Newly severed from Amazon.com, I actually left my apartment and went out to shop on Black Friday. It had been years since I'd done that. Physically, it was as vaguely uncomfortable as I remembered, but I am a woman in her 50's and it felt right to join my peers....
I have dearly loved Amazon.com. My relationship with it began in 2002 when I ordered John Lithgow's CD, Singin' in the Bathtub. A few books and CDs were the only items I got from Amazon.com for years, but since 2012, I've been a happy Amazon Prime member who has spent...
Eva Longoria breaks down how Latinas earn less than everyone even taking into account education, experience and location. Watch the video at LeanIn.org.
November 20th, 2019 marks the unfairness of the pay gap and how far into 2019 it takes a Latina to make what a white, non-Hispanic male earned in 2018. There are pay gaps between white non-Latino men and women of all backgrounds, but of all women in the U.S. Latinas...
[Full of Breaking Bad spoilers, but no El Camino spoilers since I haven't seen it yet.] Before I watch Netflix's El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, I'm re-watching the Breaking Bad TV series that aired on the AMC channel between 2008 and 2013. (I have to brag that I...
After Gilroy and El Paso and Dayton, it has sunk in at a new level for me that I could die any day. That has always been true, of course, but the frequency of the last three terrorist acts make it immediate for me. White men slaughtering people in public places has...
goddamn queasy-cam Cloverfield For 33 years I’ve gotten motion sickness when I watch movies filmed in the “queasy-cam” style (hand-held camera). Years ago, while watching The Blair Witch Project in the theater, I had to run to the women’s room to fully throw up, and...
Maybe I’m just old. So please respect old people by not looking at your phone!
There's this thing we do when we hear about the worst of human behavior. We're shocked and disbelieving and then we distance ourselves from the act by wondering what kind of monster does such a thing. We feel certain that neither we nor anyone we know could ever do...
The open letter technique is a clichéd way to address a challenging topic and when I see a writer begin with "Dear Democratic Party" or "Dear President Trump" I think, "If you really want to address those people, why post your letter here?" But I'm doing it because...
When a white person apologizes for having been racially offensive, they often say it wasn't their intention to do that and they didn't intend it to come out that way and they had no intention of offending anyone and it wasn't their intention to upset people. Why do...
Jane Sun of Sunnyvale, CA asked me for a list of things that cost $3, so here goes. Jane, I’ve modified your request so it’s about Chicago-specific things you can buy for $3. Obviously you can get a Starbucks cup of regular drip coffee for $3, etc. Things you can get...
Karen in Chicago asks "How do you start a conversation with someone about their nationality without offending them? For example, a Lyft or Uber driver. And, if that is possible, what should you ask them?" I love this question because I blogged Stop asking: Where are...
For those who didn't grow up in the U.S. (and many who did) I was in a restaurant with a friend who ordered a beer and then didn’t drink much of it. I gestured at it and said, “So, you’re really not a big drinker.” She said, “It just doesn’t taste right to me.” I...
It's my annual posting of my summary of the History Channel's Christmas Unwrapped: The History of Christmas. Part of our American Christmas tradition is for people to throw around the phrase "the true meaning of Christmas." What that phrase usually refers to is an...