this is a pair of five year olds. Not school aged students. Why can't Salon find someone more appropriate to write this kind of article? Don't most parents do this kind of stuff with their five-year-olds? Why waste pixels on this self-congratulatory nonsense?

This article should be called Confessions of a pre-schooler. You can talk about all your earnest theories, but you really don't have any experience teaching school aged children yet. Couldn't Salon find someone who knew a little bit more of what they were talking about to write this article?

This man is a disgusting criminal. The fact that he is a famous director should neither exonerate him nor make him more culpable. He raped a child. He deserves to rot in jail.

was not cute or sentimental. Call it by its real name: It was evil.

Women have fought with great courage for their political rights. I would not cut slack for some idiot on the right who penned this kind of nonsense and I suggest that Mr. Keillor try a little harder not just to spit out 500 hundred words and hit send. It's not that ladies' egos can't handle the dismissive treatment, it's that he looks like an old fool.

When you're depressed, they can really help. Better than killing yourself,that's for sure. At least give them a try. They can make you feel rational and strong, capable of dealing with problems.

I'm sorry, but the thought of this old geezer kissing a lady's thighs is making me lose my appetite. More power to him and everything, but eeeww.

You are delightful. You ARE doing important work, and you write about it beautifully. I hope we hear more of your voice!

I was in New York on 9/13. Working, in lower Manhattan. First of all, to get into lower Manhattan, I had to pass through two sets of barricades, one on fourteenth street and one on Houston street. There were no cars moving anywhere, only a few trucks and army vehicles. I had to show ID to go below Houston. The air was thick with smoke. I had to put my sweater in front of my face. Almost no one was on the street. The stores were shuttered. At Union Square Park, people had put out huge pieces of paper and were writing their feelings on them with magic markers. Most of them were despairing but forgiving messages from Gandhi, etc. Someone played sad music (bagpipes?) People were holding candles and being together.. Everywhere there were candles and piles of flowers. And everywhere, taped to buildings, were those horrible and touching signs "Have you found . . . " and then a picture of the loved ones. Firehouses were mounded with flowers and candles. I could not stand to look at candles for two years. They certainly did not seem romantic. The air was thick with ashes for weeks. It made me crazy, to think of little bits of people sprinkled into my hair. Someone set up a photo studio where people brought their photos and shared them near my office--it was non-profit. Whenever I got together with anyone, we were all shattered. It was as if there were a million broken pieces of mirror--we all had our eyes and hearts full of the horror, and we all had slightly different experiences and views of it. People were dazed by the triviality and seriousness of the loss. Someone I worked with lost a brother, someone else, a sister, someone else, a bottle of shampoo she left at the gym. We couldn't breathe right, it hurt too much and it was too smoky. I couldn't figure out which way was uptown and downtown sometimes without the WTC to guide me. The ache was intense, constant, and it lasted for a year--and more. Trust me. Nobody was sitting in lower Manhattan talking about their screenplays in a restaurant. That discussion was not even on the menu.

Circumcision takes a minute, it is not a big deal, boys are fine five minutes later, and then they look good for the rest of their lives. If you don't want to do it for your kids, don't. If you do, do. It is not at all the same as female circumcision, which often includes cutting out the clitoris. Not the same at all. And some of these comments border on anti-Semitism, by the way.

I read things like "Starbucks is hiring." and "Last time I looked it was easy to get a menial job." Well, as I said, my son's been looking for a menial job, and he's getting NOTHING. A few years ago, wanted signs were everywhere. Now, there's no wanted sign and hardly anybody will give him an application. Now you take a guy who's in his 40s or 50s with little visible track record. Who is Starbucks going to pick, supposing they even have a job. Some oldish guy who looks like a slacker, or a bright young, good-looking college student with strong arms and a strong back? Who is going to be able to lift more things and charm the customers more, and be a better fit with the other workers? I know a housewife here who went job hunting recently and the 24 year old Starbucks manager all but told her that she was TOO OLD. That's another thing--a lot of these fast-food managers are way younger than this woman's husband. I'm not saying he couldn't or shouldn't try. But try to imagine how painful and humiliating the task would be

Not to enable the husband, but would anyone else have some practical suggestions for someone who needs a job? There are some on this thread, and I'd love to hear more. I ask because my teenager has been out pounding the pavement for a burger flipping job and so far he's gone to 80 places. Fewer than 10 would even let him fill out an application--they just have NOTHING. He's going to keep going, but it's just not so easy these days. So, more suggestions are very welcome.