Sunday roundup

Words matter; translation matters.

On slave-owning Founding Fathers.

Women needn't apologize for taking up space.

At its root, the very notion of politeness is so gendered in our unequal society that it can simply translate into an overwhelming pressure for women to self-censor or self-flagellate. Often what we euphemistically describe as “politeness” ends up sounding like an apology for taking up space, for asking anything of others, for even existing at all.

I complain about Metro (and rightly so), but it's not the only system that sucks (in photos).

I know the aging-parents'-stuff issue well. And the Soviet-parents'-relationship-with-stuff issue.