save up and get a nice proper bike
My spouse and I have been working in bike shops in the US for over ten years now, and I can say that the reason used bikes through shops are expensive is because of the labor and overhead that goes into them. Most people who bring in “used bikes” looking to sell have really terrible crappy bikes in horrible repair. If they are decent-ish bikes, we still have to put in at LEAST an hour to make sure the bike is safe and rideable, and with some bikes you encounter surprise issues that take much longer to fix. A lot of times, they are filthy and need a lot of cleaning before we can even start fixing them up. Add onto the labor that we need space to store them, which is taking up space we could use for new bikes, equipment, and accessories (which is where we make our money — the markup on bikes is actually pretty low), and the cost creeps up.
Having said that — the mechanical issues are a concern, as are stolen bikes. If you find something that looks like a good deal on Craigslist, I would bring it into a local bike shop for a look-over to make sure it’s all working right and is safe.
When you look at a bike you might buy, here’s some things to check:
*Make sure the shifters on both sides move, and that they appear to be moving the derailleurs (you can do this without riding the bike — it’s not ideal but it won’t hurt anything really).
*Check the brakes and make sure they close and release well.
*Turn the handlebars to the left and right and make sure they turn freely.
*With the handlebars turned to one side, grab the brakes and try to rock the handlebars side to side. If you feel anything clicking or knocking, that probably means the headset is loose. Not a huge deal, but could get expensive depending on if there’s something weird about the size.
*Grab the crank arms (what the pedals attach to) and see if they wobble or move side to side.
*Spin the pedals — if they don’t spin, or slow down right away, or there’s a crunchy feeling when you move them, that means the bottom bracket is in bad shape. This can be really expensive to fix.
*Spin the wheels and see if they wobble, slow down, or feel crunchy. See if you can wobble them side to side. Truing wheels is cheap-ish, but replacing wheels is annoyingly expensive.
Hope this info helps and remember– if a deal looks too good to be true — it probably is (i.e., the bike is probably stolen).
Thanks for all this, I’ll keep it in mind! I am more worried about getting a stolen bike than one with issues (I feel I’d be able to spot a serious mechanical issue easily enough).
I totally understand why bikes through shops are more expensive, I was more surpirsed by the bikes on gumtree; 200-300 for a 10 year old bike and so on!
Yeah I can tell you without even looking that those bikes are not worth that. Bikes in general do not hold their value well but a lot of people have a lot of wishful thinking going on.
Yeah that’s what I thought! It seems to be a lot of vintage/dutch style bikes, and this is London so people eat that shit up (I want one of those comfy dutch style ones, but they seem to be the most expensive! grr.)
This is the kind of thing I’m seeing in my price range, decent enough looking bike but pretty old/rusty https://www.gumtree.com/p/bicycles/purple-vintage…
A problem with dutch bikes is that they tend to be heavy as hell. I had a relatively cheep old steel framed bike, and it was a beast to carry up and down stairs. They do look comfy, but if you have to lug it around much, it might not be worth it.
And that bike doesn’t look to shabby! Pop that bell right off, and maybe switch out the chain. Maybe it’s the distance, but I don’t see any rust around the rims, in fact they look new relative to the rest of the bike. Really it all comes down to what they mean by “the breaks need fixing”. If it’s just replacing the pads, I’ve done that before, but I wouldn’t attempt something too complicated as that’s a big potential safety issue.
Yeah I was thinking that about the dutch type; I’ve seen a few more modern ones around today, that have the same shape, but are much finer/lighter build, but they’re v v expensive for me right now. I am pretty sure I’ll have to lug it onto a train at some point, so being carry-able would be good, but a the moment I just want something to get me on the road to see if I like it or not (Hence why I don’t want to spend ££££, if I actually use the thing I’ll upgrade!)
I’m going to email her and see if its still available, I really want a basket and a luggage rack so it would be perfect if it works (although for some reason all the ladies bikes on gumtree are shiny purple. sigh.). Hopefully its in good enough nick that it works out!
Good luck! I got my first bike as a starter bike, figuring I’d trade up for something with more bells and whistles eventually, but then it was so dependable that I just kept on riding it. There are some diamonds in the rough, really.
And then somebody stole it, which is sort of what I get for having left it chained up on campus over a weekend… but that’s another story.
Genuine question: why would you take off the bell?
Oh, just that bell, because it’s got some rust issues. Might still work, but it makes the bike look like it’s in worse shape than it is. I’d add back in a new bell. And a light.
Ugh that would be a great deal in my part of Canada, even with our currently shitty dollar. Bikes should be subsidized!
They are sometimes! In Ireland and in the UK there’s ‘Bike to work’ schemes that you can do where you get a discount and pay it off through your employer; Details vary, but that’s essentially it (I might not be staying at my current place for long, so I’m not looking in to it too much)
And my council has the cycle hire for a month thing, and then you can set up a payment plan to buy your bike; but there’s a waiting list and I’m just being super impatient and I want a bike RIGHT NOW. (because the weather is going to get really awful soon and I know I won’t use it then, so I’d rather get what use I can now!)
Yes, bikes should be subsidized or give you a tax break for sure!
Yeah, people on Craigslist will pop “vintage” and “classic” in a post for a fairly ordinary older bike that’s basically unrideable. For shame, people.
Well…..that depends on where you live. I live in Portland, Oregon, and the market for halfway-decent used bikes is fierce. In 2009 I bought a mid-80’s Miyata 210 in good shape for $265 and everyone told me it was a bargain–I sold it two years and a couple thousand miles later for MORE than that, and the buyer didn’t even try to talk me down.
It’s a supply and demand thing, and the demand is just…..really high in Portland.
Dang. Maybe it’s a supply-demand problem in the UK these days? A Dutch friend of mine was amazed at how fancy/expensive bikes looked in the UK compared to in the Netherlands. Maybe there just aren’t enough cheap bikes around because more people are trying to bike, so they don’t end up in secondhand shops as much?
Its completely supply and demand, also just living in London. Cycling is a purely middle-class, affluent activity, so its mostly people with money to spend, who want something pretty (or whatever the male hipster equivalent is, custom super-light fixes or some-such) like this : http://www.bobbinbikes.co.uk/bobbin-birdie (This is exactly what I want, but no way am I paying £400. and used they’re still £200.)
It’s probably different outside of London, more of a family bike market, but here there seems to be almost no cheap second hand market (just people selling their bad investments!). There also seems to be a derth of bike shops around me, and all the community bike project stuff is the other side of London to me 🙁
I was just reading about this yesterday! Why cycling in London is still marked as a white, male, and moneyed activity: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/davehillblog/2…
It was actually this article that got me serious about getting a bike! I’ve been thinking about it for awhile but now I’m determined!
While I do think that safety \confidence is an issue for some women I think they left out a big reason women don’t cycle to work; appearance! It sounds sexist, but I think for a lot of women what to wear when cycling, and more importantly how you look when you get to work, is a big deal!
