I hate this whole culture of cool that is wrapped up in ‘not giving a shit’. I hate that for so many people around my age the pinnacle of ‘coolness’ (whatever coolness is, who even knows to be honest) is about how much you can not care about stuff. Coolness that is wrapped in things like not giving shit about Daniel Tosh’s rape joke, or not giving a shit about whether or not it’s okay for white girls to appropriate other cultures, or not giving a shit about Caitlin Moran’s racism or just generally not giving a shit about whether or not the words you use might be offensive to somebody.

I can’t understand this idea of  ’Oh wow, it’s so cool that you don’t give a shit about whether you’re racist or sexist or otherwise offensive.’ This idea that caring about not being an offensive dickhead is just so uncool, that educating yourself is so uncool, that caring about trying to be a good person is so uncool. Being an ignorant, racist/sexist/homophobe is just so much cooler, not giving a shit about how you make other people feel is just so much cooler. Being offensive is so edgy and funny. Knowing that something is offensive but not caring is just so awesome.  I can’t understand the way that people who are really caught up in this ‘coolness’ like to write off those of us who do genuinely care about these issues as ‘feminist killjoys’ and ‘PC police’. I don’t care about these issues because it gives me some feeling of moral superiority over those who don’t; I care about these issues because they either affect me directly or because I know people who are directly affected and hurt by these things. I care about these issues because I genuinely believe that they are important and that they matter.

I am the uncoolest guy ever because I think compassion, empathy and trying your best to be a good person are important. I think critical thought, examining and checking privilege, and interrupting whiteness are important. I think intersectional feminism is important. I think that words mean things and that we should all choose our words carefully and do our best to stop using hurtful or offensive terms in every day speech. I think that as bloggers with fairly large audiences it is our obligation to do all that we can to make sure our posts, outfits, and comments are not offensive or hurtful to our readers. I don’t think that fashion blogs or fashion bloggers are exempt from engaging in these discussions just because they may not directly fit into the usual blog post topics. I think it’s important to hold other bloggers accountable for their words and actions and not to just ignore bad behaviour because you think somebody is ‘cool’. I feel like as human beings and as adults it is our responsibility to think about how our actions and words (both on and offline) will make other people feel and to do our very best not to be hurtful. This goes for racism, misogyny, ableism, homophobia, heteronormativity, classism etc. I do give a shit about these things, I really give a shit and I wish more other people did too.

Seriously, after two seasons and something like 44 episodes of Party Of Five, I’m starting to hate the Salingers. Especially Charlie and Bailey who are disgusting jerks. But anyway, here’s what happened in season two. If you missed the season one recap you can find it here.

Griffin showed up! I don’t actually remember much about him except that I think Julia marries him at some point. He actually first showed up in Season One and was played by James Marsden (above) but from Season Two onwards he was played by Jeremy London (below).

Apparently they put them both in red t-shirts so we wouldn’t get confused.

Jennifer Love Hewitt made her first appearance too! Little babby JLH! She looks so young. She plays Sarah, a nice girl who is really into Bailey for some inexplicable reason.

Charlie still had a mullet and was still the worst dude ever. Ugh, just look at his dumb face.

Julia was still dating Justin (aka Heroin Bob from SLC Punk), that’s them making out in the background. Bailey still had dimples.

I kind of want to turn these re-cap posts in Claudia Salinger appreciation posts because she is the best Salinger. Here she is throwing her bra away because she is an awesome young feminist. Actually she bought a too-big bra and then stuffed it with tissues but I like to think this is a feminist act.

Julia and Griffin made out and she cheated on Justin. But not long after that Griffin stole money from some guy and then got sent to military school in New Orleans so he didn’t appear in much more of season two. Before he left he did suggest that Julia should get a tattoo of a yin yang sign which I was screaming over.

In most of the episodes he was in, he kept wearing that same old red shirt.

Charlie and Kirsten nearly got married, but then they didn’t. Lucky for her.

Claudia made friends with Cokie Mason from The Babysitters Club movie (aka Marla Sokoloff and her character in PO5 had a name but I’m going to keep calling her Cokie) and Cokie kept calling her ‘Fiddle Girl’.

They smoked cigarettes on the bus. See, I told you Claudia was the best.

Julia and Justin went to see Sophie B Hawkins (OMG!) and the crowd was seriously pathetic. Like, why are they all sitting down and looking grumpy?! What is wrong with you kids?!

Charlie almost cheated on Kirsten with Christie Masters-Christianson from Romy and Michelle.

Sarah (JLH) wore this great red dress to Charlie and Kirsten’s wedding that didn’t happen.

Here are some ‘I’m not actually getting married’ jears.

Look at Julia’s awesome sex hair! This was totally one of her best moments, getting drunk at her brother’s non-wedding and losing her virginity to an equally drunk Justin.

Claudia and Cokie Mason got drunk in the tent. Where is the Claudia Salinger spin-off because I want to watch it.

Sarah found out that she was adopted (and that her biological mother was Debra from Everybody Loves Raymond) and got pissed at her parents so Bailey gave her a key to his house and basically invited her to move in. Come on kids, you’re 16 years old! It’s not time to exchange keys just yet!

This babely teen lesbian was into Julia and Julia was not impressed. But later she wore this great outfit and comforted her and I suppose learnt tolerance or whatever (kind of like Claudia and the gay violin teacher in episode one).

Charlie was dating Kathleen, this busy boss lady and one time she wasn’t paying him enough attention or something (because you know, she had work to do at her job) so he walked into her office and carried her out like this. Way to make her look weak and powerless in front of her employees, Charlie you douche.

Sarah started singing in this band and did a sexy version of ‘Fever’ while taking her jacket off while playing a show at a cafe one afternoon which was kind of weird but whatever. Then of course Bailey (douchebag extraordinaire) got all jealous and started telling her she shouldn’t dress so ‘revealing’ and kept trying to make her wear turtlenecks and insinuating that she’s a slut and stuff. She told him off and my hatred for Bailey grew even more.

Charlie’s girlfriend Kathleen pulled a big Valley Of The Dolls suicide attempt after he breaks up with her which I thought was out of character but this scene did look pretty awesome with the huge loft apartment and pink pyjamas.

Claudia is holding a copy of Sassy magazine in her hand in this shot! She is the best.

Danny Masterson appeared as a guy in Sarah’s band who Bailey (of course) got jealous of.

Claudia was supposed to be playing seven minutes in heaven with this guy but she was Not Having It. Claudia Salinger is a role model.

A little baby teenaged Kate Hudson showed up in a really small and pointless role.

And here are some jears to finish off. I think these were of the ‘I nearly lost my late father’s restaurant and my younger brother had to spend his college money bailing me out’ variety. You suck, Charlie!

Some things that I forgot (or couldn’t be bothered) to get screen caps of: lots of great denim 90s fashions, a long lost Grandfather, Julia getting pregnant and then miscarrying, Charlie trying to hook up with a waitress, getting turned down and then firing her (lovely), and some creepy teacher trying to hit on Julia.

What will season three hold?! I’m going to guess more bad lighting and more jears.