SnarkySheep

Dag, I've been pronouncing it "Beggy" in my mind for years...

Not to mention, Fab Five takes place in Bridgeport, CT - a real city. It's got a population of about 150,000, yet the books are written as though the girls live in a tiny town where everyone knows everyone and can easily get around on foot or with a short ride. Also, it's like 50% African-American or Hispanic, yet all the kids at school were white... I'm not saying they couldn't set the books in whatever town or city they wanted, since I'm sure that most kids reading them would have no idea Bridgeport is a real place. But if they were going to turn the real place into total fantasy, you'd think they would just make up a fictitious location, like Stoneybrook for the BSC.

IRL Stella would just assume the girl had to stay after school or whatever - she wouldn't likely reach out until Kylie had been out a few times. But of course, it's TV Land, so if someone misses something once, you know it's Totally Relevant to the Plot. Overall, though, I agree with not caring about Girls on Fire. The whole storyline just feels so artificially PC to me. And are we really supposed to believe that initially none of the girls gave a crap about joining, but after one did, then all her friends ran right over? Sure.

Not to mention, it's generally the rule to either foster or adopt that a married couple must have been together a significant length of time (two years, I believe). The reason, of course, is that taking on a child, who in many cases comes with a lot of emotional baggage, is a HUGE life adjustment, and so they want to make sure that the parents are solid in their own relationship first. There is literally no way on earth that social services would give Augie to two newlyweds who just went into remission. Well, I don't know what Chicago overpasses are like, but I'm guessing they are similar pretty much everywhere, in that it's literally impossible to "fall off" or have someone "push" you off. They have metal fencing/guardrails at least six feet up. You'd have to climb it intentionally.

I wanted to smack her when Marcel came out of the meeting with the detectives, and she was all, "So what'd they want? Huh, huh??" No doubt anyone would be curious, if officials from another state suddenly showed up to speak to their colleague; but FFS, if he wants to tell you, he will. Don't be a Nosy Nellie, all up in the guy's business. On a side note, how are Choi and Marcel still employed?? They got into a physical altercation with one another at work TWICE now, and we haven't heard a single word of any kind of repercussion. Anyone I know who tried that would be filing for unemployment right about now.

Burger King keeps pushing their 8 nuggets for $1 deal, which frankly horrifies me...I mean, just what kind of "meat" is involved to make nuggets that cheap??

As a person living with chronic pain due to several serious autoimmune diseases, this is a particular peeve of mine. I take painkillers because I need help getting out of bed in the morning and living some semblance of normalcy, not doing handstands. And sadly, a lot more people with chronic pain are now depending on things like Aleve, not just folks with acute pain, because most doctors simply do not offer opioids or other options anymore. Even more ridiculous is whose bright idea it was naming a product something so similar to "eugenics"...

On a side note, I love the little girl who plays Lila - she's adorable and smart, but not in that smart-alecky, 10-going-on-30 kind of way that so many other TV kids are written. I do have to laugh at the naming, though. Lila and Nyla!

Call me silly, but why couldn't Jackson and Sterling hang out at Sterling's place? If he's a movie star, he must have some huge mansion nearby. They could have private time there, then hang out at Jackson and Lucy's place other times. Problem solved. I never thought that, but it DID strike me as a bit odd that Grace mentioned only seeing him every other weekend or something like that. Unless there is some big reason, it seems like custody is generally either half and half, or balanced in favor of the mother. So what's going on that Grace hasn't mentioned?

The one thing I might have done differently here was, when the God Account was being corrupted, have it actually crash, with Rakesh and Corey unable to fix it. And then, the next day, show it back up and running, like nothing ever happened.