Showering\washing hair at work is a much bigger deal for women than it is for men, and a lot of work outfits for women wouldn’t be practical on a bike (lots of men just cycle in their suits, but a skirt suit would be difficult on a bike!). Luckily I work in a casual office where jeans and no make up is cool, but if I worked somewhere different I would not be up for cycling to work and arriving an hour early so I could shower, dry my hair and do my makeup!
For women appearance is a safety concern. When my attention needs to be 100% on the road and traffic, I don’t have any bandwidth for catcalls, whether it’s “lookin’ good baby” or “pedal harder fatty” or whatever it is they’re trying to distract me with. Unfortunately it seems there is no kind of clothing that will make it all go away.
This is very true!
I’ve heard you really have to get mean cycling in London, not just cars\lorries, but other cyclists! I see it a lot, always guys, cutting up other bikes, or swinging wide and zooming past. I think at the moment the culture, especially in central/the city, suits blokes; you need to be arrogant, over confidential and mean! 😉
Neoliberal cycling culture!
For sure. It’s a Tory plot.
I find that I don’t need to shower when I get to work–I’m just not pedaling that strenuously! Unless you work somewhere where it is very, very hot/humid in the mornings, or you are an unusually sweaty person, you will probably be fine sans shower. Most of the time cycling isn’t that much more strenuous than walking!
Skirts suits and heels are totally bike-able if you have a step-through (aka “lady’s”) bike and your skirt is not a pencil skirt. That said, my uniform does include a pencil skirt and the worst kind of polyester blouse, so I ride in yoga pants to work and then change when I get here–it only takes about five minutes.
In Canada, most major cities have bike collectives, and they have less-expensive used bikes, and often have work-to-own programs. Maybe check out something like that?
I’ve sold bikes on Craigslist, and have always been upfront about what they needed etc. If you’re comfortable with the medium, and with walking away if necessary and trusting your gut, might be worth a shot.
I’ve had a look, cause that’s exactly the kind of thing I want, but around me it seems to mostly be bike events/workshops, not so much buying/selling of bikes unfortunately!
London Joggers in Shepherds Bush always have a ton of used bikes that are serviced and spruced up – I think you should be able to get something for under £100 there. Happy biking (you are much braver than I).
Unfortunately I’m the other side completely (SE), so Shepards Bush is too much of a trek, but there seems to be a few places around Camden/Islington that I can probably make it too after work. Thanks though!
Try community bike workshops, of the sort where they help you fix your own bike using their tools. A lot of the ones I’ve seen accept donations of used bikes and re-sell them at affordable prices. Their volunteers either will have done any work needed on the bike or will guide you through doing it yourself. And because the bikes are donated, they’re not all that likely to be stolen.
I’ve seen a few of those sorts of things around (mostly the other side of London to me) but they don’t seem to say much online about buying/selling used bikes, and I’m just so super awkward about rocking up and asking that I’ll probably never get around to it!
It might also be worth looking at new bikes. My cheap mountain bike was about $100 CAD new, which is definitely less than £100.
Mind you, I bought it from a general sporting goods store, and I had a couple of interesting/terrifying moments before I found and dealt with the safety issues that were caused by it being assembled by someone who plainly must not have known what they were doing. But they were the sort of problems that a community bike workshop could definitely help you find & fix, so a combination of the two approaches would probably work.
Or you could look at cheap mountain bikes at an actual bike store.
Big box stores pay assemblers per bike instead of per hour, so yeah they’re pretty terrifying. Also, those assemblers use air tools, so you’re taking a gamble on stripped and possible cross threaded bolts. If you must buy one of these bike-shaped objects, take it to a pro shop and ask if they will inspect it before you try to ride anywhere. They’ll usually do it for free.
This makes a lot of sense!
And my cheap bike isn’t so bad. It now has both working brakes *and* working steering, though it didn’t when I first brought it home.
They can be worth it, but a safety inspection is basically mandatory 🙂 Glad you’re happy and safe.
The one thing I would caution about getting a used bike is making sure you know what size bike you should be riding (which might be an obvious statement, but if you haven’t ridden a bike in a while it might be non-trivial). I got my first bike as an adult a year ago off craigslist, and I ended up getting a solid hybrid, but it was definitely too small for me. It was comfortable when I was trying it out, but I also had never ridden a properly fitting bike so I didn’t have a point of comparison. I just got a new bike since I wanted to upgrade, and I got one that actually fits me and it has made a WORLD of difference. It is so much more comfortable and easy to ride.
If you aren’t confident in what size bike you need, I would suggest maybe going to a bike shop and at least trying some out. You don’t need to go in saying that you don’t want to buy anything, but I would bet most reasonable shops will take a look at you, give you an idea of what fits, and let you test ride a couple without expectation of buying right there on the spot. That could also help not just for sizing, but also if you aren’t sure what style you want.
Yay bikes! I just got my new bike a month ago and it brings so much joy to my life.
I checked today on a height \size chart and I need a 24-26′ I think (I’ll check again but I can’t quite remember now) I have idea what that size refers to but that’s the size I need!
I also know from experience I need quite an upright bike with high handle bars to keep the weight off my wrists as much as possible (baaaad wrists, 5 mins on a normal bike where your leaning forward will kill me.) Which is why I want a dutch style (or as close as I can afford!). I don’t want speed, I want comfy, easy riding (preferably on European style wide bike lanes, but I’ll take what I can get for now)
Bike size is one of those things you don’t think about until you’re on a bike that doesn’t fit!!
http://lovelybike.blogspot.com/2010/10/lovely-bic…
If you are admiring the style of Dutch bikes but not their expense, maybe look for an old Raleigh other vintage British steel 3-speed?
My first “real” bicycle as an adult was a 1961 lady’s Raleigh Sports. A friend of mine had bought it cheap, fixed it up, and sold it to me for what he paid for it, as a favor to me. It’s a comfortable, beautiful, well-loved, perfectly fine bike for city riding, and nearly ten years later, I still have it and ride it! Those bicycles were built to be nearly indestructible–like old steel sewing machines, a little maintenance now and then and they will ride perfectly nearly forever.
If you want, I can help you with craigslist. I’m a pro mechanic. Let me know your height and your preferences and I can email you a list of decent bikes within your budget.
Thanks, I’m gonna see how I far for the moment, but maybe next year if I’m upgrading!
Bikes for Good Causes in Wood Green has bikes from 40 pounds. Good bikes and it’s a charity. Plus if you come by this weekend you could drop in for tea and biscuits!
THIS PLACE! I heard about this and I’ve been trying to find it all day on Google! But I couldn’t remember where it was or what it was called!
It’s pretty out of the way for me, but if my Gumtree adventures don’t pan out I might make the trip up (£40 for a bike is pretty enticing!)
They also do free inspections so if you get one elsewhere they can make sure it’s roadsafe
looks like intensedebate has lost your reply, but it’s very near Bowes Park train station so getting it back to new cross gate or nearby would be quite simple even though it’s on the other side of the river
If I don’t get a bike from Gumtree i think I’ll trek up next weekend!
