Note: I am writing this article from my perspective of the holiday season, which is very Christmas-centric. Having said that, I believe that at least some of these hints can be applied to other holiday celebrations. The holidays are promoted, to an almost obnoxious level, as being a time of great joy and merriment. Families come around, delicious food is eaten, presents are … [Read more...]
Unhappy Holidays?: 3 Things to Remember About Your Holiday Depression
After my mother died, every supposedly joyous occasion had a pall thrown over it. Without her, it was hard to celebrate. Without her, everything felt empty. When my father-in-law lost his mother (my husband's grandmother) just a month before the holidays last year, I understood, in my own way, a bit of what he and his siblings would endure. Each time I witness someone losing a … [Read more...]
#CloseTheCamps: No 4th of July While Children Die
On July 2nd, I participated in a #CloseTheCamps rally demanding that the illegal concentration camps for undocumented children and their families -- with 71% of migrants being held in for-profit facilities as of November 2017 -- be shut down. I stood on the sidewalk of a local park with about 60 other protesters as we held signs and rattled noisemakers, chanting and begging our … [Read more...]
Resisting Fear: What Being Jewish Means in an Age of Rising Anti-Semitism
When I was growing up, being Jewish meant to me that we ate challah on Friday nights, put on a Purim play once a year (in which I always got to play Queen Esther), and lit Hanukkah candles while the Christmas tree gleamed in the other room. I loved learning about Jewish history, reading the stories, and celebrating the holidays with all their delicious food. Synagogue was a … [Read more...]
Own Your Sh*t: 5 Ways to Navigate Your Partner’s Wealth During the Holidays
The holidays are emotionally challenging for many reasons, but they take on a unique toll on working-class folks who end up in relationships with a partner who comes from a middle or upper-class background. As someone who grew up relatively poor with a single-mom who is currently under-employed, I have a complicated relationship to Christmas, but that became all the more … [Read more...]
Don’t Just Rest – HALT to Get through Difficult Days
This piece first appeared on the website, Rest for Resistance, and is reprinted here by permission. I fight suicidal depression every year. I owe my success in this fight to an acronym a Black psychologist named Dr. Vernon Savage taught me while I was a struggling undergrad. HALT stands for never get too Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired. I’m … [Read more...]
The Price of Polyamory: Intentional Families, Too Many In-Laws, and Loving Support
We’re off to a wedding. I love weddings. Love ‘em, even though I already know I’ll start crying at the bridal march. Like many weddings, this one will be a heady mixture of joyous celebration spiked with massive logistical angst and the usual smattering of unforeseen hiccups--fodder, no doubt, for anecdotes at family reunions in the years to come. But instead of the … [Read more...]
10 Tips for Caring For Your Mental Health on Vacation
As the final days of spring give way to the sunny weather and sunscreened noses of summertime, many of us eagerly anticipate our summer vacations. Vacations, after all, are when we escape the drearier components of our regular, everyday lives, go to new places, and do things for no other reason than because we want to do them. I myself happen to be going on … [Read more...]

The Body Is Not an Apology
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