Ok, finally got around to re-reading The Long Winter... Overall, I have to agree with those who thought Ma and Mary were kind of bitches. For starters, Mary is portrayed as this total saint, who never says or does a single thing wrong, and is always making Laura feel bad for being a mortal human being. I'm also not sure why, during a time period where very few people, let alone girls, went to college, the family is pushing so hard for Mary to go. Yes, I understand that it would be a good opportunity for her to learn new skills as she adjusts to being blind. But it's also rather clear that someone like Mary, during that time, would not be expected to live independently or support herself. So why put all their savings into something so extravagant when the Ingallses were getting clothing from charity barrels? Also, Ma is kind of insane regarding chores. I totally get that she might want the family to have some comfort in maintaining routine during what was certainly a scary and uncertain year. But it's to the point of ridiculousness, where it's 40 below zero, the girls have eaten nothing more than a few slices of bread and cups of tea in weeks, and Ma is all like, "No excuses! Let's get those beds made and the floor swept!" Seriously, you're in danger of dying; who GAF?

My favorite part was when they asked the wife if anything unusual had happened on the Saturday that Dylan went missing...she was like, no, Charlotte and I had lunch, it was just a regular day. But oh, wait! Then I saw my husband coming out of the woods with a shovel, all muddy! SERIOUSLY??

And don't forget, this is 1990...in a household with five people, literally tons of things would have been used by each person that required batteries, from flashlights to smoke detectors to kids' toys to radios. It was a wonderful day when the world switched over to rechargeable via USB.

Plus, isn't literally everyone in Westport equally rich? So what would stop other people from doing the same to Doris?

I loved the bit where Douglas said he couldn't have another kid because "just think what that would do to Tony!" Poor guy would be 130 before the last kid left the house...

Nope, I didn't have an adult tooth underneath either, as xrays indicated.

Because in those days, once a woman married, it was considered the responsibility of her husband to support her...

Actually, they couldn't; Elizabeth would have had to give up teaching the moment she married. Literally no school district during that time would have allowed a married woman to teach, even if her husband was ok with it.

I'm no dental professional, but I am a person who's almost 40 and has a baby tooth that never fell out - it's not necessarily a problem, as the dentist insisted to Mary. Mine didn't affect any of the neighboring teeth, and I never needed braces either. It's just one of those quirky things, often genetic (one of my aunts has the same thing, in the same spot in her mouth). So, yeah. Especially given a kid like Sheldon, who was freaking out about the whole thing, I think I would have taken my chances with just leaving the tooth.

The whole storyline with Oliver and Greg felt real to me - it's not uncommon for teens to not want to hang out with their parents, but of course feel resentment when other teens do instead.

The ones in The Glass Castle, too The Pikes were especially bad considering that Mallory was 11, but the triplets 10 and Vanessa 9 - so why TF did everything get dumped on Mallory, like she was years and years older? Either they'd have gotten sitters for everyone or else the older of the younger siblings would have had to take more responsibility. Yet the way it was written, Mallory was the only Pike child to have to do any chores.

Thanks to Internet Archive, I went through the entire series last year (didn't even know there were books after Betsy's "kid years" until fairly recently). And I do agree - we should all be so lucky as to have friends like that!

Myron and Katherine Krupnik in the Anastasia Krupnik series by Lois Lowry Mr. and Mrs. Ray in the Betsy series by Maud Hart Lovelace (Substitute parent) Gram in the Tillerman series by Cynthia Voigt

See, that's what bugs me...why can't they touch on these subjects, yet still be considered wholesome books for kids? Simply mentioning things that are happening to kids during adolescence is not exactly like them talking about various sex acts, for heavens' sake. IMO Claudia started off relatable, but then they turned her - like the others - into caricatures of themselves, where Claudia seemed too dumb to tie her own shoes. They should simply have kept her an average student - never going to be on the honor roll, but also perfectly capable of functioning - simply because loads of kids are just like that, and can relate.

I've been thinking of doing just that myself - I keep seeing references to it these days on Twitter and other places. In case someone wants to read them but doesn't have access, you can get the e-books from Internet Archive. For the duration, they have done away with wait lists.