I am in Wood Green! I have walked past there!
Have you joined our London Toasties group? https://www.facebook.com/groups/435704426638315/?…
Is bike-sharing an option at all? I’ve heard of ‘Boris bikes’ and such, but I don’t know if they’re really used that much in London…
The Paris system is really handy, I even have a yearly subscription in addition to my bike.
What’s the Paris system? Is it like Boris bike?
I’ve actually never used the Boris bikes, they’re only in central London, where I go apart from for work. They don’t have any stations near my house, so can’t cycle home on one, or take one for getting around my area (which is what I want a bike for). I’ve heard they’re clunky and difficult too, but I like the idea of them!
Paris has the Vélib’ and an absolute shitton of stations: http://www.velib.paris/layout/set/fullmap/Plan-st….
Those bikes are built like tanks and could take a small car/hippo in a fight. And a yearly subscription is €29. I love ’em.
I MISSED YOU TOO I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW YESTERDAY WOULD BE A HOLIDAY IN THE US I’M SO GLAD YOU’RE BACK NOW
And now to other important things (hijacking the Link Roundup, sorry): I finally heard back from my professor (and by that, I mean I approached him outside the library because he didn’t answer my e-mail) and he has read my thesis. Converted to the US system, I have a B+ (maybe A-, not sure about that), which I’m not happy about. I know that this is still a good grade, but I’m just so disappointed because I worked really hard and also, he didn’t really supervise me that well and everyone I know got an A(+) on their thesis and now I’m feeling inadequate und inferior to my friends 🙁
UGH UGH UGH
Im only a first year in college but I know that stinks so much. It makes me cringe at the thought. I’m so sorry. I’m sure you did A+ work. You’re a Toastie, after all.
Sending lots of good vibes!
Aww, thank you!
I’m pretty sure that, as far as future career and/or grad school stuff goes, the fact that you completed a thesis is much more important than the grade you got. I definitely got a B in at least one semester of my independent study and still got into grad school. (Just for full disclosure, I’m in the US, so I’m not trying to be your actual career counselor.) But anyway, congrats on finishing!!
I know, and I’m pretty sure I’m still getting into grad school, but it still sucks right now. And I think it’s more a general feeling of “Ugh yet another thing where my friends are better than me, what do I even have to offer” which just hurts.
I feel that way often, and all I can say is, if you enjoy the subject you study, just keep on trucking. I promise that if you can finish a thesis, you can make a contribution to your field. Two points: 1) The opinion of your professor is really just one guy’s opinion. Keep in mind that bighairnoheart’s “ethics” “professor” (have you seen her stories in the open threads?) somehow remains employed. 2) It sounds like your professor wasn’t very attentive, so he may not have closely read your thesis. In my experience, professors tend to be spread pretty thin, and even on Ph.D. committees, there is a LOT of skimming going on. Try not to take this one grade as an official valuation of your scholarly ability.
j_bird above is so right.
Also life will be better if you focus on the work, and the ideas, and just eschew all comparisons (and even eschew relating the work to yourself/self-worth). I know, it’s hard, it’s not what we’re socially prepped to do. But it really helps!
This week has been off to a sucky start. Therefore, have a pic of Mulder asleep with his tongue sticking out:
I like your cat
It’s “Tongues Out Tuesday!”
Week is immediately improved.
I needed that.
Mulder is YOURS! Ohmygosh, I missed that! How delightful, you adopted a Heights cat! He looks just like my Milo. :3
Mulder’s adorable. Are you and your family OK?
Let’s add “heresy” to the “Concepts Endorsed By The Toast” along with “misandry” and “feminism”.
Anything else on the list?
“beauty”
Does “Life is a Rich Tapestry” count as a concept?
I’m sure that’s heretical to enough people who still use the word heretical to fold in
“Enlightened Sarcasm” comes to mind
“Gentle Ribbing”
Taking to the sea
Wodehouse pastiche.
HALLO does anyone know when we might get to give all our money to lovely misandrist totes??
I expressed my design-preference in the comments that post, and then a few days later had the thought “huh, I wonder why my tote bag isn’t here yet.” Then I remembered we’re still short a few steps and was sad.
OR see a lovely new website that will allow us to view both ads and content without everything becoming a nightmarish hellscape??? I am filled with anticipation!
don’t worry Mallory I am praying that your heart is in the WRONG place, and I think that will cancel it out
like maybe in your bureau or the trunk of your car or something
Or like the Igor’s from a Terry Pratchett novel, just sort of wherever is convenient?
I keep mine on the moon.
I feel like I should get some kind of award for not making a Voldemort/horcrux joke here, but then I guess I have now, praeteritio style, so maybe I only deserve half an award. Still, some restraint was shown.
Accio praeteritio!
It’s so useful for pretending I’m too cool for pottermania (I am very much not too cool).
I like to keep mine in a hollow tree. Some risk of forest fires, but still a classic.
Yeah it is good to preserve the Old Ways too.
Mine’s inside an egg on an island. The classics are the way to go.
The advantage of being an Igor is that you can have as many hearts as you want (perhaps each devoted to a separate heart-y function) and keep them wherever you like.
THE HEART IS UNDER THE FLOORBOARDS CAN’T YOU HEAR IT, OFFICER?
“Your heart?”
“…a heart…”
Yes, my heart — a heart that belongs to me! Now.
This is why it’s so important to use a label-maker.
Or Koschei-style, inside a needle, which is in an egg, which is in a duck, which is in a hare, which is in an iron chest, which is buried under a green oak tree on the island of Buyan in the ocean.
leave it to the Slavs to make it ludicrously over-complicated. just put it on the moon, Koschei
I believe it was Stephen King who said/wrote, “I have the heart of a little boy. On my desk. In a jar.”
I hope her heart is in the *left* place.
I feel like I should mention the suffering and terror happening now in Israel and Palestine. Friends on both sides of the conflict are living in daily mortal fear, and on this side of the world we who are connected to them feel crazy and alone because nobody’s talking about it. And since no leaders seem at all interested in changing the status quo, there’s no real end in sight.
I am saddened that the name list omitted the venerable I. Ron Butterfly.
Remember when we used to make out to this hymn?
Music documentaries! Here are a few not on the list I watched this year and enjoyed (all were on Netflix):
1. Hit so Hard, story of Patty Schemel through her drumming years with Hole, addiction, and recovery. I was totally engrossed in this, and enjoyed the insights into how albums were made, how the band was formed, how they recorded
2. What Happened Miss Simone, damn. Tough, but fantastic watch. Much better writers than I have written a review on this one. (well it was an honorable mention)
3. Our Vinyl Weighs a Ton, the story of Stone’s Throw records. Fascinating look at the creation of some important records and an independent label. How the label and its artists dealt with the death of J Dilla.
Holy crap! I didn’t know that all three of Spheeris’s “Decline of Western Civilization” films were rereleased on DVD. For years and years, it’s been next to impossible to get a copy of I or III due to (I believe) licensing reasons. *sideeyes Greg Ginn*
Ahhh, I know! I just rented and watched them all recently, I was NOT disappointed.
