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Nancy, did you minimize the effect of Anita Bryant's hateful crusade against homosexuality? Yes. Did you characterize Anita Bryant as a loving, gracious, innocent person unfairly attacked through no fault of her own? Yes. Was she a "sweet lady" shockingly humiliated for no reason? No way. Let me break it down for you.

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When a celebrity says "I'm not a feminist," the problematic statement is not "I'm not a feminist." It's what they say after "because."

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Despite the facts, we're a prison-crazed society. The solution to all our problems ... put them in jail! Yet we forget what a horrible act of torture a prison is. Even for a day.

I don't want to call Marcus Luttrell a hero. After a day spent "playing" at being a Navy SEAL with machine guns, a rappelling wall and helicopter, I'm sitting across from the real deal in a fancy dining room overlooking the White House in Washington D.C. on Memorial Day weekend.

It would be nice, for once, if actual transgender people were given a platform to actually say that we exist, on our own terms. It would be refreshing if there was an acknowledgment that fixing the problems we face is going to take more than pride and proclaiming that we exist.

The best art is that which is both imaginative and mimetic, providing scenarios that engage our sense of wonder while in some way mirroring the processes of our own world.

If you like great songs -- not necessarily great songs you already know -- and you like women delivering them, here are CDs that you'd be extremely foolish to think you can live without:

The new romantic comedy Obvious Child is about Donna, a young bawdy comedian who has a one-night-stand and becomes pregnant. Unprepared for parenthood emotionally or financially, she has an abortion at Planned Parenthood. Although Donna and her friends live and breathe four-letter words, there's one they never mention.

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As an avid fan of John Green and all of his written work, this story had been coursing through my veins and tingling my fingertips long before it hit the big screen. However, this time was different.

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The same issues of white versus black racism aren't as deeply woven into Canadian society. Think this is what Whoopi was trying to get at. But racism and discrimination still exist. It has the same purpose it has in the U.S. Just because it's coming out of the mouth of a Canadian doesn't change its meaning or context. People in Canada still want to touch a black woman's braids with amazement and wonder. Canadian cities have pockets of poor community housing disproportionately populated by blacks. The racial issues are still there. They're just served up on a different platter, because it's a different country, with a different history.

Rob Shanahan

It's clear Ringo and his All Starr Band are loving getting by with a little help from their friends. Here I ask him how it all started.

If you are willing to look beyond the dating norms you've set for yourself, who knows what happy ending you might find? Welcome the unknown, and see who comes your way.

A little over a month ago I had the opportunity to complete my lifelong dream of visiting Liverpool, the birthplace of The Beatles and where the seeds of the British rock invasion of the 1960s were first spread. I was immediately amazed and also impressed by how great a part they still play in the city's cultural and social life.

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Without women's stories, we see only half of our world. Without women filmmakers showing us what it really means to be a woman within what has long been a patriarchal society, we cannot appreciate the many struggles women have experienced, nor the sweetness of the victories won.

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The cheapest and by far the easiest tip I can give you right off the bat is to start drinking plain old hot water. Hot water is the first thing I drink every morning and the last thing I drink every night. I drink it throughout the day as well.

If the Obama administration wants to assuage this migrant crisis, it should invest in strengthening and providing these children, and American children, with educational and cultural literacy programs. The U.S. cannot eliminate the violence, crime, and instability that exist in these countries.

Howard Kerbel

For It's About The Words & Conversations, Ann lovingly discusses her relationship with Nancy, how Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha has played a significant role throughout her life and how it helped at a time when Nancy moved in a different direction.