Rather then defining the local food movement they give it a bad name. And I love my farmer’s markets! Living in a city I get a lot out of them. From about May-Nov I easily do about 2/3 of my grocery shopping there. But I still eat tropical fruits and I shop at my local grocery for pantry items and (although it’s free trade and locally roasted) I still drink coffee.

I’ve also decided that it makes the best sense to get my beef (grass fed and finished, of course) from a far away ranch with big skies and humane practices. It turns out my local grass feed beef (often old dairy cows) is corn finished anyway – what I loose in shipping my meat from Montana I gain back in all the energy it takes to grow that corn or ship in that hay.

My point is use your noodle. Some things are best local. Other things it makes sense to fly it in. You don’t have to be a ‘lacavore’ to make a real difference. This isn’t an all or nothing endeavor.

Men don’t have to see a doc once a year. No one is holding their Viagra out like a carrot to make them do it either. And men get STDs and suffer from diseases that can be screened for too.

Honesty – this whole needing to see a doctor each time you get the pill seems like a way to keep poor women down. I know there is a better solution and I’m really surprised that so few posters here are even trying to think of a better way – it seems so classiest and out of touch.

I would imagine this working like ordering contacts through the mail – you need to have a doctor who’s examined you but you don’t have to have seen a doctor that day.

When I used Planned Parenthood it was really hard to get in – not only would I have to work around the PP calendar but my own class schedule was very demanding so I had to work around that too. And not having a car (I was so broke) made it all that much harder. Between finals, semester breaks and all that other 20-something drama I’d often go off the pill for a couple of months before I could get in to see a doctor and get back on them. And I KNOW all that off and on wasn’t treating me right – talk about an emotional roller coaster!

I’m for sure NOT saying that you don’t need a doctor at all. But getting the pill shouldn’t be as difficult as it currently is.

I was an active member for years. And I’m not just talking about making donations – I marched, organized and recruited. It was when I started focusing in on companion animals and made the decision to add fish to my vegetarian diet (I was getting fat on all that cheese) that I was pushed out. It turns out working with companion animals is for little old ladies and eating fish is worse then eating a cow because you’ve got to kill so many more fish to equal that one cow. Strange that no one questioned where all that cheese came from (dairy cows end up going to slaughter too) but that’s PETA for you in my experience. But rather then convincing me not to eat that fish I decided to put the cow back in my diet too (grass fed, of course!).

So I still work with companion animals but I’m not a vegetarian (but I am very careful about where my meat comes from). And PETA has zero chance of winning me back. PETA isn’t the last word in animal rights and it’s a good thing too because I really do think they offend more people then they attract to the cause.

And you tell ‘em, Sarah!

I’ve never been a huge Pollack fan – except that I really liked this article. It was personal without being over the top personal.

And regarding the Jew-fro – I hear the phrase and it makes me wish I had those crazy, wonderful cork-screw curls too. It’s not a nasty term at all and I think the people who are getting all worked up about it need to relax.

“The damage my bad choices did to my kids was profound and I didn't wise up until they were adults. They long ago forgave their father (who has been in recovery for 30 years while I kept looking for new people who would create the chaos I needed), their relationships with me are fragile and far more judgmental than the readers here. Bottom line is that they didn't buy my lame excuses for failing to be a responsible adult. And they were right.”

I also forgave my abusive father for years of neglect - but my relationship with my mother has been more and more difficult as I get older. I now see that her game was the opposite of neglect – rather then ignoring me she pulled me right into her crazed drama (my mom had a Gisele too). And when I think back to her crying and being sad over the choices she made (and being a sad dinner time family sure qualifies) I don’t have a whole lot of sympathy for her. I don’t see her as a victim anymore and I feel cheated that she spun it that way when I was just a little girl. This article brings all those bad things up for me because this author still seems blind to what it means to be the hole to her husbands horns.