That piece by Kenzaburo Oe is truly sensational. You were not kidding.
Nadiya! http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/oct/… I may have got slightly emotional reading this on my break at work earlier today.
“It was my dad I had to coach a lot. I said: ‘You have to work on your poker face. He said: ‘I gave you that face – you can’t hide a lie and nor can I.’ He literally stopped having people round in case they saw his face. He is probably the proudest man on earth right now.” <3 <3 <3
I wept so hard at that final! And now I’m getting misty eyed again. She’s such a champion! Gah.
<3 <3 <3 so many emotions are leaking out of my face right now.
All the fuss about Nadiya made me finally start watching GBBO, and man is it lovely. And the boy is even more into it than I am, he’d have watched the whole season last Sunday if I hadn’t convinced him to stretch it out a little. I don’t even mind knowing who won, it just makes me want to reach through the screen to comfort her when her technical challenges don’t go well.
Completely unrelated: I baked a pie (pear with gruyère crust) last weekend.
That pie sounds lovely! I love fruit/cheese combos, like stilton and apples, not necessarily baked, just snack-style, and really aged cheddar and pears.
It was a tad underbaked, and the dough wasn’t quite as flaky as it should have been (Paul Hollywood would not have approved), but I thought it was delicious…and there’s some waiting for me when I get home!
Paul is needlessly picky. I spend an awful lot of time shouting, “WHAT DO YOU WANT, PAUL?” at the screen. He needs to learn how to manage his expectations.
Also, when he is like, “I wouldn’t do that, but I’ll wait to tell you why I wouldn’t do that until after the bake. But you’re making a grave mistake. Let’s just leave it at that.” Like, duuuuuude, that is SO UNCOOL. Just say it will be too sticky/too heavy/too whatever and then let them decide if they still want to try.
“Pretty pointless plus a little heretical” is, like, my whoooole life summed up.
There’s a lot to be said for heresy.
If Cobie Smulders were my girlfriend…well, a man can dream.
This freaked me out a little: http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/07/02/powe…
It’s amazing that men (seldom women) think that we should feel comfortable around them when they are carrying guns. Guys, a tip: You don’t make me feel safer.
He said “open carry” ensures that his son respects him.
For me, that was the line that tipped the guy from “creepy asshole” to “nope nope nope nope nope [continues]”
ooof if there’s a better sign that open carry is a kind of screaming insecurity, I can’t imagine what it is.
nnngh and the “no-good ex” comments to total strangers? Nope, nope, nope.
I really do wonder if these dudes intend to provoke fear in people like the author, or are just willfully oblivious and truly believe no law-abiding citizen of any color has reason to feel uncomfortable about another law-abiding citizen with a gun.
Oh, they like the fear (“respect”). Whether or not they’ve admitted it to themselves, they do.
And that, right there, is the problem: mistaking fear for respect. Guys, I do not respect anything that instills fear in me. In fact–thank you Hunter Thompson–the secondary emotion that fear instills in me is loathing.
Yeeeeah go check out their videos of starting confrontations with cops so they can pull a ‘you can’t tell me what to do’, or OC guys mobbing up to “protect” antigun rallies, it’s always transparently been about grown-ass men going out and bullying strangers in the most five-year-old I’m-not-touching-you way imaginable.
The response that “it shouldn’t be a problem as long as I don’t feel threatened” is absolutely chilling.
JESUS. That is horrifying.
hooooooly shit
The only possible way your son could “respect” you because of your ability to harm others is if you (a) raise him to believe that harming others is a source of power, or (b) make him fearful that you’ll turn that weapon on him. Under what mysterious alignment of stars is either of those not terrifying???
“Well, it shouldn’t be a problem so long as I don’t feel threatened.”
Christing hell.
dude was wearing cammo and combat boots. he was totes playing at being Mister Bad Ass Army Man. fuck that dude and every dude like him. i don’t need you to make me feel safe, dude. you know what makes me feel safe? not being trapped in a bookstore with a gun toting egomaniac!
“It shouldn’t be a problem so long as I don’t feel threatened.”
Good god that’s terrifying. Basically threatening to shoot everyone if he feels like it.
I’d be fecking terrified.
There’s no way to be a “little heretical”.
You’ve got to go ALL IN ON HERESY.
Go hard or go home, apostates.
Psst Nicole, the link to the McSweeney’s list is missing… Luckily I have it bookmarked
Names for baby.
Busey for a girl, Grrreg for a boy, and Trollholio if it’s a Chihuahua.
(I’m not pregnant)
HAGATHA! the best.
M’Alice
And her brother, Aforethought.
Nicole, you’ll like “The Last Waltz” which is chock full of the musicians who made ’70s soft rock and a live performance by Joni Mitchell so hypnotic that even I, a 70s soft rock hater, liked it.
Van Morrison kicks ass in that concert!
I do indeed like it!!! Except Robbie Robertson is so coked out and thinks he’s the only one in The Band, which, as a CANADIAN, I can tell you is just plain not true. Van Morrison was good in it, OBVI Joni, loved Emmylou. Oh, and Dr John was A++ with Such a Night.
I used to get drunk and watch this movie with my best friend about once a week just so we could work ourselves into fits of frothing anger at Robbie Robertson for being terrible while also grudgingly admiring his cheekbones. And also admiring Van Morrison’s purple spangled jumpsuit and general “first time on drugs” demeanor.
My friend Libby’s puppy Marilyn Monroe made a new friend. His name is Jack. Jack did not know what to make of such a happy, skittley puppy, at first but then he supposed that maybe she was okay.
Toast and Columbus, sittin’ in a tree
um
Not Posting Anyth I-N-G
Why do you love Columbus more than us, did you have a fun day with your Italian sailor man, that’s fine, I DON’T EVEN CARE
if the Toast celebrates Columbus Day by TAKING TO THE SEA, I guess I can accept that.
This was very much my feelings yesterday, oh my gosh. SO WOUNDED AND BETRAYED.
Slowly but inexorably the Toast turned into a literary version of Dog Fancy Magazine before Nicole even noticed it was happening
I have a feeling this was the plan all along, and NicMal were just easing us into Dog Blog Land by posting a bunch of intersectional feminism articles first. 😉
uhm were you paying attention to our linguistics teacher the other week
it’s Nicollary
It stuns me that the natural human fear of violence isn’t taken more seriously in these debates. It just gets brushed aside like “well, that’s a personal problem.” No, it’s a basic human nature problem that you are obviously aware of, but you keep insisting that you have the right to make everyone else feel that way.
Last year I had one of the scariest experiences of my life– I was in a crowded shopping mall when there was some sort of mechanical failure that made loud noises like gunshots. People FREAKED, obviously. Everyone was running, they started evacuating the building, I ended up huddling in a service hallway with a few other folks trying to calm down a woman who was crying hysterically because she had gotten separated from her husband and kid during the commotion. That’s the world we live in– any loud noise is enough to trigger the Pavlovian response that makes us go “oh god, this is it. This is how I die.” I am certain that the open carry folks are getting some kind of thrill from the fear they can see in other people’s eyes when they go out. It’s such a universal and visible reaction, what else could they possibly be expecting?
