Dear Daniel Tosh,
According to this blogger, you've got some serious explaining to do that goes beyond a "sincere apology" and dead baby reference (screenshot below) that you seemed to deem an adequate response to your recent actions.
With nothing else to work with except your past problematic sketches (nicely compiled by Amy Odell from BuzzFeed here) and your assertions that the blogger's allegations are out of context and misquoted, I'm going to forge ahead with the assumption that the blogger was being truthful in her telling of the story.
I've written about why rape jokes aren't funny before and received feedback that for some survivors of rape and sexual violence, joking about rape can be a path towards healing from that violence. Healing from sexual violence is a very...
Lifestyle
Dear College Seniors,
Graduating college is a blessing and a curse. I’m here to tell you that your time is not eternal.
I bet you’re reading this like “lol, this is a total downer. I’m going to go take a Buzzfeed quiz now.” And okay, maybe I am a downer… BUT MAYBE YOU SHOULD STOP AND BE ENLIGHTENED INSTEAD OF GOING TO BUZZFEED TO FIND OUT WHAT KIND OF DOG YOU ARE. Okay, I love quizzes too. I’m a Jack Russel Terrior. But anyway…
Maybe I’m bitter because I failed a class and almost DIDN’T get my degree, my boyfriend moved to another city, my friends are all fighting with each other, and I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I’M DOING WITH MY ENTIRE LIFE. You’ll all be here, too. But I’ve also come to say that that’s going to be okay.
I’m sitting here trying to remind myself that I’m #blessed. I...
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Open Letter to Sen. Bernie Sanders Regarding Use of the 'Terrorist Watch List' to Limit Gun Purchase
Dear Sen. Sanders,
In the latest news there are reports that President Obama plans to issue an executive order disallowing gun purchases by those on the DHS “No-Fly” list and “Terrorist Watch List”. While many leaders support this move, I am urging you to consider opposition to such use of these lists.
I've looked up to you, Bernie, for leadership on a number of important pro-democracy issues – primary among them is the idea that we should strive to improve our democracy through the creation of a more egalitarian economic and political system. The use of government-maintained “black lists” to limit the rights of listed individuals certainly runs counter to that idea. People so listed would not have equal treatment under the law.
This is the reason I am writing – the use of...
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Dear Senator Sanders,
My family comes from middle-class roots. Both of my grandfathers — though I only ever met one of them — worked their butts off to provide for their families.
My mom’s father wore several hats, working as a machinist for Merrill Bros. for over thirty-five years while also serving as the shop steward for his union and driving a limousine on the weekends. His work ethic made it possible for my mom and her three sisters to have a better life. Unfortunately, he passed away three months before I was born. My dad’s father worked a variety of jobs throughout his life, including driving trucks for a bread company, operating his own soda company called Whippersnapper Soda Co., and serving in the U.S. military. He too, unfortunately, passed away several years ago.
My parents...
2,436
Dear American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics:
According to a recent article on GenomeWeb your organization, the ACMG has declared that: “HFE testing shouldn’t be ordered for patients who don’t have iron overload or a family history of HFE-related hereditary hemochromatosis.” Frankly, this is some of the worst medical advice I’ve ever seen published, it defies the logic of real life, and does so in a way that reinforces a number of medical stereotypes.
I invite the ACMG to address the following five realities as they relate to the two limited conditions under which your organization would permit people to find out whether or not they are carriers of a potentially crippling and deadly genetic condition, otherwise know as HFE testing.
A. Re: “a family history of HFE-...
2,251
Dear Gareth,
I call you Gareth as I feel as if I know you, even though I have never met you.
Ten years ago I was suicidal and in the depths of depression.
I had gone through a series of panic attacks, had endured nearly 14 weeks without sleep, was scared beyond belief and really was a lost soul and didn’t know where to turn to.
I have no doubt that I was in a suicidal zone for a period of about six months and all I can say is that I felt unbelievably vulnerable and lost.
I am a married man and a father of two beautiful boys and at the time was a self–employed professional optician with nearly 20 years of business behind me.
I felt my world collapsing around me – my business (especially being self-employed), my marriage, and being honest, my very existence were all at...
7,032
Dear Morgan Freeman,
I’d like to start off this letter by saying that I am a fan of your work and you are a master of your craft. The first time I can remember being emotionally affected by a movie that didn't have animated characters in it was Glory. I was like seven at the time and understood very little about anything then, but you get it.
When I look at you I see Super-grandfather. At any moment you can pull a quarter from behind the world’s ear, or take us all on a fishing trip and bless us with an analogy about how getting what you want out of life is akin to understanding the process of fishing. Your eyes project rays of patience and wisdom.
A few other African American actors are also branded this way in my head. When I think Sam Jackson, I think the fun uncle that gives...
2,435
Dear Beloved Coffee Haunts,
I am so grateful that many of you offer soy, almond, coconut, or even macadamia nut milk for my morning cuppa. Because of you, gone are the dark days when vegans were forced to sip our morning mud black or lug cartons of non-dairy milk in our purses, apologetically asking the barista to top our beverages with a few frothed ounces. But while I appreciate the array of vegan options you’ve added the past several years, I can’t help but wonder why I’m charged an additional 60¢ for my preferred milk when the stuff from a cow is free.
A decade ago, maybe carrying soy milk did cost stores more than cow’s milk, but today—when soy foods are a $4.5 billion industry in the US—to say nothing of the exploding almond milk sector—does a splash of non-dairy milk really...
2,448
Dear Dad,
We’ve never had a typical relationship. I’ve only known you for a few years. And since the day I first saw your face there’s been something on my mind. I remember that day. I was fourteen, full of teenage angst and craving to know where I came from. I’d convinced my mum it was a good thing to do, so we tracked you down. Your father was hosting a family reunion, so we decided to meet you there. The reunion of a lifetime.
I stood there and waited. I can’t explain the feelings pulsing through me that day. Such a large aspect of my life, that I lacked a significant relative, was about to be swept away. So I waited and waited. Each man that walked through the door caused my heart to jolt at the thought that it could be you. I had fantasies about who you were. Valiant, charming...
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Dear Commissioners:
By now you may know that the Mackinac Center for Public Policy has filed a lawsuit against the Michigan Liquor Control Commission over illegal costs associated with a Freedom of Information Act request I submitted. The suit arose out of my investigations into your so-called “post and hold ” rules for distributors and wholesalers of alcoholic beverages. Previous empirical research has shown these rules may artificially raise prices paid by consumers between 6.4 to 30 percent, depending on the product.
You will recall that in testimony before the commission last June I recommended these rules be repealed because they hurt consumers and only benefit a handful of beer and wine wholesalers. This amounts to government-enabled industry price collusion.
It is...
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