I was shocked during a recent visit by my parents when my mother came right out of the blue with this statement: “Rihanna sucks!”

She said it with real passion, too, as if this was something she not only believed but believed to the core of her being.

Now, perhaps this doesn’t strike you as odd or interesting because your mother is the sort who readily trashes the things you like. But my mom isn’t like that — at all. My mom is the sort who’ll say “It was very… interesting” about a movie she hated because she knows it’s on the top of my list.

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