Editor’s Note: The following comments have been edited for length.

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Comment to the Question of the Day on May 21

joan larsen — 5/21/2008 12:39 AM
My last wish would be to return to Antarctica - a place that is heaven right here on this earth. A journey there is a journey to another world - a world full of moving sculptures not made by humans - as they are the most extraordinary icebergs, no two alike.

There are penguins, seals, birds — wildlife that has never seen humans before and thus have no fear and come up to you to be introduced. There is no darkness in their summer and with beauty around every corner, the tendency is to stay up all night-that-is-day.

When you have to go back to your home, there is something unexplainable that is like a magnet, pulling you back to the beautiful untouched and pristine ice. ..If I do one more thing it will be to again climb the slopes of Antarctica and know that while I am at the bottom of the world, I will end up at the very top.

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Comment to the Question of the Day on May 22

Bonnie Oliver - 5/22/2008 1:08 AM
Why on earth should one not feel safe? Most infants on this planet, regardless of species, are safer with their mothers or older females. Most women are nurturers and are likely to always look for safe landings. I thought Maggie was a terrific leader and I thought Tony Blair was wise to acknowledge that fact even though his fellow laborites were not too happy with Thatcherism.

Is a woman capable of pulling the trigger? Yes.
Is a woman capable of keeping a promise? Of course.
Is a woman capable of diplomacy? All of her life.
Is a woman capable of being Commander-in-chief? Without a doubt.
ttp://www.wowowow.com/question/what-are-you-doing-memorial-day-weekend

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Comment to the Question of the Day on May 23

Frank Peterson - 5/23/2008 12:44 AM
Memorial day, a day for remembrance, a day for changing, a day to make plans to finally see the Wall in DC, that wound in the earth and that unhealed wound in the nation’s soul—I’ve put it off for far to long—it’s time. At last. I think I’m strong enough now after my start at writing all that happened in that war. I believe I can handle it. I need to see it and see the names of those, my friends, who didn’t live, who didn’t grow old with me, and whom I miss to this day.

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Comment to a Photo Essay (wOw Scenes) on May 21

beth willis - 5/21/2008 5:38 PM
As I was making my way through the photos, suddenly up pops Ernestine, and I am overtaken with a burst of laughter … The same with Liz Smith’s “command post” I studied that first photo in wonderment that this is the nerve center for all those in-depth, glamorous reports about the famous and the infamous. Then up pops the wider angle of Liz Smith’s desk, and when the tears of laughter dried, I realized this was the bond we shared. Must be something we learned at Paschal. Stacks of paper, books, telephone numbers, a little of this and a little of that….every desk I’ve ever had looked like that. Many a generous soul offered to organize the “documents,” with my always bellowing, “Don’t touch anything; you might misplace something really important.” With some twelve-year-old wondering aloud, “But how would you know?” Oh, I’d know; I’d know!

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Comment to a Poem on May 22

Maggi D - 5/23/2008 2:45 AM
The only way that I can identify with this subject is when my sister, at age 58, was dying of cancer. Having taken care of her for almost a year her death to me was a blessing. I didn’t want to see her in pain any longer. I didn’t know or like my father very much at the time but the night that she passed he was sitting in the kitchen of a houseful of people, not speaking, not looking at anyone, not moving. I saw the spark of life leave his eyes and was shocked that I felt such sympathy for him. It took me a few hours to realize ‘My God, he has just lost his child!’ I wished we would have been close enough that I could have held him but he would not have allowed that from anyone. My heart broke as much for him as for the lost of my sister. I cannot image what my mother would have gone through if she had been alive.

I was watching a news program once with someone that I thought was my friend, when they started showing pictures of the people in Africa dying from the draught. His comment was “they breed like animals, they will just go on.” All I could think of was ‘I hope that you never have to experience that kind of pain to realize what a stupid, stupid man you are’. The death of a child is not a natural thing and has to be something that is universally mourned.

What is it about this website that makes us spill our guts? The questions? The sense of sisterhood? The anonymity?