*response to Library Mole
it makes sense, though, in that the whole thing is predicated on this feeling of “well, I’m the special one who’s going to be able to correctly decide when to shoot and who should live and who should die, it’s your problem that you’re less mentally competent.”
Blergh.
Exactly. Also the undertones of “I’m obviously the Good Guy With a Gun, can’t you tell from my whiteness and manliness? Oh, you can’t? You think I look like any other scumbag criminal? Well I have a gun, so you’ll think what I want you to think.”
It’s literally the only thing they have going for them. Which: not enough to justify open carry in any way.
It’s fucking terrorism, but it’s getting passed off by Republicans as the fucking American Way now, and don’t you dare infringe on our rights to perpetuate Christian-born American terrorism. We just won’t have that Muslim foreign stuff. American terrorism all the way, bam bam bam.
What I want to scream in the faces of gun owners I know — the ones who see any suggestion of gun control as a menace — is that their arguments of protecting their family are bullshit, because they won’t be there when their kids are shot. These gunmen aren’t breaking into people’s homes — they’re targeting schools and movie theaters. And you won’t be there in all the schools your kids will be in over the next twenty years, but neither will you stand in the way of the murderous bastard who wants to gun down a classroom of kids. I don’t understand why they can’t see that.
Also — by far the most likely way for your kid to get shot is RIGHT THERE IN YOUR HOUSE WITH YOUR OWN GUN. You are never going to get to live out your creepy macho vigilante murder fantasy, but there’s a real chance your kids might accidentally kill themselves or each other because you’d rather be an adult baby who wishes real life were a video game than ACTUALLY “protect your family.”
Or purposefully kill themselves. You know, I’m not convinced that restrictions on guns are going to have a huge impact on crime– that’s going to take a much broader program of social interventions. But I do think that we could prevent a hell of a lot of suicides if people weren’t so often surrounded by guns. I do not personally know anyone who has been killed in a home invasion; I know several who have died by suicide. I don’t know why the small chance that you will find yourself in a shootout with an intruder is enough for us to accept a world in which a person in crisis can find a gun more easily than they can find a hospital bed.
Very well said. My brother is one who legally purchased a shotgun he used to end his life three months later. He was most likely paranoid schizophrenic (not because of what he did, but a pattern of behavior over years, and it’s in the family), and while the mentally ill are not more inclined to perpetrate a mass shooting, there should still be some measures (character references from those who spend the most time around you and have known you the longest is my fantasy) to keep them from getting their hands on firearms so easily. (In my personal case, I think he would have found some other way to end his life, but there are many others who act impulsively or accidentally.)
I am so sorry to hear that. That’s a nightmare scenario that’s played out in my head many times with concern to someone in my own life. I don’t think people should be required to divulge their mental health history to anyone other than a healthcare provider, but I have to think that a waiting period or some other barrier to quick purchases would make a difference. Most people are only at high risk for short periods of time, and other methods of suicide are much less fatal.
Hugs. (I feel like I should disclaim that I don’t trot out Connor’s story for sympathy, but to explain how my own life has been touched by guns and our current laws, how this isn’t theoretical or just politics for me either.)
You’re right, I don’t want people to have to disclose their mental health to anyone else, either — I was envisioning more of a simple check with coworkers and family members and maybe your neighbors too: “Do you think this person should have a gun? Any concerns you have with that?” as I think that might have prevented some of these mass shootings, like Dylann Roof. A waiting period is good too.
There’s a post on FB by an Israeli detailing everything he has to do to maintain his gun license — it’s an all-day affair, even after he’s seen a doctor to fill out some forms verifying his well-being to some degree, then there’s a shooting range with a qualified instructor, demonstration he can take apart and maintain the firearm, warnings about how he’ll be held responsible (I think even guilty of a felony?) if his gun is stolen (or sold or borrowed) and he doesn’t report it. And all I could think was, GOOD. (The guy was actually in favor of all these measures and disturbed by America’s lax laws, pointing out how Israel is a small country with unfriendly neighbors, whereas America is not — ending with, “I guess when a country has no enemies, it becomes its own enemy.”)
and just…how do you read all those horrible stories about people accidentally shooting family members and conclude that you will never ever do that? even when those horrible stories feature cops or members of the military, who know how to use the things and how seriously to take them? how do people imagine that they will always be the hero of that home-invasion story and not the villain of the neighbor-looking-for-their-dog-in-your-yard story? the person with that wildly inflated level of self-confidence is the last person I want to be armed. it’s the same level of righteousness as terrorists saying God’s on their side, but good luck calling it that.
This.
I can’t even articulate any feelings on America and guns anymore. Any time it comes up I just have a ball of rage and hatred for this stupidity that comes up.
Seriously, I’m so done with the US dominating our media and literally acting like children. Please kindly fuck off and let the rest of us get on with our lives without worrying what tantrum you’re going to throw next that fuck’s our entire lives up. (I have similar feeling about the UK but its more because they’re doing that thing where you make friends with the bully so that they don’t turn on you.)
By ‘You’ I obviously mean American media and these stupid gun nuts, not anyone here personally.
And ironically, the gun nuts are also invariably “American exceptionalists” who don’t see that perhaps it’s precisely this shoot-em-up attitude that contributes to the US’s decline as a respected world power. Yes, we’re exceptional all right–exceptionally stupid.
One thing I can definitely never get enough of is strangers telling me the guy who broke into my house and started attacking people (and only stopped because I had a shotgun in the workroom) didn’t exist because that conflicts with their politics. Or the guy who broke into my sister’s place and wound up getting chased off by her 120lb-soaking-wet self.
Shit happens, and people live in enough different situations that they need the ability to evaluate and respond to their own risk of shit happening. Not all of us can live in a gated community where hearing about disasters with shark-attack odds on the news is the closest we can ever expect to be to violence. OC activists are a bunch of swaggering tools but if your response is to become another kind of tool I’m really not interested in your brand of answers.
I can’t speak for redheadedwolf, but I imagine that you and I are on the same page here more than not. I’m not saying that home invasions don’t happen, I’m saying that there are other risks that are more statistically likely, and it drives me nuts that the fear of home invasion is the only legitimate kind of fear in this debate. My skepticism doesn’t come from a lack of familiarity with violence– it comes from worrying that people close to me who have a history of suicidal episodes might be able to get their hands on a gun if the feeling ever comes back. From the fact that I’ve worked the evening shift behind a convenience store cash register and spent too much time thinking I might have to pull the alarm. From the time I was mugged at gunpoint on the street. I fully recognize that people live with real risks that might drive them to buy a gun– I know lots of people who have done just that. But “I only use it for protection” can be a pretty tiresome thing to hear when you’ve seen up close how often a gun is used for very different reasons.
