Justice and Advocacy

Rethinking Nonviolence: An Interview with Jeriah Bowser

What if the great heroes of nonviolence didn’t totally support nonviolence? What if the widely hailed “successes” of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King Jr. were not actually a step forward for oppressed people? What if their nonviolent resistance movements were only effective due to lesser-known violent resistance? What if the people in… Continue reading Rethinking Nonviolence: An Interview with Jeriah Bowser

Justice and Advocacy · Religion and Spirituality · Sexuality and Sex Education

Purity Culture and My Sexuality

Re-upload note July 2018: I originally pissed my family off by coming out as a Christian ally to gays and lesbians, notwithstanding the education I had yet to receive on the fully inclusive LGBTAIQP community. Within a year, I realized that I was bisexual, and had suppressed and minimized any feelings I had toward femme… Continue reading Purity Culture and My Sexuality

Personal reflections · Psychology and mental illness · Religion and Spirituality

Compassion as a Prerequisite to Questioning

I used to really hate emotion. I didn’t think it was logical to trust your feelings. What do your emotions know? They’re just a distraction or an obstacle to doing the reasonable thing. As it turns out, intuition is ridiculously helpful. Our subconscious awareness is way ahead of our conscious awareness a lot of the… Continue reading Compassion as a Prerequisite to Questioning

Personal reflections · Religion and Spirituality

When Positivity is the Problem

The mask I’m grieving is a forced smile. This makes therapy difficult, because many of the solutions to depression include focusing on the positive. My counselors have said they’re working with a rare case – usually they work depressed people toward seeing the bright side of life, but I worked my way to depression through positivity. I… Continue reading When Positivity is the Problem

Justice and Advocacy · Personal reflections · Psychology and mental illness

How I Got Burned Out On Current Events and Politics by Age 19

Trigger warnings: current events and politics “By voting, you are complying. You are complying to a preexisting system. I think we need real significant change, and that real change won’t come if enough people are complying. While you see voting as expressing yourself, I see it as compliance with the system.” -Russell Brand, who explains not… Continue reading How I Got Burned Out On Current Events and Politics by Age 19

Justice and Advocacy · Sexuality and Sex Education

February 21 – A Letter to Anastasia Steele

“Emotions aren’t that hard to borrow When love’s a word you never learned…” –Avril Lavigne, Give You What You Like, 50 Shades of Grey Soundtrack Dear Ana, I won’t say that I know how you feel. I won’t say that I’ve been where you’ve been. I haven’t. I just want someone to say some things to you,… Continue reading February 21 – A Letter to Anastasia Steele