Space (and other things you attach meaning to)
Nothing. A week before last Christmas, I’d gotten into an argument with my mother and father about something undeniably inconsequential (I don’t even remember) and inevitably illogical (on both our parts).
Eviction
This is a Notice To Terminate Tenancy. You are hereby notified that your tenancy of the premises will be terminated on 4th of December 2015. And on that day you will be required to surrender the premises to the Landlord. This is a letter to my anxiety and depression.
On the Invasive Nature of Heternormativity
When I was nine, I used to read a lot of Harry Potter fanfiction. Which, okay, doesn’t sound like the best use of my time, but what else was there to do? Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince had just come out three days after my ninth birthday, and I read it in...
The Best Four Years of Your Life
When I was a kid, high school was the shining light at the end of the tunnel that my prepubescent friends and I looked forward to. And why wouldn’t we? There are what seems like millions upon millions of movies featuring teenage protagonists that showcase the escapades of rebellious high school students: Going to...
End Zone
[Trigger warning for suicide and suicidal ideation, attempted murder, gendered slurs, mention of drowning, and child abuse.] I dreamed I made a goal. When I wake up they tell me it wasn’t a dream. And it wasn’t a goal, either. It was a touchdown—that’s why you’re in the hospital.
Barely Visible
Illustration by Victoria Silveyra. When I was young I wanted to be everything at once. A knight, an astronaut, a writer. I realized I could use the stories I loved to become all these things and more. I soaked up stories in all their forms-in music, movies, TV shows, books-and let them become part of me....
Goodbye Whiteness
I remember the excitement and chaos that made up the fall of my senior year of high school. The college app process was in full swing. I was getting brochures by the dozen, analyzing financial aid packages and drafting essays for all the potential schools I wanted to attend. Most of these schools had...
Fabulously Fiendish: Disney Villains and Queer-Coding
Most of what I know I learned from Disney films. A dream is a wish your heart makes, we are part of the circle of life, everybody wants to be a cat. In the first formative years of life, Disney plays an integral part in shaping children, the way they think and feel about...
This
Destruction isn’t beautiful, but I want it to be, because I don’t want to be ugly. I need it to be beautiful, because it’s all I see. I don’t want to be a warning sign, or a lesson to be learned. I don’t want to be inspirational, or beautiful in my tragedy. But if...
Where Hope Begins
The beginning of hope is an ending. Maybe it’s the ending of accepting the world as it is. Maybe it’s the ending of a bad habit. Whatever ends when hope begins, it’s a shift that isn’t always conscious. Sometimes it takes time and effort to sort through the feelings that come with change. For some...
On Being a Young Punk
I don’t like the English post punk band Joy Division. As a punk (and rock and roll) fan, this is a blasphemous statement, not necessarily because everyone likes Joy Division (though sometimes it does feel that way) but because of all that they did for the rock scene.
The Naming of Hurricanes
It was a Wednesday night when clouds began to gather, thin and brittle as cheap glass. The town was used to strangers rolling through, dust weeds pushed along by the wind. The Roadhouse sheltered many, offering them whiskey and chili fries and a roof over their heads, but just for one night. It hadn’t...