Salon says that guy's a fraud:

[link]

School officials discourage children from having best friends.

That is all kinds of bananas.

a co-ed sleep-away camp in Phoenicia, N.Y., has started employing “friendship coaches” to work with campers to help every child become friends with everyone else.

I mean, what? And the only explanation is vague stuff about bullying which... surely there's some room between "don't actively try to make other people feel shitty" and "you must like (or pretend to like) everyone you encounter -- but you shouldn't like anyone too much! For the love of god, whatever you do, don't ever have strong feelings about anything!" It seems very Brave New World.

a co-ed sleep-away camp in Phoenicia, N.Y., has started employing “friendship coaches” to work with campers to help every child become friends with everyone else.

this is ridiculous and creates unrealistic expectations. You are not going to be friends with everyone, and telling children this makes them feel like they have failed when someone doesn't want to be their friend, or they don't want to be someone else's friend. The goal should be to make friends and be nice to everyone. A lot of people would be better served in this world if they accepted that not everyone wants to be their best friend; sometimes you have to accept someone just treating you with basic courtesy.

Yeah I have a good friend who hates it when she thinks people don't like her. And I just don't get it. Why would you want everyone to like you? Most people are shit! Their opinions are awful! If they like you there's something wrong with you probably!

Trying to make kids be friends with everyone else is ridiculous. When I was in junior high/high school, I was so glad to have ANYONE talk to me, and it mostly ended up being one person - if a teacher ever dared to try to tell us not to hang out, I would have killed her. Social groups and school is stressful enough with teachers trying to interfere and make everything "more fair".

You're never going to be friends with everyone. If schools feel the need to get all involved in this, they should make sure everyone is friends with SOMEONE.

And really? That sentence is supposed to be giving people problems? Goodness. I feel as though speaking at a 10th grade level should give absolutely no problems to anyone who is not actually below the 10th grade.

Yeah, I wonder how many of the people perpetuating this nonsense are in committed relationships and think that having one "special friend" of their own is problematic.

Well, I hate it when I think people don't like me but I don't expect everyone to like me either and I'm not going to change who I am in an effort to make everyone like me.

The goal should be to make friends and be nice to everyone.

Exactly! It's a hard lesson to learn to be nice to someone you don't like but it serves you well.

a co-ed sleep-away camp in Phoenicia, N.Y., has started employing “friendship coaches” to work with campers to help every child become friends with everyone else.

Jesus christ. There are so many reasons I couldn't work in elementary schools or camps like this.

Hahahaha!

Controversy has rocked the Andrew Cuomo campaign following comments made by the Attorney General's mother about his girlfriend's lasagna. The dish is reportedly Cuomo's favorite, despite the fact that Sandra Lee, a Food Network host, makes it with canned tomato soup and cottage cheese. Asked about the recipe in an interview with NY1 yesterday, Andrew's mother Matilda said, "I don't know that that's true. You know, maybe she puts cottage cheese because he doesn't want to put on weight. That's not the way you make a lasagna."

Jessica, that is hysterical! Also, tomato soup!?!?!

Apparently Thomas Dekker is going to play Lance Loud in a tv show that fictionalizes The American Family: [link]