I didn't have the time or energy for all the self-important navel-gazing and petty crap that goes on in high school. I was too busy trying to survive in the real world. I didn't have loving parents or a stable home. I grew up with poverty and violence. I won't go into all the details of that, but my senior year was spent sleeping on someone's floor. I had no home. I was going to school and working, and my main concern was graduating with my class since some of the fallout of my non-stable home was missing the first half of my senior year and having to make it all up in the second half. Frankly, if not for the kindness of my principal and some teachers, I wouldn't have had a cap and gown to graduate in. They cost money. And I had neither parents nor money.

So forgive me if the head cheerleader making fun of my white-after-Labor-Day shoes or the class clown rhyming my name with something stupid and chanting it didn't "scar me for life." None of that nonsense was important to me, and it was all tuned out. So yeah, I have a very different idea of what constitutes life-affecting issues in high school. You all seem to think that I had some sort of privileged, prom-queen life in high school just because I've managed to move past it. No. I just prioritized things differently. "Mean Girls" may not be fun while you're going through it, but you shouldn't still be holding on to it when you're 45. It's NOTHING in the grand scheme of things.

Why is a woman with her legs open automatically a "slut"?

Saturated fat doesn't cause weight gain? Believe me, start eating a diet chock full of butter, ice cream, cheese, egg yolks, mayonnaise, cream/sour cream, bacon, sausages, fatty meats, cakes, cookies, pastries, donuts, other crappy snacks, fast food etc., and watch your scale erupt. A high-fat diet, especially one heavy in saturated fats, is a really great way to gain weight.

Did you perhaps mean that saturated fats cause other serious health problems *besides* just weight gain? Because that is 100% true. I'm not being facetious, merely asking you to expand (no pun intended) on your position.

And their grade-school mentality. Obama rhymes with Osama. That's pretty much all they ever needed. The rest is gravy.

Carry a joint, get arrested and called a degenerate. Carry a deadly weapon... get accolades and called a good American. You have a "right to protect your family and home" (yeah, that's really why they all want guns, and that's really what they're mostly used for...), but you shouldn't have a right to choose who you want your family to be, and what you can do in the privacy of your home.

This place truly amazes me sometimes. Two men kissing is considered detrimental to society, while everyone running around with deadly friggin' weapons is considered beneficial. Sex, bad. Violence, good. We really are a stupid, backwards and bloodthirsty bunch. It's no wonder the rest of the world thinks we're completely insane. We are.

And I'm angry and horrified. This is NOT ACCEPTABLE. A bigot delivering the invocation at the "Change Has Come" inauguration? Yeah, big change... a right-wing hatemonger standing next to the president. Looks like same ole, same ole to me. I am insulted beyond belief by this choice.

Who should have chosen instead? Jim Wallis.

Joan, it seems (and I may be wrong) that you are assuming that because Caroline is devoutly Catholic, she must be against a woman's right to choose. It's entirely possible to be both pro-life and pro-choice. Your average liberal Catholic is usually personally opposed to abortion for themselves, but would not actively work to take away other women's right to choose.

I'm about as far-left as anyone you'll meet, not a Catholic and am 100% pro-choice. But I have no objection to someone being pro-life... as long as they are not anti-choice. There's a difference.

But for the record, Caroline is pro-choice. Give her a chance.

I've only just now come back to read some letters... and in response to your response to my letter, no, I honestly didn't know your religious background, which is why I prefaced my comments with "I may be wrong."

As you know, I nearly always agree with you, but in this case I did think you were being prematurely rough on Caroline, and especially on Kerry (full disclosure: I think the sun rises and sets with Kerry, her brother Bobby and their late father), who was put in an awkward position by Chris.

Caroline can't win with anyone, it seems. She's chastised for not campaigning properly for the seat, then she's chastised for her "unseemly" campaigning for the seat. Go to the people, don't go to the people... either way, she's wrong. Problem here I think is that for a lot of folks, there seems to be no middle ground when it comes to the Kennedys, you either love them or you hate them. I'm middle ground, myself. Love some Kennedys, like others, not particularly crazy about others. Like any family. Including my own.

I'm actually fine with anyone Paterson chooses, except for Cuomo (see above disclosure... I fully admit it's personal, so don't kill me!), as long as that person--male or female--is a Democrat. I simply hope he chooses someone who will be an effective and influential voice for New York. Even if it is Cuomo.

And you know I love you. xoxo