I want to say thank you to every one of the founders, editors, writers, and commenters.

The-Toast.net is the first website I visited where intelligent, passionate, funny, warm, creative, and/or nerdy women who like books, history, and art are openly celebrated without an emphasis on their appearances or outfits.

I’ve learned so much about ableism, animals, art, creativity, emotional labor, faith, families, friendship, happiness, history, human rights, humor, language, literature, love, mental health, music, politics, racism, romantic relationships, self-care, self-expression, self-worth, and sex from all of you, just to name a few major themes.

I will carry these lessons with me, and I will be back to link friends to articles, read and reread stories, and renew myself.

The Toast has helped me relearn that the point of making art is to enjoy the process instead of the output, that I’m not any more insignificant than anyone else, and that I’m not as alone in the world as I thought I was. You have soothed my insecurities, supported my feelings, provided me with wisdom and advice, and made me laugh. I celebrate your triumphs and accomplishments. You have been a friend to me, even if you didn’t know it.

You have helped me rediscover parts of myself that I thought were lost. You have helped steer me toward a better version of myself. My life is happier and better for having had you in it.

I look forward to hearing from you, reading your writings, and following your projects in the future. I like you, respect you, and admire you. You are my people, and I hope you all live your best lives.

Thank you.

Thank you for saving me the trouble of trying to read this and for your other work at The-Toast! I've bought Hild instead. Who doesn't love reading about royal seventh-century English women who became abbesses and saints?

Did you take part in the group activity that all the other young people, even those from the highest classes and best of society, were enjoying? You knew you were supposed to disapprove gently and excuse yourself as the rest of the group mocked you for being a spoilsport to show Lord Grangemere the strength of your morals!

An unapproved emotion flitted across my face during my carefully choreographed smiling routine. I had it under control within a second, but in that second, he had glimpsed every flaw in my character and deemed me unsuitable.

Pulling this out of your back pocket was a good way to get a slight grade boost in medieval-related classes in college.

All of you who still remember this are my people, and I would definitely want to help you when you're sick.

You're half-fluent in OE if you know (modern) German. Modern German and Old English have very similar verb conjugations, and a lot of similarities in pronoun declension. I didn't know much German when I took OE, but that little bit was invaluable and put me far ahead of my classmates. I suggest creating charts that compare the noun and verb forms.

You probably have this, but no one's mentioned the online Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, so I will. http://www.bosworthtoller.com/

I want "Biology Lessons for Poets," please.

Your handwriting was fine! (I don't have it with me, but it was perfectly legible.) You did accomplish something good this week!

I received a ToastPost, and I think it was from you. It made my bad week better, and I hope yours gets better, too. Thank you!

In my list of reasons why Villette is better than Jane Eyre, one of them is that the man who locks her in the attic lets her out the same day and gives her cake. Sadly, even in books by Charlotte Brontë, imprisoned white people receive shorter sentences and more lenient treatment than their black or mixed-race counterparts.