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Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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  • Dmitry Petrovich

    Wow.  Someone is not in a Valentine’s Day mood. 

  • RevWubby

    Amanda Palmer is amazing and poignant and talented. I love her work.  That being said, Fuck you for making me sad all of a sudden.  WTH! I was having a nice day.  Now I want to cry. You big JERK!

  • Fang Xianfu

    Wow, that was really affecting! Definitely a good pick for Valentine’s Day – I’ve rarely felt more appreciation for the joy I get from my relationship, and from our slightly-too-small-sometimes bed. Bravo!

    One of our standing conversations, in fact, is how despite sometimes feeling a bit cramped (especially in the summer when things are toasty), we couldn’t go much bigger before something would be lost. My girlfriend worked in domestic service for a bit and the family she worked for had a bed three pillows wide – this song definitely helps you imagine the misery that could imply! I’ll stick with what I have and be thankful :)

  • sarahcbagley

    That was beautiful and sad and affecting and everything…  It made me cry..  And of course the communication problem that it chronicles is both awful and seemingly common…   But I really wish she wouldn’t've chosen the bed as the metaphor for all of that!  Some people sleep well with other people and like a small cuddly bed all the time.  Other people find that a bigger bed or even separate beds let them be better-rested and happier, as well as more lovey and cuddly when they feel like it.  The implication that sleeping without touching means frigidity and a lack of communication can, I think, keep people who might be much happier with more sleeping space from obtaining it, out of fear that their spouses or even other people might judge them for it.  Some good info on the topic:  
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/09/AR2006010901549.html
    and
    http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/us/11separate.html?pagewanted=all

    • C W

      It’s useful because it conjures up images of people open-eyed and staring at the ceiling while their partners nod off, I don’t think the implication is that one has to be touching 24/7, I can’t see how anyone sane (or has lived with partners in the past) would come to that conclusion.

    • Damian Barajas

      Sure, but the song was not about your experience, it only feels like it, that’s why its so affecting. But its Amanda’s.

  • ethicalcannibal

    That should have come with a warning about imminent crying for the watcher. 

  • http://julessays.com/ Julie Gomoll

    A dear friend once warned me to never get a king size bed, that it’s the worst thing for a relationship, because you never have to touch. I’ve taken that to heart.

    • Beanolini

      It could be argued that there’s already something wrong with a relationship if you only touch because you have to. 

      Or alternatively, that insufficient sleep is the worst thing for a relationship.

      • http://julessays.com/ Julie Gomoll

        It wasn’t an “always, in general” recommendation. I heard it as more about some night, after a disagreement, when things haven’t been settled, it might be a good thing to be in a bed where you can’t help but touch.

        But I do agree that insufficient sleep can be horrible for a relationship.

    • ocker3

       I need a king-sized bed, I’m 6’2″ and have to sleep at an angle, so if I have tall partner we just need the space.

  • http://profiles.google.com/westcarleton Ray Perkins

    The style reminded me of Josh Ritter… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxWxiuJRApU