My latest blog post...

Quoted: Despite the niceness, it's notoriously tough being a newcomer looking to meet people and forge friendships in Seattle. So here are a few suggestions on how to beat the freeze while having fun.

In theory, I feel like if you can get drafted to serve in your military, you should be able to buy a beer. But in practice, I'm not convinced that lowering the drinking age will do anything for binge drinking, and I agree with the writer that it could raise the number of drunk driving accidents...

Quoted: Last week, a coalition of presidents from more than 100 colleges and universities called on authorities to consider lowering the legal drinking age.

Great Slate article about emulating a Buddhist couple that never strays more than 15 feet from each other...

Quoted: Of all the relationship experiments ever tried—polygamy, wife-swapping, no-fault divorce, open marriage—the one described in the May 15 New York Times might be the most perverse. For 10 years, Michael Roach and Christie McNally have been together—for every single minute. The two never stray more than 15 feet from each other.

This is a great story, but the return of burlesque is really a national trend - not just NY. I'm actually writing an article on burlesque's comeback in Seattle! Tons of shows around the city - Seattle's scene gives NY's a real run for its money.

Quoted: Although burlesque was kicked out of New York in 1942, the gleefully bad-mannered entertainment has returned to the city.

While this raises some good points about stupid questions people ask vegetarians (and even stupider assumptions that are made), I'm annoyed that it doesn't even consider religious/cultural vegetarians.

Quoted: Every vegetarian remembers his first time. Not the unremarkable event of his first meal without meat. No, I mean the first time he casually lets slip that he's turned herbivore, prompting everyone in earshot to stare at him as if he just revealed plans to sail his carrot-powered plasma yacht to Neptune.

Very interesting article about how the American lawn isn't what it used to be.

Quoted: The next time you drive down a street in suburban or exurban America, pay careful attention to the yards. Lurking somewhere, either peeping out from the back or nakedly displayed right in front, some form of children's play equipment, typically in plastic. How often do you actually see a child playing on, or near, one of these devices?

I agree with this author. Race is still so much of an issue in America (as evidenced by Obama's speech, the casting of '21' and this King Kong-ish cover of Vogue) but it's become 'impolite' to talk about it. It's especially sad considering this week (April 4) is the 40th anniversary of MLK's assassination.

Quoted: No matter how many "courageous" speeches Barack Obama gives, America will never be a "Let's talk about race" kind of place. It'll always be a "Let's talk about how we can't talk about race" kind of place. I'm all for doing my part. I'd like to start by talking about the cover of Vogue's current "shape" issue.

I saw a lecture that this guy gave online. I don't always agree with him (he seems really into the Freudian school of psych) but his ideas are fascinating all the same...

Quoted: Why are people around the world so very different? What makes us live, buy, even love as we do? The answers are in the codes.

A look at the history of outing fictional characters.

Quoted: On Friday, a fan at a question-and-answer session asked J.K. Rowling if Harry Potter character Dumbledore had ever been in love. In response, Rowling declared, "I always thought of Dumbledore as gay." Rowling is hardly the first to out a fictional character.