Nah I get what you’re saying, and there’s definitely multiple sides to that, and I’ve lived in households with people who absolutely could not be trusted around guns, many of whom had them regardless. The setup we’ve got now clearly doesn’t work very well, even the laws we’ve got don’t actually prevent the stuff they outlaw (the guy I rented with who turned out to have a pile of domestic violence charges and restraining orders and rolled home one day to show off his brand new pistol comes to mind) but IDK how it’s gonna be improved when the well’s been so thoroughly poisoned by assholes acting like their personal vague fears are the only real ones and everyone else is just motivated by, uh, evil or something. Most adults are reasonably aware of their own personal needs and limitations and don’t need to be infantilized or assumed to be lying about their own lives (because evil?), the ones who aren’t and need a grownup making decisions for them are the exceptions to the rule who need to be singled out not ‘everybody but me’.
AFAIK the redneck clomping around the minimall all Yosemite Sam belching about how he’s a sheepdog isn’t really statistically likely to shoot anyone either but he’s definitely hiding behind the law to harass and threaten bystanders all the same, and he’s part of a whole community that self-reinforces this kind of toxic shit. He’s not really the guy I want making the rules on how guns are handled or what constitutes a “threat” worthy of lethal response or whatnot, cause he can’t treat other people with even minimal regard, but neither are the people who suggest I should have just, like, given up and died for their comfort or to halt “the US’s decline as a respected world power” or just deny that people actually have needs and problems that they personally don’t, or that those people should still be allowed to exist under the law. Bookstore hick’s an asshole but he’s merely symptomatic of a society that’s very much invested in constraining and eliminating the other, hence the original article author’s emphasis that they’d be helpless if the bookstore hick was a bit more malevolent cause the police would simply shoot them for trying anything similar. The point wasn’t ‘isn’t it awful that this guy’s allowed to be a dick’, it’s ‘the law only respects this guy’s judgement and his particular wants and needs, nobody else’s’.
I think that we both want what any reasonable person wants, which is the ability to react to the bullshit that happens around us without someone sweeping in to say “you’re an idiot and a liar for feeling that way.” But as for poisoning the well– I can see how a lack of understanding on the part of gun-control proponents could be a big turn-off for a lot of people. But the gun-control people aren’t the ones making policy these days, and they’re not the ones with the big public platform to spin endless bullshit in defense of those policies. When I worked at that convenience store we had a “no firearms on premises” sign on the window, because it was a concealed-carry state. Just a few years after I left, there was a big hoopla in the state legislature about a bill that would have required businesses to either take down those signs or take out some kind of special insurance policy. Because don’t you know that if you ban all the Heroes With Guns from your store, you’re just asking for bad guys to come in and murder all your customers? Now if there is anyone in the state legislature who actually buys that logic I’ll eat my hat (and maybe there wasn’t, I don’t think it passed, although I try not to think about that place too hard anymore). Whoever sponsored that bill was 100% full of it, taking a chance to get his name in the papers while simultaneously giving a big fat FUCK YOU to all the losers like me who have the gall to be concerned about our own personal well-being. And when those same lines about guns making us all safer get trotted out again and again in the same disingenuous, shit-eating circumstances, it gets tough to believe that anyone is arguing in good faith(I don’t mean to imply that you aren’t, of course, just that I have that knee-jerk impulse in my head). And it gets tough to believe that the gun control crowd is “just as bad” when it comes to stirring up acrimony and distrust on this issue.
I apologize for speaking in absolute terms — that wasn’t my intention. Yes, home invasions happen, and I’m very sorry it happened to you and your sister. I’m not actually against any individual’s right to own a firearm to protect oneself (and God knows women often need something to tip the balance against men who could physically overpower them), though I do wish we had stronger measures to make sure murderous bastards don’t get their hands on them quite so easily. My frustration is with ill-considered arguments that have glaring loopholes, like the one I was trying to describe, but my passion led me to write more carelessly than I should have. I don’t present that as an excuse, though — I do apologize for dismissing your and many other people’s experiences with home invasion.
ETA: I know I’ve edited this once already, but it’s been sticking in my mind, and I do want to say that this isn’t just politics to me, as you suggested. My only sibling, who was mentally ill, legally purchased the shotgun he used to kill himself. We’ve all been touched by guns, man. And I’m pretty sure you’re not one of those arguing for fewer laws and more access, so we are on the same side here!
Alright, thanks for clearing that up, I just been hearing that noise too much from folks who’ve repeated it to each other enough that they believe it now.
I also don’t want to speak for anyone else, but I think your “gated community” dig is pretty unfair. What happened to you and your sister is absolutely horrific; home invasions are one of my biggest fears, and I can’t imagine being in a situation like you describe. I certainly would never suggest that you should’ve handled it in any way other than the one that got you out alive. But. You don’t have a monopoly on personal experiences of violence, and it’s incredibly dismissive to suggest that people who disagree with you on this — and really, the disagreement I’m seeing basically comes down to tone rather than content — must be naive, coddled rich people who have never experienced trauma. In fact, as this conversation goes on, I’m seeing the exact opposite — stories about being robbed at gunpoint, loved ones committing suicide, etc (one of my high school friends shot and killed himself a year into college, so I’m not unscathed either — it seems that few people are, which is truly chilling).
One of the things that scares me the most about our attitude toward guns in this country is that reality is sort of the opposite of what you said: “the closest we can ever expect to be to [gun] violence” is, in many ways, a big fat question mark. For all of us. Obviously, the people living in gated communities (which is… no one I know, but sure, it’s a thing) are at far less risk than most, but with mass shootings happening on a regular basis in places like schools and movie theaters and hair salons, not to mention aspiring vigilante assholes wandering into bookstores with their murder toys proudly on display, who the hell knows? And there’s an ocean’s worth of distance between saying that there are far too many guns in this country and maybe people shouldn’t be stockpiling entire personal military-style arsenals while disingenuously claiming they’re just trying to protect their children and saying “I don’t like guns so I wish GoatseFanfic hadn’t owned the single shotgun that saved their life.” (I’m certainly not saying that and I doubt anyone else here is either.)
Thank you, yes, everything you said here. Thank you for being as articulate with this as I wanted to be.
Also, even those who stay within their gated communities at all times, with their home theaters and grocery delivery — they’re not safe, either. There are plenty of rich families with an abusive guardian who uses the threat of a gun to terrorize those who live with him. I think of this recent letter to Captain Awkward, augh.
I’m going as a Phryne-inspired 20s girl for Halloween! I’ll be wearing this dress: http://www.modcloth.com/shop/dresses/partner-in-s… which flatters my chubby form quite well. Also Forever 21 has great cheap kimono-style sheer coats.
What a fantastic dress!
Gorgeous!!!
Ahh, so jealous! I’m pulling out the ever-reliable 11th Doctor cosplay for Halloween this year, but I think next Halloween will be an excellent excuse to treat myself to some flapper style.
That was definitely my thought process–how can I justify buying a beaded gown?… Halloween!
