How I Learned to Be Naked: Listening to My Body and Healing Body Shame December 17, 2019 by M. Robinson, Guest Writer Leave a Comment Content Note: This article references a parent's use of Weight Watchers for their child. I didn’t always hate and hide my body. I was athletic as a child. I swam competitively and played outside until the last drop of daylight. I trusted my body and knew it well. That changed when puberty hit in the fourth grade. I started to look more like a woman than a little kid, and a … [Read more...]
We’re Still Here: Decolonize Your Mind About Indigenous People This Thanksgiving November 28, 2019 by Maile Arvin, Truthout Leave a Comment This article was originally published at Truthout under the title "The Future is Indigenous: Decolonizing Thanksgiving" and is reprinted here with permission. In 2015, a video meme circulated prior to Thanksgiving, featuring YouTube personality Franchesca Ramsey humorously breaking down the actual history of the holiday. A wet blanket to her family's Thanksgiving dinner, … [Read more...]
14 Truths I Learned for Surviving My Suicidality October 18, 2019 by Mihran Nersesyan Leave a Comment Content note: This article discusses suicide and suicidal ideation in-depth. On August 5th of last year, I tried to kill myself. The police were called. I was restrained, patted down, taken to the hospital, and held on a 5150. I was there for two days before they left me go. The term “5150” is the California legal code for “involuntary psychiatric hold.” It is used by law … [Read more...]
Surviving Is Enough: 8 Reminders to Not Be So Hard On Ourselves August 19, 2019 by Philippe Leonard Fradet 1 Comment I'm willing to bet that you're reading this in the middle of a million other tasks you feel you need to do in order to feel “normal.” Or maybe you're reading this in an attempt to get yourself out of a rut or improve your state of mind while feeling depressed. Either way, I'm here to help! A lot of times, we (meaning you, me, and everyone we know) feel like if we aren’t doing … [Read more...]
El Amor Romantico Nos Mata: Quien Cuida De Nosotros Cuando Somos Solteros? August 11, 2019 by Caleb Luna and Ana Maroto Leave a Comment Soy una persona deprimida, pero deprimida es un verbo. Considero mi depresión como el resultado de una posición social y de la inevitable historia de colonización, racismo, del estigma de la gordura y de la discriminación. Estoy tomando antidepresivos, pero éstos solo pueden reprogramar la química de mi cerebro y no la realidad social y material en la que vivo. No puede … [Read more...]
7 Things My Unruly, Curly Hair Taught Me About Being Unapologetically Latinx July 16, 2019 by Ella Mendoza Leave a Comment Growing up, people would always asked me about my hair, about my skin, about my eyes, about my mother, about my grandmother. Anti-blackness would prompt these questions to become inquiries, attempting to trace back lineage beyond dialogue, and into imaginary stories that may have been true or may have not. In their eyes, my hair symbolized something foreign, something … [Read more...]
Dear White Women: Why We Need To Stop Crying When POC Call Us Out October 19, 2018 by Louisa Leontiades 1 Comment I was once in an abusive relationship. Few people agree that it was abusive, because I left him after he'd hit me a couple of times. But they weren't there everyday for a period of years when he cajoled me into having sex by saying, 'your body wants me.' I'd often reply, 'but my mind doesn't...' I felt that this was somehow important even if I wasn't 100% convinced. Not that … [Read more...]
Misogynoir: Black Women and Femmes Surviving in the Face of State-Sanctioned Violence October 6, 2018 by YM Carrington Leave a Comment This is supposed to be an essay about misogynoir and the state. For me, state-sanctioned violence against Black women and femmes is an issue that is as hypervisible and super-exploited as it is misunderstood. Long before Black feminist scholar Moya Bailey created the term “misogynoir,” the phenomenon has wreaked havoc on African people worldwide, reinforced by a … [Read more...]
Blood Is Thicker Than Water?: 9 Ways To Save Yourself From Your Parents September 5, 2018 by E Alice Isak Leave a Comment “Wait—your parents are still married?” The therapist stared at me, his mouth agape. “To each other?!” I nodded warily at this abrupt shift in the tone of our conversation. I was 24 years old and still new to the mechanics of therapy. Just moments before, this man—himself old enough to be my father—had been explaining how all families, loving or otherwise, could be a … [Read more...]
