Is this our last Pride celebration? Pride Means Finding a Place where We Belong So, come on baby, dance that danceCome on baby, dance that danceCome on baby, let’s dance tonight… In my twenties, I worked with an organization that provided services for LGBTQ youth. I loved doing this work; it’s part of what propelled…
Tag: education
Gifted and Talented (Caturday Questions)
Teachers assigned us labels when we were younger, like “gifted” or “gifted and talented.” Or, in rare cases, “prodigy.” What do these labels mean? Do they help us or hurt us? Can we change them? Can we own them? Some people discover their labels as adults. And then there are those labels on your writing….
Autobiography
When I worked on my exams for high school,my grandmother died —And I thought that was hard. When I prepared for my college entrance,my teacher intoned, “Thy path to paradise begins in hell”.And I thought that was hard. When I started my first job,running around, feeling like a clown,thinking “this is damn hard.” Then in another…
Editor, Writer, Thrower of Wet Spaghetti
Throw a bunch of wet spaghetti at the wall. See what sticks. Who knew that the thing your parents told you not to do as a kid would be vital to your mental stability as an adult? And would be vital to my job as an editor. I have been editing this website for about…
Mental Health Month Starts with a Breakdown
What a way to start off mental health month…with a meltdown, right? But that’s exactly what happened. Although Adam and I have never formally defined our roles, there are certain things we just fell into doing–he has editorial skills and experience that I don’t, I can do things with web pages that he can’t, and…
Teaching the Titanic
My Obsession with the Titanic Earlier this month was the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. Usually, around this time of year I sit down to watch Jack and Rose fall in love and die on screen, relishing in the music, the costumes, the exhilarating spectacle that is the James Cameron movie. I scour…
Paradise Lost: #EpicFail
I thought it might be fun to write about how to read a difficult book. I mean a book that’s literally difficult to understand. I’m going to take Paradise Lost for my example but I think these ideas apply to most difficult literature. Reading Outside your Comfort Zone The thing about reading as a hobby…
The “Nice Guy” Fallacy
Massive content warning: If you yourself are a survivor of sexual assault, you have our permission to skip this piece. It’s up to you. But please pass it along. The essay that follows contains descriptions of sexual assault. Rape and sexual assault can happen to anyone regardless of gender identity or gender presentation. Likewise, issues…
Is this a Jook?: Congee Made me Feel Sick
The Trigger: Congee Restaurant December 2017. In a hostel room in Seoul, Zoe was flipping through pages of her itinerary. She was rehearsing in her head where to go and what to eat first. Winter in Seoul is never pleasant to people from the south, as the coldest days in Hong Kong never fall below…
Thomas Jefferson: Accidental Novelist
I’ve often wanted to sit down and write an essay on what I call the accidental novel. What, you may ask… Well, it’s a book that was written as a work of nonfiction but that shows a different story than it tells. Read along with me for a moment and you’ll see. The accidental novel…