I genuinely groan/growled out of pure desire when I opened that link.
My god, the back on that dress! So, so pretty!
You know, the Backstreet Boys documentary was surprisingly engrossing. And it’s on Netflix! (this is probably old news, but I still feel the need to promote it because I enjoyed it. LIKE WHAT I LIKE!)
(Never Say Never, aka the Justin Bieber doc was also excellent)
(saw it in theaters in 3D)
As a person with the name Autumn, I heartily approve of Umlautumn as a baby name. Possibly my future baby’s name.
Yes, I thought that was quite good too!
PEAK DAD ALERT
I got the following voicemail from my parents on Sunday night (I would have answered, but I was too tired to pick up heavy things like my phone):
“Hello lovely daughter, this is your parents. We just called to say ‘hello lovely daughter.’ …Hmm, we seem to have said it. It’s nice to talk to you once in a while, and this is once in a while, so we thought we would call and talk to you. We’ll probably try again later. Love you, bye.”
My mother also leaves charming voicemails, but they’re less eccentric. Also, Dad’s voicemails lose a lot when conveyed in text, because you miss the audible ellipsis, as well as the fact that ‘bye’ comes out at least a fifth lower in pitch than everything else. DAD.
My dad got a new van (well, my mom’s van, but) and it has bluetooth and dvd players and handsfree displays and backup camera…he called me on my cell phone during a conference just to say, “I have sirius radio and bluetooth phone in my car so I had to use it because it was there”.
Well otherwise it would be a wasted expense!
my dad would totally do this. I also helped him demonstrate video chat to like 12 different people.
ugh dirtbag academics ugh
[insert Tina Belcher groan here]
I might be exposing a bit of PBS fandom here, but I feel like Ken Burns Jazz should be in there in its own type of category. Otherwise, that’s a great list.
Huh. David Brooks actually made some sense today, so perhaps mark on calendar?
Yes, technically he is “making sense,” in the same way that the Vatican’s eventual endorsement of heliocentrism made sense.
The House Republican caucus is close to ungovernable these days. How did this situation come about?
“The huge pile of oily rags in my garage appears to be on fire. How did this situation come about?”
If only there had been, oh I don’t know, some kind of conservative journalist or commentator in the news media, who could have observed these trends in action over the last few decades. Maybe this situation would not have gone unnoticed for so long, until David Brooks pointed it out today.
↑This. Bobo was dependably in the Both Sides Do It/Middle Way camp for years and years, if not actually directly supporting bullshit right-wing ideas. Holy schnikes, maybe one side really is persistently more wrong than the other, as his fellow NYT columnist Paul Krugman keeps saying. But no, he ends with “It took a thousand small betrayals of conservatism to get to the dysfunction we see all around.” No, Bobo, there’s no “betrayal” here; it’s the inevitable result of people like you who watched the Overton Window moved ever rightward and realized, too late, that it didn’t have brakes.
I preferred this article, personally.
https://www.thenation.com/article/why-todays-gop-…
When I first hovered over that link, the title got as far as “why-todays-gop-crackup-is-the-final-unraveling-of-nixons-sou…” which I mentally autocompleted as “final unraveling of nixon’s soul.” Which may be far more accurate.
WHERE WAS THAT NAME LIST 16 MONTHS AGO WHEN WE ERRONEOUSLY NAMED MY SON SOMETHING OTHER THAN NECROBERT AS I NOW REALIZED HE WAS DESTINED TO BE NAMED.
We’re visualizing this as some kind of shambling zombie QBert, right?
Personally I am plumping for a zombie Bert of Bert and Ernie. He already has the right voice for it.
CHANGE IT NOW! File the paperwork!
…And I thought that you said “years” and not “months,” so I was filled with delight at the idea of informing a teenager you’d just legally changed his name to Necrobert, now he really has cause for his teenage angst and outbursts, you’re welcome.
Now, there’s no need for regrets. “Ronbledore” is a perfectly fine name.
Today is my first day back at work.
I found mouse poop on my mouse pad.
Taking that as a sign.
Oh maaaaan.
!!! What kind of office do you have? If this were a better world, it would be because your mouse became SENTIENT and left a deposit before running off.
Known Issues: In some rare cases, when certain computer mice are very good or especially pure of heart, they may become *real* mice and scamper away.
Suggested Work-around: We suggest purchasing a replacement mouse, or a different type of pointing device altogether. Trackballs very rarely become sentient and flee.
As the Skin Horse said, “When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”
1. Is Runbug Jones’ soul sufficiently childlike?
2. Did Runbug Jones REALLY love the mouse? For a long, long time? And not just to play with?
Ahahaha, well done!
I think the only possible solution is an office cat.
Obviously. If only I weren’t terribly allergic.
originally it was a little trail spelling out WELCOME BACK but the temp knocked it around
Mice are real!
The mouse missed you and hoped you were feeling better and getting plenty of loving care. It just didn’t know how to say it.
GOD BLESS THAT MISS FISHER LINK, I HOPE YOU TAKE A DRINK OF YOUR PREFERRED BEVERAGE TODAY AND IT’S EXACTLY THE RIGHT TEMPERATURE.
I started watching that show this weekend ENTIRELY BECAUSE OF YOU WONDERFUL TOASTS, and I am so hooked, it’s unreal. I’ve always had a penchant for lady detectives, but Miss Fisher is so much spicier than I’m used to. I LOVE IT. I’m going to spend so much money because of that link, and I don’t even care.
(Also you weren’t kidding about being upset that the show makes you care about heterosexuality, because goddamn.)
Hamilton is what has made me care about heterosexuality. Man, I love busting out “Helpless:” you walked in and my heart went BOOM
I’ll be praying for Smug Rebuker, that he or she might come to understand how much everyone ever hates smug fucking rebukers.
Aha, that second deleted comment! I know there must’ve been dozens of similar ones, but probably none that priceless.
Thank you for linking to the Marcy articles. As much as sexual harassment exists everywhere, it can be hard to convince fellow scientists that they don’t exist in a special class where everyone is rational and therefore incapable of this shit.
it seems like that would be true, but it is so sadly not
le sigh
I heartily endorse The Toast continuing to be at least 40% Miss Fisher and Hamilton-related content!!
So say someone impulsively booked a trip to Seattle and is leaving tomorrow but hasn’t really thought about what to do in Seattle, and say that person is me – anyone have any tips on what to do? I’m open to pretty much any ideas, and I like most Toast-adjacent things (cool libraries/bookstores/bars/art stuff), and coffee, and good vegetarian food. I was thinking about kayaking, maybe?
Go to the Filson store and buy the best coat
I’m from Vancouver, BC, so not a local but when in Seattle I like to do these things:
drink all the coffee. take a ferry somewhere (I like Bainbridge Island). Go to the library downtown (and pike place, etc etc). I liked exploring all the shops in Ballard the last time I was there. We also went to some readings at the UW campus bookstore. Have fun! Pack an umbrella.
