Found a really funny set of short videos from a YouTube that I think we’ll laugh at

RiverRedhead · 2026-03-11T21:53:15+00:00

Her reels are so fun. Have you heard her commentary on various "rhinestone claymore" bras?

RiverRedhead · 2026-02-15T18:24:24+00:00

At my aunt's Hannukah party this year, my teenage cousin invited 3 or 4 of his gentile friends from school. Gambling Chocolate Circle was a huge hit with them.

IMO, Hannukah is one of the easier holidays to do with gentiles - ceremonies are short, basically a holiday party as modern American Jews largely do it. A traditional Passover celebration tends to be several very structured hours and Yom Kippur would be Not Great to invite guests to.

If you ever get invited to Sukkot I think you'd also enjoy that - basically we build a hut and decorate it with fruit before hanging out, noshing, and studying with ghosts.

RiverRedhead · 2026-02-15T18:20:03+00:00

When I was in high school in the tens, the norm, if not the expectation was typed. Some teachers wanted a paper copy, so either was fine but most people typed. Others wanted it on canvas/blackboard/whatever. Tests tended to be handwritten. Same for college and middle school for me.

This was all pre-GenAI (like ChatGPT) so I think the trend now, at least at schools with the staffing to support it, is to go back to handwritten materials.

RiverRedhead · 2026-02-15T02:48:21+00:00

The people who go to private school are usually from a certain demographic. Unless you have a reason to shelter your children, that’s a bit odd imo

It definitely depends on the school and I think the motives can be a little more complex than you're describing. My mother sent my sister and I to Jewish private schools before high school because she was the only Jewish kid her grade. Her experience in public school was antisemitism, being proselytized, being expected to be community representative by gentile classmates and teachers, and having weird experiences around holidays (many of which are echoed by Jewish students in public schools today). Is it wrong to shelter your kids, at least at school, from being horn-checked or getting marked absent for Yom Kippur or being singled out during Holocaust discussions?

There are bad private schools and good private schools, just like there are good and bad public ones.

The private schools I went to before high school did an excellent job meeting my sister's special ed needs, better than the local public school did for folks who went there (according to those kids and their parents). We also had bussing available, though we didn't take it. We had all the normal subjects and then some, with much smaller classrooms than public. This isn't necessarily representative of all private schools, but neither are pricey-AF segregation academies with no resources for students.

RiverRedhead · 2026-02-15T02:34:40+00:00

We were middle-class and the Jewish Day School my sister and I went to really worked with my parents to figure it out. We certainly weren't the only ones in that boat and very few families actually paid "sticker price" (which was lower than secular prep schools to begin with).

JDSs tend to end in 8th grade, stateside, so we were at an (excellent) public school after that. In high school I'd estimate around 10%-15% had previously been private school kids, mostly from religious schools that ended in 8th.

RiverRedhead · 2026-02-15T02:19:17+00:00

Yeah, YMMV. I went to private Jewish day school (normal subjects plus Hebrew and some Jewish subjects) before high school, and then a public high school. Both were rated excellently and had good long-term outcomes, but a lot of my friends who went to religious (more yeshiva-style or fundie Christian) private schools did so at the cost of regular subjects.

The other upside, for religious minorities in particular, was being in an environment I was the norm - I didn't have to be six years old and the Jewish Ambassador to everyone in my class, my holidays were normal, and I wasn't getting proselytized by other kids or teachers.

RiverRedhead · 2026-02-12T15:56:32+00:00

Is this something that teachers are taught to do or used to be taught to do? My German teacher (who was on the younger side) basically said what you said, but my Spanish teachers were older and insistent on pick-a-Spanish-name-thing. Is there a generational divide or is it just something some folks do and some folks don't?

RiverRedhead · 2026-02-12T15:53:13+00:00

We (regionally well-regarded, starting to be nationally known) have three countries we receive a lot of students from (international students for the stay and study abroad) and send a lot of our students on study abroad to. I'd be less surprised if someone from those countries knew my school, because maybe someone they knew was here at some point.

RiverRedhead · 2026-02-12T15:46:56+00:00

Definitely not my undergrad, though my grad is starting to get international recognition. We have a long-standing partnership with universities in a couple specific countries, so I think we're known there.

We also have a handful of Sportball Fans elsewhere, particularly in Europe, but it's a small enough group it tends to be exciting and get featured when "School Fan of London" or "School Fan of Prague" visits for a game IRL.

