Why does the vertical headrest jut out, forcing you to tilt your head forward so that the weight of it is on your neck? WHY WHY WHY? The convex headrest works on a horizontal surface like a BED. It does not work on a vertical surface like a seat. I really don't understand this design...but I have plenty of time to go batshit crazy about it every time I take a 15-hr flight to visit family.

I can't help but notice :) that you're a vegan...

So I highly recommend "Vegan with a Vengeance" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I never liked tempeh until she came along.

...And other stereotypes we should spend lots of time talking about.

But seriously--I get that Hillary-as-mom is an issue for some people. (People who seem to hate their mothers, since it's usually perceived as a negative.) I'm just not sure it's a trend.

There must be something useful about compartmentalizing disease into smaller cultural or biological groups. Maybe it gives some sense of control over its treatment. Let's not forget how long AIDS was thought of as "gay cancer." As in all illness, statistics may back up certain genders or age groups being more likely to suffer from one mental illness or another, but that doesn't mean that outliers are somehow amusing.

I read the post as straightforwardly sympathetic and think that people who didn't were not paying attention or willfully misreading Harding's intent.

The "argument" that Hillary rode Bill's coattails to where she is drives me ker-azy. I would LOVE to know who had the bug's eye view of their marriage to know that. Would Bill have been president if he wasn't married to Hillary? Who knows? Who knows how people in a marriage--which is supposed to be a partnership, after all--influence and support each other? Or are men the only people in this particular kind of partnership that can confer direct or indirect benefits? I don't think so.

LW, you sound pretty depressed to me. That alone is going to have you viewing your Ivy League through a dark lens that makes it into an overwhelming "empire" ("rankled" sounds like the least of what you're feeling). (Also, hardly. Yes, you're making good connections, but there is life outside of Ivy League education, and no guarantee there anyway. I'm sure you know that deep down.)

But...a lot of what you are going through sounds like college. Work piling up, exhaustion, roommate arguments, just being generally less healthy...college! Some of these things might transfer to the west coast. The weather will not, and that's a real issue. People shouldn't underestimate the misery of six-month winters. The good news is, it's finally spring. You may find that finishing out the semester gets a little easier. And while you're stuck there, try to remember what it was you liked about where you are now in the first place. Presumably more than the name and connections?

What do you think college is supposed to be? What can you live with, instead? Any chance of talking to transfer students at the school you're thinking about moving to? How about looking up the resumes of people who have jobs you want? I'd bet good money they don't all come from "empires."

What you're going through sounds familiar. Sounds like a college thing, a relocation thing. But it's happening to you now. Good luck with it.

Um. The SEVEN MILLION people involved in Internet dating are "almost entirely" fat and socially inept? Have you...been to the Internet lately? Contrary to your name, you seem to have an unhealthy fixation on fat people. Who are not necessarily obese, not necessarily unhealthy, and not necessarily unhappy. I don't happen to be fat. I happen to be healthy. Those things do not always go together. My very thin mother recently had cancer, while her siblings, all quite large, have not. Yes, yes, statistics show. But I have a feeling you paint individuals with your very broad (some might say fat) brush. The smug, judgmental thing might backfire on you. Turns out, social isolation is also bad for health.

I agree with many of the posters here--people can look at me all they want, long as they don't touch. After all, I look too. Omigod, what if my female gaze suggests to delicate men, "I want to use your sperm to impregnate myself and take half your paycheck forever." Terrifying! But let's agree to give up some "comfort" for mutual freedom.

Okay, Obama's probably going to get the nomination. I am totally ready to support Obama. As this primary grows more and more polarizing for some, I see fewer and fewer meaningful differences between them. I don't personally care much for either. So, go Obama!

But it is relevant that this race is going (went) on so long. Hillary-haters, take heed--there was support for her. Not just aversion to alternatives, but support. I know it is really, really hard for some of you to believe, but it's really important to believe it! What did she offer that Obama didn't? What will Obama NEED to offer? (A couple billion letters in Salon give some answers, many of them good.)

Hillary made this race better. Obama is stronger. Let's go, Democrats!

It was unfair that you had the parents you did. But it is unacceptable to treat other people the way you were treated. By all means, cultivate compassion for yourself--but that doesn't let you off the hook. It is unacceptable to treat other people the way you were treated. I have a particular family member that I'm so scared of becoming, and I'm ultra-sensitive to any signs of her in me. Other people don't see it, with some cost to me. No doubt the strategies you have managed come with a cost to you. But still--it is unacceptable to treat other people the way you were treated.