Check out the bookstores in the University district, starting with the U bookstore, which is at about 44th and University. Walk down to 42nd and turn left and you get to Magus Books, a wonderful used bookstore. Just around the corner from Magus, in the alley, is Cafe Allegro, a really old, really good cafe.
The best pastries are at Crumble and Flake, in Capitol Hill. Get there early because the best things sell out fast. Capitol Hill has lots of cool things; I’m also a big fan of the Belgian bar The Stumbling Monk, which has a lot of really delicious sour beers on tap. Elliot Bay Bookstore is now in Capitol Hill, and it’s a great bookstore and a Seattle institution.
The second best pastries are at Cafe Besalu in Ballard, and the best French bread is right next door at Tall Grass Bakery. They’re both a little removed from central Ballard, on 24th a little way up the hill. Besalu closes early, around three. Ballard also has a lot of cool bars, some of which have live music, down around Ballard Ave. If you’re there during the day, you can also go to the Ballard Locks, which are very pretty.
Do go to the Pike Place Market. It has a lot of amazing food and is definitely not just for the tourists. I particularly recommend Le Panier, the piroshki place, The Crumpet Shop and De Laurenti.
I’m not sure where to recommend for kayak rental, as I don’t know if you want to kayak on the Sound or on a lake, but if you like old boats I recommend the Center for Wooden Boats at the south end of Lake Union. They have gorgeous old wooden sailboats and rowboats, and they let you take them out. They also have sailing lessons if you don’t feel confident sailing by yourself.
You can rent a kayak at Aqua Verde in the University District: http://aguaverde.com/ It is also a tasty restaurant, and could be combined with the bookstores suggested by Nausikaa.
I am very fond of the Ballard Locks (boats going up and down! Salmon ladder!) and I bet there’s kayak rental somewhere around there, too.
I love the Underground Tour (Pioneer Square, downtown Seattle), which is all about plumbing and prostitutes and poor civic planning.
Vegetarian food: Tons! Everywhere! My favorite dedicated veg places is In the Bowl on Capitol Hill. (Sort of Thai, with Chinese style fake meat (or tofu) and hilarious dish names. Try the Melting Culture.)
Plum Bistro
if you are in the U-District for bookstores or kayaking (both good suggestions) hit me up, or octopoda — we both work here! I will go to Agua Verde for delicious Mexican food with you, though I probably will not have time to go kayaking.
Edited: also, if you do come to the U-District, you should go to campus proper and see our beautiful Suzzallo Library.
If the art stuff you like is making art (and you don’t have a big art supply store where you live), the big Blick store is just a block or so from Elliott Bay Books. I love stopping at both when I make a trip into Seattle – I live about an hour away.
Seconding the locks and the library.
If you have any fondness for weird trinkets, Archie McPhee has you covered. I very nearly bought the whole store for my brothers’ kids. (What? Clearly, all children need a gross of finger puppet-sized rubber chickens.)
Cafe Flora for vegetarian food! It’s way out on East Madison Ave, but there are buses that go out that way. Worth the hike. If you like to get up early, go for brunch in the am on the weekend. Order the cinnamon roll, DO IT. Candied pecans and homemade icing. 🙂
My fave bookstore is in the Uwajimaya’s in the international district. If you have any interest in manga, anime, Japanese fashion, Japanese pens and stationary, or Japanese crafting patterns, the bookstore is a wonderfully expensive place to spend some time. The Uwajimaya’s has lots of food vendors and a large Asian grocery store, too!
EMP Museum: Music + Science Fiction + Pop Culture!!!! When I was there I got to see a bunch of costumes from Princess Bride and also David Bowie’s goblin king outfit from The Labyrinth! Yes, I stood next to his codpiece and had a picture taken. Glorious.
my faithful dance shoes popped a button off the t-strap while I was dancing this month, that Miss Fisher link is a godsend. Maybe I can swing a pair of the cheaper shoes after I pay the bills this month.
Popping in to say that the conference was fantastic, and I HAVE ANOTHER MOM TO COACH WITH!!!!! YAY!!!
So now the TWO coaches of the BOY’s lacrosse team (we have no girls team), will be moms of very small, tough, 7th grade female players.
This is the beginning of a new generation of lax bros!!!!! Think of the chances we will have to pound feminism into their little sports brains!!
Oh man I went to high school in the heart of lax bro-dom and the thought of them having female coaches pounding feminism into them fills me with GLEE.
You are doing the Lord’s work!
That style article *falls out of chair*. I’m on the broke-ish side right now, but once I have some money ModCloth may well get all of it. Also I’d say this is Open Thread material but it can’t wait: over the weekend I had a dream that Miss Fisher’s was set in the 60s instead of the 20s and was still awesome.
I am trying so so so hard to avoid new TV shows. There is too much good television out right now. There is no conceivable way to watch it all AND catch up with X-Files and Twin Peaks in time for new series’ arrivals.
but I think Miss Fisher may have to get integrated into the rotation
DAMN YOU ALL
Since one never needs an excuse for dog pictures, I present Violet and Klaus:
They are very cuddly.
See, everyone is thinking the Toast is off for Columbus Day and I was thinking it was because it was Canadian Thanksgiving Day.
I assumed they were shutting down to redo the website and forgot about all holidays across the Atlantic.
“In the investigation documents, Marcy stated that Complainant 3’s accusation was “totally absurd” and “plainly false,” and that he “would never touch the knee of someone I didn’t know.”
WHAT?? Like unwelcome knee touching is okay as long as he knows the person?? How can anyone have any respect for this man, contributions to the field of astronomy or not?? ICK!
that’s exactly what I thought! I hope they protest outside his office.
This is really more open thread material, but I just wanted to let you all know that it is your fault that I am checking out 1300 pages of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr biographies from the library, and I regret nothing.
Was kind of hoping that This Is Spinal Tap would have made it on there, mockumentary or no, simply because the songs are actually kind of good and they ended up being life-imitates-art by doing tours. Also, there should have been some room on there for Let It Be, even though Paul and Ringo have blocked its re-release (either in theaters or on DVD/Blu-ray) because it’s too painful.
I definitely try to channel Miss Fisher like, as much as possible. Especially re: pants, because wide leg pants are the best. I have VELVET ONES and they are glorious. Also I’m so mad those hats are over $200 because I want one SO BAD. Can I start a GoFundMe just for my hat habit?
In local Hamilton news, I was taking the compost out yesterday, and someone sitting patiently in rush-hour traffic outside my apartment building was playing “What’d I miss?” from the cast recording loudly enough to share. I wished I had a banner to wave toward the street reading, “I like your taste in music, neighbor!”
oh man, as a hardcore Wilco person (until ~2011/when they started getting into the “curation” business), I Am Trying To Break Your Heart is just… not. Good. Not good at all. If you want to watch a Wilco documentary go with Ashes Of American Flags, which is just as much — or more — about music history and Wlico trying to position themselves in it during late capitalism as it is about White Men Having Ultimately Unimportant Problems Of Their Own Manufacture. Also it’s shot SO much better.