When I was four years old, my parents moved me from Los Angeles to northern Idaho, where I would live for thirteen years—plus a year-long stint in heavily Mormon Utah during first grade—until I moved away to New England for college. During this time, I was exposed to a poor and working-class, white-dominated culture in which evangelical Christianity was the reigning religion, … [Read more...]
Kidnapping, Jailing, and Abusing Immigrant Children Is Body Terrorism
I live in a country where millions of people avert their gaze from or even celebrate the jailing of children, torn from their parents and often trafficked across state lines. Apparently it’s acceptable to commit human rights abuses against a population if you’ve already dehumanized them to your supporters, made an exception because as “illegal aliens”, they’re not quite the … [Read more...]
5 Things I Learned as a White Person After Visiting a Southern Plantation Dedicated to Slavery
Content warning: description of life under enslavement In February, my partner and I took our first-ever trip to New Orleans, Louisiana during the city’s festive Mardi Gras season. It was an incredible experience, but the most impactful part of our visit by far was our day trip to the Whitney Plantation. Located about an hour’s drive outside New Orleans in the heart of … [Read more...]
When the Gender Binary Puts a Damper on Date Night
I am a cis queer femme woman partnered with a non-binary queer person. While I enjoy so many things about our five-year relationship, including the fact that people recognize me as queer when we are out together, my babe is basically misgendered wherever they go. Even by other queer people. It’s rare for them to have a validating experience when it comes to gender, especially … [Read more...]
7 Things You Can Be Proud of Doing by the Time You’re 35— Even If You Didn’t Save Twice Your Yearly Salary
It’s safe to say that the vast majority of us are definitely nowhere near able to save twice our yearly salary by age 35, despite the newest out-of-touch punchline from the financial sector. As an American in my early 30s who, like most of “our” generation if you’re also American, has a negative net worth thanks to graduating post-financial crash, trying to build a career … [Read more...]
10 Ways to Check Your Privilege Around Poor and Working-Class Friends
It’s important to come to terms with your class privilege and disrupt your assumptions about how your friends from poor and working-class backgrounds relate to money and wealth. As someone who grew up working-class, my idea of being wealthy was living in a two-story house. The types of extreme wealth I would encounter in adulthood just didn’t exist in the … [Read more...]
Gaslighting on the Job?: 7 Ways to Know if Your Workplace is Abusive
As I have entered my thirties, I’ve become aware of a pattern in my life: finding myself in toxic situations, strategizing to break free from them, and following my heart to move forward like the resilient goddess I am. As a working-class high schooler, I escaped a dead-end rural town I hated, moving thousands of miles away to attend a top-tier college (with, … [Read more...]
Let the Light In: 6 Ways to Use Body Magick to Heal From Trauma
No matter what type of trauma we are working to heal, it’s a fact that the effects of trauma live in the body. Many of us concerned with justice and trauma reject the Enlightenment-era thinking that our minds and our bodies are discrete components separate from one another, instead recognizing that our bodies, psyches, and spirits are holistically connected. As a … [Read more...]
