Laura Jayne Martin

Like the show Friends, many human conversations have earned syndication deals in the last few years. That means that, like the show Friends they re-run over and over again, and they are so pervasive they’re seemingly everywhere, all the time.

Arguments can devolve pretty quickly at the brunch table, even in the presence of bacon.

It’s also time that you two “had the talk.” But in this case, “the talk” is about how you need more dish soap, and you’re really sorry that you forgot to put it on the list, but you didn’t think she was going to go to the store straight from work.

And are you doing something later? Or are you doing nothing? And is the idea of you doing nothing hilarious because you usually do a lot of things, which gives you the confidence to winkingly let people know about this exception? I think that’s cool.

Do you belong to a Facebook group called, “North Kennedy High Promz 2012, so we don’t all wear the same dress, OMG”? Have you recently been made aware by Katy Perry, or someone who sounds a lot like Katy Perry, that you are, in fact, a firework?

There was an important election in France this week. Also, in Greece. Also, on American Idol. It was an extremely contentious competition, the voting was incredibly close, and some people think the guy who lost is kind of a jerk.

It’s a well-known fact that not all flannel is plaid, not all plaid is flannel and all flannel comes from the Great North American Flannimal. What’s not as well known is the fascinating history behind this largely independent beast. Sometimes called “the world’s oldest fashion victim,” flannimal populations have long suffered from poaching for their soft plaid, or crisscross patterned, fur.

At least that seems like the start of summer but who can say for sure, as there is no demonstrable change in my schedule.

I wasn’t always this way. Before these pants, I was the kind of person who would have endlessly mocked anyone, man or woman or infant, wearing embroidered pink slacks. I would have said things like, “Look, Connecticut anthropomorphized!” or, “Oh, I didn’t know the Lame Army had uniforms” or, “Who stole the washcloth set from my grandmother’s guest bathroom and sewed them into the shape of a man’s legs?”

It’s not against the rules to take the name of a male saint. Even nuns do it when entering an order if they feel particularly drawn to a certain saint, or their work. No, it’s not against the rules, but it is also not the ideal choice for a twelve year-old girl trying to blend in with the Limited Too crowd.

They are an artisan and they used the word “artisan” to describe themselves in front of me.

Zines have been around since at least the 1930s and, in some ways, are at least a partial ancestor to websites like Thought Catalog. However, they are also different in many ways that are worth discussing.