by Annemarie McDaniel On the first day of the New Year, I wore my hair down. All the way down. For girls with straight hair, this would just be a normal day, but for me–a girl with wild, curly hair–it felt monumental. The next day, and again the day after that, I let my curls…
by Georgia Luckhurst Exacerbated stress at the start of a New Year feels like a universal thing. The idea of an untainted, fresh start often becomes an opportunity to do one’s self down as the media hits us at full force with pressure to change our diet, head to the gym, change job or over…
by Julia Bluhm I’ve always made “New Years Resolutions” and “School Year Resolutions.” Sometimes, “Summer Vacation Resolutions.” The idea of change has always appealed to me, and that includes feeling the need to change myself. I always felt really guilty for feeling that way, probably from always hearing about how I was “fine just the…
by Dee Putri First. I think the first people who have expectation of us are our parents. In Indonesia, gender is really important to parents–they really want a boy or they really want a girl. I’ve seen childhood photos of a male friend of mine in skirts because his mom really wanted to have a…
by Georgia Luckhurst I like going into drugstores. The smells of cloying perfume mingling with talcum power strewn floors and aggressive seeming offers shouting at me from posters on the walls (“EVERYTHING MUST GO!!!” and “BUY ONE GET ONE FREE!!!”, usually) are never enough to deter me from heading towards the make-up aisle. I’ve written…
by Erin McKelle Let’s face it: our society is full of messed up messages about our bodies. We are told that we are too fat, too old, too short, too hairy, too saggy…and the list never ends. Our culture doesn’t embrace diversity in bodies, instead glorifying a certain type– a type that less than 5%…
by Julia Bluhm I am a shy person. I don’t think I ever really hated anything about myself except for that. Being shy used to make me really mad, because I had this constant rush of thoughts and ideas that flew through my mind, but it was like no one even knew. I felt like people…
by Jasmine White Sometimes I look at the pieces of my chemically-straightened hair that are scattered around my bathroom floor, and I wonder what it would be like if things were different. What if relaxers were never invented? What if having afro-kinky hair was okay? I’ve been getting my hair chemically straightened since I was…