I don't usually go on these rants but after just having my first baby I am noticing the pressure to sacrifice all else to get my body back to how it used to be. We see it everywhere in the media, celebrity women are praised for their ability to get straight back into the best shape of their lives immediately after giving birth. And this is just giving us unrealistic expectations as to how women should healthily recover from their pregnancy.
It's as if the majority of these women who have been glorified for going straight back to their 6-packs, have just handed their new-born over to a carer and gone back to their daily lives. The most disturbing images I have seen recently is another one of those 'instagram models' who appear so conscious of their figure that at 8 months pregnant she...
Lifestyle
Dear Jim Koch,
My name is Pat Berger and I'm a huge fan of yours. I've been following you and your brewery since the late 80's when I started home brewing and really getting into beer. Your Boston lager is both drinkable and flavorful with a soft malt background and a spicy noble hop finish. It does an equally great job at accompanying food as it does quenching a powerful thirst on a hot day. It is truly a great beer. As a veteran bartender it was often the Boston Lager I would crack open at the end of a long and grueling shift while I cleaned up and pondered life.
Your contributions to the popularity of craft beer cannot be measured in this short letter. From brewing tasty beer available almost everywhere to your integral part in the formation of the Brewers Association and even...
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Dear Future Greenlining Fellow,
Hey there, how are you doing? If you’re anything like I was last year, I’m sure you’re freaking out. Between exams and job apps, you barely remember what it was like to have fun. Am I right? Well, I’m here to tell you about an amazing opportunity that may just help you out. It’s called the Greenlining Institute Leadership Academy. Have you heard of it? It’s an amazing yearlong fellowship that provides firsthand public policy experience, mentorship, and leadership development.
It’s hard to believe that just a year ago I was in your shoes. Fast forward to now, and I’ve been living in the Bay Area for almost four months working for Greenlining as the Bridges to Health Fellow. The road getting here wasn’t easy, and there is a steep learning curve that I’m...
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Dear Miss Bossy Pants,
You might not remember me, but I was one of the girls you bossed around when we were kids. I was the short one, kinda quiet, a little shy. I was one of the girls you mowed down in the lunch line, barreled around in gym class and dictated what games we had to play at recess.
I even had a jacket with your footprints running across my back. I was the one you interrupted, talked above and looked straight through. You were the one who designated yourself as in-charge. Even the teacher was afraid of you.
You were Lucy from the Peanuts gang and Margaret from Dennis the Menace: bossy, bossy, bossy; yak, yak, yak.
We’re not supposed to call girls like you bossy anymore because we could hurt your self-esteem. (Like that was ever in short supply.)
You must be pretty...
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Dear Open Letter Writer,
Thank you for your recent open letter expressing rage, indignation, and disdain for that incident, situation, or travesty in the news, workplace, or checkout lane, which the rest of us obviously witnessed, narrowly missed, or just clean forgot.
The receipt of your correspondence in my social media feed prompted many emotions, not the least of which was the deep reassurance that the spirit of letters to the editor of my home town newspaper still lives on.
I know you had many choices for unburdening yourself. A person with less important opinions and feelings might have gone with another form of rhetoric—perhaps a personal essay, or a private missive to those who offended you, or a cheeky limerick.
And we, your addressees, would have been deprived, not...
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Dear Ms. Joffe-Walt and Mr. Kestenbaum:
Your excellent February 26, 2010, report on the history of how government officials chose the different methods that Medicare has used over the years to determine doctors’ pay is frightening because…
… in your report, Joe Califano, a chief architect of Medicare, admits that the first method of determining doctors’ pay was chosen for political reasons, namely, to buy doctors’ support for Medicare.
… you report that Mr. Califano, LBJ, and Congress were genuinely surprised by the rapid cost increases sparked by this first method.
… you reveal that much of the treatment that Medicare paid for was previously provided free by physicians; that is, Medicare crowded out a sizable chunk of private-sector philanthropy.
… you tell how attempts to...
2,754
Dear Ms. Schlafly,
I’m a teenage girl who has been reading about you quite a bit in the news lately. It seems to me that you have absolutely no idea what women of my generation are all about. I can understand that because I often deal with older people who think that their generation is superior and my generation is the worst thing ever just because we’re different. Really though, I think since you want to be all up in the public eye, it would really do you a lot of good to understand things from the perspective of one of the young women who will be taking over this country soon.
I’ve been thinking about how I can explain what feminism means to my generation in a way you might not have thought of before. I wanted to try to work from something we have in common, and it’s been kind of...
3,678
Dear Taylor,
I wish we could sit down and talk. I'd like to think you would be willing to have a conversation with someone who honestly wants to find common ground. I've watched your video, and it really moved me. You delivered your message with skill, grace, and emotion –- I wish my high school students were as comfortable speaking in front of an audience as you clearly are.
That said, a lot of what was in your video was hurtful to me. I'm not sure if you meant to hurt my feelings, or the feelings of people like me, but your video was painful for me to see. Because I'm a transgender woman. That means that I was born in the body of a boy, but realized I was actually a girl. I've been on hormones for a few years now, to help my body match my mind. And a lot of the things you said...
2,967
Dear Grown-Ups,
I’m confused. Sometimes adults tell me that I’ve done something really creative, and that my unique thoughts might help solve the world’s problems. But often you say other things about me, like I’m a dreamer and I have a hard time paying attention, or that I need to apply myself. When you say these things, I’m not sure what you mean because I see myself differently. But when I hear the comments so often, I start to doubt myself, too. So I’m writing this letter to give you my responses to the things that adults say, and to share a few ideas about how you might be able to help me be my best self at home and at school. “He’s smart, he’s just acting lazy.” Have you seen me on the floor of my room, building intricate creations with Lego bricks? Or in the garage,...
3,214
Dear Premier Clark and Minister Cadieux,
Thank you for your response to our 2014 BC Child Poverty Report Card dated December 22, 2014. We decided to write this response as an open letter, as many of the points made in your correspondence are being repeated by government spokespeople in the media and we want to give people hearing them a full understanding of the credibility of our research.
First of all, we are glad to hear that your government believes that one child living in poverty is one child too many. We agree wholeheartedly.
Given this belief, we are puzzled by other aspects of your response. BC is about to introduce a budget with a surplus. In this context, and recalling BC’s obligations as a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)...
3,308