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    Mysterious Gryphon

    Mysterious Gryphon

  • User post: Children are people too - and they should act like it!

    A recent post looked at a woman suing an airline that failed to control a child whose screaming caused the woman hearing damage. Many of you claim that children are people too, who deserve to be allowed to travel as freely as any other person. I agree!Children are people, who need to be held to same

  • User post: Four-day school weeks are the way to go!

    I just read some brouhaha about four-day school weeks. In some districts that are trying them, it's working wonderfully; in others, not so much. Many of the comments back were complaining that children will learn even less if they spend fewer hours in school, and the global economy requires more edu

  • User post: French pool bans "burqinis" --and I think they're right!

    I just read an article on Yahoo! News about a public swimming pool in France that has banned the "burquini" - a swimming costume designed to protect the modesty of Islamic women. Of course, there is plenty of outrage over the situation. One woman even called it segregation!This is ridiculous. Segreg

  • Can't stop thinking about getting married!

    Even though we're not yet engaged, I can't seem to stop thinking about planning a wedding.On one hand, I'm so excited to have found the man of my dreams, my soulmate, that I feel that we will make it work perfectly regardless of how the wedding shakes out. It's only one day in a lifetime together, r

  • Do you keep momentos of past loves?

    I live in an apartment building, and while the walls are thick enough most of the time, tonight I overheard a lot of yelling and even some smashing of items in the next apartment. I turned down the tv and listened in - at first because it sounded so scary I was concerned about someone getting hurt,

  • Wanting a Little Security

    My boyfriend and I haven't always been long-distance. There was a good long time before we were separated that we were attached at the hip, literally leaving parties to go home and talk to no one but each other. When he left to pursue his dream of being an optometrist, we agreed that I would follow

  • I am not your property!

    Marriage has its origins in property law. This is the simple, irrefutable truth. In the ancient world, a man would sell his daughter to another man. Her sexuality was then tightly controlled in order to ensure that any children she had were the rightful, biological inheritors of her husband's estate

  • Civil Unions and Marriage

    You know what I dream of? A world in which marriage is seperated forever from inheritance law. In olden days, the ancient and medieval West, a woman was regarded as a vessel for her husband's children. She was sold by her father to another man as chattel, and her sexuality was tightly controlled in

  • Help a Reader Out: How do you handle political conversations with your family when you don't agree?

    [Ed note --The election may be over but the conversations keep on going. Help this Shine reader find ways to talk politics with her relatives before a family feud erupts.]

  • Massively Sad Today :-(

    I started this week with such a feeling of contentment, because I really felt that I had figured myself out at long last. I looked around at the people in my office, most of whom ignore me or talk down to me, and I wondered why I suck so much at office work. I don't have the attention to detail that

  • A Lesson for All Women From Fashion Week

    Now here is a statement from the modeling world that I can understand:"There has been some pressure for designers to increase their model size to a 6, but the designers prefer models whose modest curves don't compete with the clothes."

  • Smacking the Hornet's Nest

    Yes, I do love smacking the hornet's nest, thank you. I love being provocative.

  • The Mommy Excuse And Why I'm Not Buying It

    I've had this conversation a few times before: a woman, a mother of young children, laments that she can't find the time to work out and get back to her pre-baby shape and weight.Since the physical changes of pregnancy is one of the major reasons I don't want kids, I can understand the feeling of st

  • Wishing I could go, glad I can't

    My dad gets really mad when I mention it. "You're not at work to make friends; you're there to make money!" he'll rumble. And to a large degree, he's right: as long as I'm bringing home a consistent paycheck and building my resume, who cares if I don't find my new best friend at my office?And I try

  • Don't Hide Your Light Under a Bushel Basket: The beauty of living up to your potential

    The current controversy about the 9-year-old banned from pitching on his baseball team because he is too good is a symptom of a larger disease in our culture.In case you've missed it, this child may no longer throw the pitches because he can throw a ball some 40 miles per hour. Parents are upset and

  • Olympics Make Me Cry

    Who doesn't love the Olympics?

  • Flinging Accusations - Seriously, Guys.

    You know what's really amazing? The fact that I have been called "insecure" by people reading my blog.The beauty of an anonymous forum is that I am able to express my deepest thoughts - and yes, insecurities. My fears, worries, and other things weighing on my mind that I don't want to share with the

  • Getting a ew things off my chest: a confession and a rant

    I don't want children. That doesn't make me a bad person, and it doesn't mean that there is anything biologically wrong with me. I could concieve if I wanted to, but I have better things to do. Why do people assume I must be infertile if I don't want brats?I made a mistake at work today. I failed to

  • On the virtues of barrenness, or why I don't want kids

    After reading a post about how different women decide on their family size shortly after answering a question on Answers about being childfree, I feel compelled to defend the choices of those who choose not to be parents at all.

  • The line between self-esteem and arrogance, or: Feeling out of place in your own skin

    Last Friday I bought this really cute, super low-cut dress. I then wore it out to dinner with my boyfriend. Unfortunately, not even double-sided tape could keep that gauzy fabric covering my DD's and soon my bra was hanging out quite obviously, and by the end of the evening I collapsed on the floor