Talking through Issues with my Writing Community I rely on my writing community a lot. For inspiration. Support. Feedback. They’re an important part of my life, and not just as a writer. So recently, when I was talking to Adam (mentor, 2 Rules of Writing co-founder, good friend) I mentioned that I’d been having a…
Tag: mental health
My PhD Advisor (A Good Teacher is Hard to Find: 3)
Page is hard to write about. Despite working with her for over 4 years, she remains a mystery to me. She was my PhD supervisor, and we had a bumpy start. To be fair, I was partly responsible for that bumpy start because I didn’t know what I was getting into when I applied to do…
Uvalde School Shooting: One Parent’s Perspective
I don’t want to write this piece. And you might be asking: “Why not write something else?” Because I have to write this piece. I’m in such a white-hot rage that I can’t think of anything else to do. So there will be frayed edges and loose ends and subjects I pick up and drop….
“The Good Parts”: The Real Sex Ed
There has been a lot of discussion of limiting children’s access to sex ed. But that may not be possible. Sex ed is all around us. The most you can limit is your engagement with their education. And why would you want to limit that? My First Sex Ed Classroom: A Slumber Party In first…
Little Victories in the Fight against Homophobia
I fell in love with the art of drag long before I really understood or accepted my own queer identity. We can learn a lot from drag queens. And not just fashion tips. The news has me exhausted and worried lately. But today, I’m going to take a lesson from Bianca Del Rio: ”Not today,…
Mindfulness: An Archaic Concept of Me, Delivery 5
Authorʼs note, May 8 & 9 2022 I wrote the initialisation scene of this story, way back in 2017. My Evernote tells me the scene was first drafted 3 December 2017 at 17:52. The initialisation scene – edited a few times since 2017 – is found in Delivery 1 of the story. In that scene…
Writer’s Block: Bangalore Edition
I often find that when I am feeling numb and don’t want to write, the reason for it is simple. I am afraid of what I will write. All of this falls under the deceptively simple name “writer’s block.” But why would I be afraid; that is, what would I be afraid of? There are…
Pride Means Protest, Now More than Ever
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…
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…