By Heather Von St. James Having cancer isn’t really all ribbons and runs. It’s not always shaving your head because of hair loss and having someone you love join you. Cancer doesn’t always mean you’re fighting for your life. Sometimes having cancer means feeling alone. It means having to adapt […]
Health
Incident Involving Girl Who Couldn’t Wake Dead Parents Reminds Us to Show Empathy for Addicts and Their Families
On Monday morning, a 7-year-old girl in McKeesport, Pennsylvania did something countless children do every day: she went to school. But it became apparent that this wasn’t a “normal” day on her bus ride home, when the young girl told her driver she couldn’t wake her parents. The driver immediately […]
American Adventures in a German Sauna: Clothing Verboten (Forbidden)
By Kendall Griffen of Harlem Hausfrau I don’t think it’s a big surprise to any American that Europeans, and more specific to my point – Germans – have a higher level of comfort with public nudity than us States-side folks. From my perspective, there are few occasions that more clearly […]
When Anxiety Strikes Your Fruit Bowl
By Danielle Dayney I’m typically an easy going person. I try not to raise my voice above speaking level. I volunteer occasionally. I’m tolerant and understanding. I am, for the most part, level-headed and kind. But every person has her breaking point and, well, mine was the stupid fruit bowl. […]
I Was Abused and My Mother Told Me the Sky Is Blue
Why is it that in the darkest of times, we look for the brightest of things? (Literally.) I’m asking because I’m not sure myself, yet that is exactly what I did on the beach, alone with my mother in April 2005. The day I told my mother I was sexually abused. My […]
What People Need to Know About Borderline Personality Disorder—From the Inside Out
I suffer from a form of mental illness called Borderline Personality Disorder. I am also deemed what is known as a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), meaning my empathy and emotions are beyond my control because I feel not only my own, but everyone else’s that I come into contact with. […]
Dear Mermaids, Body Image Is Not a Trend
By Whitney Fleming of Playdates on Fridays At the beach this past summer, I saw two young teens snapping photos at the edge of the water. The pair giggled at first, trying to get just the right shot with the ocean in the background, catching the sun dancing off the […]
Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder
By Darla Halyk of NewWorldMom Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I am beautiful. From the outside, I can only assume people consider I believe this to be true. I bear no shame in posting a selfie or bouncing wildly on a dance floor for all to see. […]