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By aetataureate on Not Having Children Is Letting Us Have It All
@theotherginger When people get up in arms about the personal opinions of total strangers, I wonder how much they like their own choices in the first place.
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By Megs on WWYD: My Talented, Capable, Struggling Friend
I've definitely been on both ends of this, and it isn't the WORST, but it's pretty close. As someone who was broke as a joke, a friend inviting me over to help clear out her kitchen/liquor cabinets ("The food will go bad otherwise!") and watch bad TV was just wonderful. No cost, and I didn't have to think about how different our situations were while we hung out. As someone who currently has some struggling friends, I've learned to only OCCASIONALLY (once a month?) send them some type of job postings or bring up how they're doing on that front. It's a sensitive issue that only gets worse as time goes on, and resentment can blossom easily.
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By DickensianCat on Structure, Consistency, Accountability
Thank you guys. Thank you so much for being yourselves, warts and all, and not being scary, Turnip colored Suze Orman. Both of you. I adore these chats. Have a great weekend!
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By TheclaAndTheSeals on Learning to Love Universal Health Care
Just as a note for people who don't click through... This blogger was raised in the Quiverfull movement (see: the Duggars from 19 Kids & Counting). During the time she's describing in her life, she was still in the movement, married to a guy she'd only dated a few weeks, had essentially a middle school education, and had never been allowed to have a job. So while this is an interesting socialized medicine conversion tale, it's a little more nuanced than it first appears. More context, if you're interested-- this woman's husband came out as trans, they left the movement, and are now (mostly happily) living as a lesbian couple in the US.
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By missmatched on I Did an Okay Thing That Meant Absolutely Nothing
I don't ever give money, but I have often given food. There is something just so heart wrenching when a person tells you they are hungry, particularly a woman who is clearly a mom or who says she is a mom. A few months back, walking to CVS with my mom, a woman was outside begging every person for food. Bread and cheese so she could feed her son. We got her a bag of bread, cheese, lunch meat, and some milk. When we gave it to her she cried and said, amazed, "You heard me! You actually heard me!" In tears, my mom gave her $20 out of her wallet and wished her the best. At least a hundred people had walked right by her. As a family, we have been broke, near homeless, and in great need of assistance in the past. Now that we are no longer in that position, we try to help when we can. My mom doesn't understand how our country can tout such wealth and extravagance when citizens go hungry. These are great lessons she taught me and I will never regret helping someone eat if I have the means.
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By stuffisthings on Do You Know How Much a Single Tampon Costs?
@stuffisthings And yes, I am a dude. The goal is to cut down on the number of cigarettes I give away to strangers and/or be arrested for public weirdness.
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By navigateher on When Half Your Income Goes to Rent
I am in no way saying that NYC rents are at a very reasonable level, or that it is not expensive to live there. Over $1,000 for an apartment with roommates is way too much, and those fees are ridiculous. But these stories about people not being able to live where they want to / do what they want to for a living, or having to make sacrifices to do so (roommates, high rents, low salaries, competition etc.) seem to be everywhere, and as a no-nonsense person it is starting to get a little old. I mean, if you can't live in an expensive area, move to a cheaper one. If you can't get a job in your (highly competitive, creative, low-paying) field, consider changing it to another one, or deal with it. Not everyone gets to do what they want, it's called life. I know this is not a popular opinion and goes against what I feel is the "American" mindset, but where I am coming from, it's starting to sound a bit ridiculous, and I'm having a hard time relating. Also, I don't think I even have a point, just needed to get that out of my system.
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By The Dauphine on When Half Your Income Goes to Rent
OK honestly, I don't get why anyone would do that. I live in New York City myself, and pay just over 1/4th of my income to rent. Don't be snobby, move to a slightly less nice area. Manhattan is for rich people.
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By e on The Creative Class Myth
!! I love ripping on Richard Florida!! There's actually a great series of studies on the relationship between artists and the "creative class" done by a woman named Anne Markusen, debunking the whole puesdo science he uses. Ms. Markusen basically points out that Florida uses the metric of college-educated to equal "creative" but actual creatives often have a lot in common with blue collar workers and industrial land uses (sculptors and glassblowers share more similarity in workspace to buildings that would also work for jewelery plating and box manufacturing, not office space that can also hold accountants and architects). The reality is Florida is a middle class white collar jobs booster, but indiscriminately, pretending that "creativity" is the shared characteristic of all kinds of workers (he includes lawyers in the creative class!). In reality a city that is strong has opportunities for both highly educated workers and a stable industrial/lower ed job market. Florida sells flimflam. However this article states that there's no proof of positive effect on the cities from arts, but that's also wrong. Markusen also does find economic benefits to cities from having artists- there's an art multiplier effect that is more real than the sports stadium multiplier, and Americans for the Arts also worked on a number of rigorous studies that show how arts organizations can positively affect a city's bottom line. However, I don't think anyone who studies the positive gains of arts for a living would argue that these can fund a whole city. You also need other sturdy sectors. Basically, a healthy city is a complex organism and people like Florida who try and reduce it down are not going to ever get it right.
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By Lily Rowan on Not Having Children Is Letting Us Have It All
@chic noir I'm sure they aren't in NYC -- they couldn't own a condo on $50K a piece, nor would they feel at all well off.