Dear Mr. Oliver,
I was quite disappointed by this past week's "Last Week Tonight" (airing on June 21, 2015). The content was hilarious and eye opening, and your topic of the week (the dangers of the internet) is an important topic that must be tackled by the media; however, I feel that you could have had a much more effective show if you had devoted your entire 30 minutes to the Charleston massacre. I am usually a big fan of your show, but this past week you did not insert your unique voice into the fray when it was needed. Yes, the recap at the top of the show was good, but it was simply not enough.
You run a show called "Last Week Tonight," and rather than giving the audience satire of the news of last week, you favored a prepared segment about the internet. I understand...
Lifestyle
Dear Foreign Secretary Hague and Special Envoy Jolie:
We congratulate the UK Government's Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative for convening this week's historic Global Summit in London.
We are members of the Missing Peace Young Scholars Network: early-career researchers from a wide range of academic backgrounds, committed to understanding and ending sexual violence in war. The Network was created in 2013 by The United States Institute of Peace (USIP); The Human Rights Center at the University of California Berkeley; The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO); and Women In International Security (WIIS).
We were first convened in Washington, D.C., at the Missing Peace Symposium in February 2013, then again in May 2014.
Many of us were fortunate enough to attend this week's...
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Dear Devon,
My intention was to write you a love letter for your birthday. It was going to be filled with poetic references to your flowing blonde locks and charming smile. I was planning to confess that I pasted a picture of my own face on top of Christina Ricci's on a printout circa 1998. But, I can't write that letter. I have too many pent up emotions, too much "unfinished business" if you will. (Get it, unfinished business? Like, from "Casper"?) Anyway, I'm angry.
I'm an (almost) 23-year-old single girl with a skewed conception of how boys (guys, men, whatever) act in real life. And, call me dramatic, but I think it's all your fault.
When I was 5, you sneakily lead me to believe that if I was ever sitting alone at a dance (wearing a long-sleeved bridal-ish type dress for some...
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Dear Jeff Skoll,
I always had you pegged as an ideas guy. I mean, co-founder of eBay, how cool is that?
But lately I've been starting to see you as a man of the people. The idea at the core of eBay was empowering, wasn't it? The revolutionary notion that everyone can become an entrepreneur.
And then, when your big idea made you very rich, you thought hard about what to do with those resources. And you got a great piece of advice, "Bet on good people doing good things."
Which is precisely what you've done. And, maybe because you deliberately have such a low personal profile, Jeff (I mean, you're not in boldface alongside Paris Hilton, are you?), I'm just starting to put it all together.
First, I watched the talk you gave at the TED conference. That helped.
I knew that...
5,592
Dear Colleagues,
As members of the clergy we have been called and compelled to care for all of God's people. Therefore we would like to offer our deepest condolences to the families of Michael Brown Jr., Eric Garner, Wenjian Liu, and Rafael Ramos. Together we affirm that each one of these men were children of God and that all humanity, men, women, children and youth are a part of God's sacred (holy) creation. We stand in prayer with each of these families and all who must now face the reality of their first holiday season without the presence of their loved one.
While each of these deaths is tragic on an individual level, we also acknowledge they have unearthed the reality of longstanding racialized tensions in America. More specifically, we believe that all of these incidents have...
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Hi, Governor Jindal. You're someone I looked up to growing up.
Why? Because I grew up in a small Louisiana town as an Indian-American. I had no Indian community when I grew up, and I didn't have an Indian household. What I did have was an interest in politics. As I found myself pondering over questions about society and government, I was pleased to see that an Indian-American paved the way in my state.
However, I learned from a young age that it was not acceptable to be Indian-American in Louisiana. Look around your state. The Indian-Americans who live here largely stay amongst their families and Indian communities. I never had that luxury. I wanted to fit in. Like most minority kids in majority white settings, I wasn't completely sure what I was giving up. I gave up a lot that I...
2,178
Dear Conscious Partner (whoever, wherever you are),
Let me be blunt, clear, and straightforward, so that you may deeply understand what I desire. Let me also say that this path is not for the faint of heart, so if by reading this you begin to dismiss my words or tell me this isn't possible, then I know you aren't ready to hear this and this may not be your path.
I desire a conscious partnership, one in which both of us are committed to the growth of ourselves as individuals, as well as a team.
I desire that you are doing your work and I am doing mine. I desire us to know that the work doesn't disappear until we die, and even that is debatable.
I desire us to know there is no certain level of perfection we must get to in order to be ready for one another, rather a willingness...
3,655
Dear Akirah,
The relationship was so bad for me... and I knew it! So why did I stay with my boyfriend for so long? How in the world did it take forever for me to finally leave?
-Feeling Silly
Dear Feeling Silly,
Anytime I get asked this question, it's usually laced with shame, regret, or anger. For some folks, it's hard to think about past relationships without cringing. If that's you, I'm sorry you're experiencing those emotions. I know it's far from fun.
If it's any consolation, I can definitely relate. A year ago, I spoke with an acquaintance who told me that after she met an ex-boyfriend of mine, she couldn't believe I had dated him for so long. "What were you thinking?!" she asked.
Ouch! I quickly ended the conversation and left, feeling super embarrassed. "Did she...
2,359
Dear Mark,
Sorry I missed you in China.
I was officiating my business partner's wedding in ZhengZhou. I hope you enjoyed your trip. By the sounds of it, the Chinese students at Tsinghua University certainly did!
My friend Sam Hamadeh, Founder and CEO at PrivCo, was once quoted saying that many felt you were "in over your hoodie as the CEO of a multibillion-dollar public company." I believe you are here as well.
Your attempt to speak Mandarin was charming. However, your tones were off, the pronunciation garbled, and the sound of your voice? It would be kind to say ear piercing. In a word, your Mandarin was terrible.
Kidding.
Mark, thank you. You're an inspiration.
You're an amazing example to so many Americans who believe Chinese is too difficult to learn. You weren't...
2,168
Dear Scarlett,
I'm one of your biggest fans. I'm a Yankee, of course, but ever since my grandmother forced me to sit through Gone with the Wind when I was eight, I've had a deep respect for your determination and general pluck. It's possible you were even an inspiration for me being a divorce lawyer, because I think of you as the original marriage hacker. You couldn't get divorced in old days, but you made the most of three unhappy marriages, taking what you could get and repeatedly building a new empire from the ashes of the last.
Let's be blunt here: history wasn't exactly on your side. Yet you managed to survive -- and thrive -- despite living through a war; despite losing your parents in really awful ways; despite having your entire livelihood burned to the ground; oh, yeah,...
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