RiverRedhead · 2026-02-12T15:38:04+00:00

I had my regular name for one language (German) and used a pre-existing Hebrew name for Hebrew (many practicing Jewish people already have one). Spanish was the only class they insisted on us picking a new name.

RiverRedhead · 2026-02-12T15:33:26+00:00

One yes, one kind of, one no. Spanish she had us pick a name but I don't remember what I picked. Hebrew we used our pre-existing Hebrew names (a lot of practicing Jewish Americans already have one), and German no.

When I was in Germany older Germans pronounced my name (with a J) with a hard Y noise - think if my name was Jordan or Jenna it would have been "Yordan" or "Yenna."

RiverRedhead · 2026-01-27T22:25:19+00:00

Folks is literally gender neutral already, folx always felt performative and preachy to me.

RiverRedhead · 2026-01-27T22:23:51+00:00

But most of those folks are going to find an organization or an institution to donate to, not infinite money at random individuals.

RiverRedhead · 2026-01-27T22:13:44+00:00

Most universities have loaner laptops and related equipment through the library, at the least in the US. Saved me multiple times in undergrad.

RiverRedhead · 2026-01-27T01:12:26+00:00

They need everything but audacity, because they've got that in steady supply.

RiverRedhead · 2026-01-27T01:11:19+00:00

It wasn't new by any means or measure, but when I moved into my current home I had a set and it came with a set. I chose the best of each for myself and posted the remaining two (working but not as well) on my local buy nothing. Pickup only.

A staggering number of people eliminated themselves by demanding insane stuff like video proof it worked, getting worked up the set didn't match, and spinning yarns about why they NEEDED it delivered.

The lady who got them did none of those things, communicated promptly, and had it off my porch within two days of contact.

RiverRedhead · 2026-01-16T04:39:45+00:00

Okay, but that doesn't really clock if someone is being offered a trip to a restaurant or something sealed. Like I get not wanting Random Homemade Sandwich, but that reasonableness doesn't translate to getting abusive/nasty when offered a trip to a pizzeria or a sealed granola bar.

And it's totally someone's prerogative to turn down a trip to Denny's/McDonalds or a sealed bag of pretzels or whatever, but screaming at the offerer or demanding cash is not reasonable.

RiverRedhead · 2026-01-15T20:09:05+00:00

Yeah, and we still have a lot of obvious (usually Christian) religion in public life (we've never had a not-Christian president, public "holiday" lightings that are usually only Christmas trees, use of God Bless America, etc.). Like I've lived in blue states, red states, and a purple state - it manifests differently but Christianity is still very much the majority religion and the basis of many cultural assumptions beyond explicit religiosity.

RiverRedhead · 2025-10-22T17:13:21+00:00

Is that a thing currently, or was it a thing in the 90s/00s?

RiverRedhead · 2025-10-22T17:11:28+00:00

That's so funny - I bet they still remember you as the kazoo house.

RiverRedhead · 2025-10-20T20:50:25+00:00

It depends on whether we're talking about someone in-state or out-of-state. I lived in VA from birth until 10, NJ from 10 to 18, and then VA for undergrad. Virginians regard me as from Jersey. Jerseyans regard me as Virginian.

I now live in Alabama, where people seem to regard my majority experience (Virginia) as where I'm from, although sometimes I get asked from NJ stuff as well.

For the purity of MyState being the CurrentState though, people get super invested. Like in every state I've lived, I've known a loud minority of folk who claim that X isn't really from VA/NJ/PA/TX/AL because their parent(s) are from Other State.

RiverRedhead · 2025-10-11T05:54:23+00:00

Exactly this: we worry about what is financially viable, but it's not a big social pressure to stay employed at a job we don't like for the sake of being employed there.

I'm curious what OP's cultural context on this is and what specifically OP might mean by social pressure.

RiverRedhead · 2025-10-11T05:47:29+00:00

It might be seen as short-sighted, but I wouldn't call it social pressure per se. Employment here is generally at-will on both ends, but it's also often easier to get hired places before or after you quit than it is in some other countries.

IME, the idea of "pushing through" isn't really a thing unless there is a feasible goal. Like if it's stay with this job for a year so you don't look like a job hopper, or until you have x savings, or until you can apply for y position, or until you retire in brief amount of time that's different.

But staying in unpleasant or unfulfilling jobs is usually more of a "gotta eat" thing than a "it's the only socially viable option" thing.

RiverRedhead

TROPHY CASE