Dear Acquaintances,
If you find you are listed below, please reconsider your grasping, clasping inclinations.
Friend of a friend that I’ve met only once
and now encounter at another party
One conversation about the weather and an old movie we both saw doesn’t mean we are on a hugging basis. Or that we know each other. Or that I like you. You know what? I lied to you. I don’t like rainy days. They are depressing. And I hated that movie. Julia Robert’s teeth are too big and she reminds me of a horse. And once a horse bit me. No shit. Right on the shoulder. That sucker just stretched his big head right out of the stall and chomped on down. So big teeth are freaky, and I hate all of Julia Robert’s movies. And what I mean by that story is keep your grubby mitts off of me....
Lifestyle
Jessica,
From the very bottom of my heart, thank you. On transformative days in my life, I go to sleep at night and, without fail, find myself reliving the events of that day. Tonight was different.
As expected, my dreams were filled with the inspiring talks I heard at YC’s female founders conference and the incredible women I was fortunate enough to meet by attending. But what I wasn’t expecting was sitting up in bed at 4:30 a.m., completely wide awake, with my mind racing and practically bursting at the seams. You see, I really had no choice but to write you this letter.
If I’m being honest, I’ve had my doubts about YC. Is YC really passionate about supporting female founders? I’ve lived my life in a “man’s world,” receiving a degree in mechanical engineering—which contains the...
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Dear Dr. Laura:
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God’s Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination… end of debate.
I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God’s Laws and how to follow them.
Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own Canadians?
I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In...
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Dear people who try to have sex in clubs...
We shouldn't need to have this conversation. You should already know what you're doing wrong. It will be incredible if people have never berated you before for your weird and worrying shenanigans.
But you don't, do you? You don't know what you're doing wrong. That is the worst thing about this whole problem. It is a problem perpetuated by the horny and the oblivious.
Anyone who's ever been on a night out will know that it can be utterly destroyed by the grim spectacle of two people basically having sex in front of an entire club's worth of people. If you're one of the people who think that it's all right to flap your bits around while other people are trying to dance with their friends, then you need to be told: stop it. Stop it. Stop...
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Dear Raj,
Forgive me for writing to you in English, but sadly I don't know Marathi, just as you don't know Bengali, which, by the way, I am fluent in. I have been observing you for years. I have seen your anger; your boorishness; your enormous potential which you yourself squattered away; your constant abusing of those belonging to an ethnicity that is not yours.
I have seen your workers threaten people; I have seen you call people names in the most despicable manner; I have seen how your folks have retained a stranglehold over Bombay or Mumbai through hooliganism rather than development.
But, very few have had the courage to tell you on your face what they all say behind your back. So, I thought I would do the honours.
You are essentially a bully. And a bully is actually...
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Dear Sirs and Madame,
I write to you all today with a profound sense of fear in my heart, for our nation, for our individual liberties and for our Constitution.
The House of Representative's, in a purely partisan vote backed and strong-armed by the most extreme elements of the religious right-wing that has seized control of the Republican party, voted out two Article's of Impeachment against the President of the United States.
Ignoring all exculpatory evidence, the facts of the case, a proponderance of opinion by America's leading legal scholars, the will of the American people and most frightening of all, the Constitution of the United States, the House has unilaterally decided, clearly along party lines, to legitimize the practice of prosecutorial excesses and abuses which are...
2,704
I want to thank you.
I want to thank you for the hours of happiness, for the times we laughed until we couldn't breathe, for dancing round the living room at 3am with me, eating doughnuts and singing along to Led Zeppelin, for the way you kept me calm when our car was obliterated on a main road whilst I was driving, for the way you held my hand as I waited in hospital for the surgery that would abort our baby, for saying that my roast potatoes are unrivalled, thank you for offering your shoulder so many times when the world was falling down around me and for allowing me, for the briefest of times, to feel utterly and completely loved.
Now, I also want to thank you for the rest of our relationship. I want to thank you for the countless times you frightened me with your vicious...
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Dear Ms. Espinel:
I am a visual artist (graphic artist and painter), and an attorney. I have practiced intellectual property and arts law with the law firm of Owen, Wickersham & Erickson in San Francisco for 15 years (after 3 years as a law clerk in federal court). Before I became a lawyer, I worked as a professional illustrator and graphic artist for 13 years. The focus of my law practice is visual artists, including commercial illustrators, fine artists and photographers; as well as business clients who create and exploit intellectual property. I am a member of several arts and arts lawyers organizations, and I speak and publish articles frequently on legal issues for visual artists. For example, I am a member of the AIGA, the professional organization for design and I write an...
2,892
Dear NFL Player:
"I would never treat my wife like that."
Is that a sentence you hear yourself or your fellow teammates saying?
Good.
But not good enough. Just like when a woman says, "I would never stay in a relationship like that," the real truth is: actually, you could. Because that's how domestic violence works. A cycle of abuse that slowly grows until both abuser and victim tolerate behavior once unimaginable, domestic violence manifests itself in many subtle ways before it comes to knock-out punches caught on elevator security cameras.
Financial abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, social control and isolation - these are all weapons in an abuser's arsenal, often unleashed well before either party realizes something may be wrong in the relationship. And by then...
2,438
Dear Mr. Macatee,
I am writing to express the Gabriola Arts Council’s fierce opposition to the proposed cuts to ferry service to Gabriola Island. The proposed cancelled runs—in particular the last two runs every evening—will have a significant negative effect on arts and culture on Gabriola Island.
The importance of the arts to personal and community wellbeing, and to social and economic development have been well proven, and indeed this philosophy is what fuels much of the mandates of the government organizations and ministries that provide funding to arts and culture. We struggle to understand how decisions about cutting ferry services have been made in isolation from other stated goals and mandates of provincial and federal levels of government, especially when they so clearly...
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