Let's put this in perspective. This letter was probably written by a 19 year old sophomore dating a 21 year old senior. And they both happen to write for the college paper.

Ya know, there really isn't much of a power imbalance there. And hey, they're in the same college! And hey, they both like to write! And hey, they have some physical chemistry! Heck, I'd be surprised if they didn't try dating.

LW, just ignore the comments. It's only been 3 months, and people are still getting used to it. That dean that gave you the ethics talk jumped the gun too. Professors can really develop an inflated sense of the importance of their fiefdoms in the grand scheme of things.

Remember, it's just a college newspaper. You're still just a kid. Enjoy this while it lasts.

A free Origin of the Species! I definitely would have picked that up as an undergrad.

I bet the religious screed inside is at least as interesting as the funny little cartoon booklets about Jesus they already pass out on campuses.

I won't speak to the guidelines for mammograms, as I'm not in that age group and I'm sure the guidelines will change before I get there.

The new pap smear guidelines are confusing to me. I had always assumed that younger women were advised to get yearly pap smears because they have more sexual partners, and more unprotected sex, than older women, who get pap smears only every 3 years. This year I asked my doctor to clarify, and she told me it isn't the higher number of sexual partners, but rather that young women are more susceptible to cervical cancer due to the youthful nature of their cervix.

So now I don't know what's true.

I have always wondered about the harmfulness of the procedure itself- scraping off a bunch of cells from a cancer-prone region on a yearly basis can't possibly be good.

On a positive note, hopefully all young women are getting the HPV vaccine, thus reducing this problem for the future.

Good luck, Cary.

The poster earlier who said that cancer is just a disease is right. You don't have to be defined by your cancer, and it's not your fault that you have it. Living even the most perfect, organic, au natural lifestyle does not make one immune to cancer.

You're a fighter, and I know you will fight this too.

Wow, she was being inappropriate. I've never seen anything like that. That was like a 3 year old who didn't get the candy cane shey wanted, so stormed off in a huff when offered an apple instead.

If you're going to be a on news show, you have to be prepared for questions about your fame.

And for better or worse, her fame is completely wound up in the gay marriage issue. What did she expect, accolades from everyone who called into the show?

Uggh! Why did I click on this link?? Damn you new Salon lay-out, my anti-Paglia defenses were confused!

What surprises me is how many people know the gender of the authors they are reading.

At best I usually glance at the author, then forget the name as I'm reading. If I look at it later, it's only to find more books by the same author. I think this is probably true for most readers- the story is what's important, not the gender of the author.

It makes me think that this "top 10" list is based more on the reputations and literary bona fides of the authors (in other words, things external to the story), than on the stories themselves.

Pass something, at least.

You have a supermajority. Make it happen.

Or lose my vote.

I don't think you're so unique, LW. I do the same thing, and others do as well.

I think the difference is, many people call this sort of hyper-observation "intuition." They claim that they have a "sense" or "feel" for a person, rather than an immense catalogue of tiny details that together creates a whole. Since everybody understands that term, now I just claim I have an "intuition" when I make an otherwise unusual observation.

What trips me up is that I expect other people to be as hyper-alert and observant of me as I am of them. I generally know when people are sad, happy, lying, ebullient, whatever, before they say anything about it, and I adjust my behaviour towards them accordingly. Then, I expect the same from them. It usually doesn't happen- most people are fairly oblivious. So I have to remember to be explicit if I expect people to understand my actions.

Finish college. Then worry about the rest of it.

If you stop school now, it might take you a long time to back. And that lack of a little piece of paper with your name and degree on it will affect you in ways you can't begin to understand now. It will be a lot harder to get a non-physical, interesting job that pays above minimum wage without it. And while manual labor and gruntwork may seem appealing now (e.g. the army), it will probably lose its luster in a few years.

So finish your program, in France or at home, then move on to the rest of your life.

Oh, by the way, once you have finished your degree, go ahead and make some odd choices. Move to India and live in a monastery, volunteer at an orphanage in Africa, spend a season as a cook in Antarctica, sail around the world as crew on a merchant vessel, live as a hermit in a tent in woods, even join the military- whatever you need to do. Just hold out until you've got that piece of paper.