13 hours agoMember-onlyI No Longer Watch Videos of Black People Being Killed by Police: Please Stop Saying I ShouldAn open letter to white readers — For five years, I waited tables at a quirky theme restaurant in Beverly Hills. In my time there, I watched a lot of co-workers come and go but today I want to tell you about Evan. Evan was a white guy from a well-off family. Rather than live off of…Race4 min readRace4 min read
Jan 30Member-onlyYou’re Not Alone if Televised Trauma is Breaking Your SoulHow to handle the barrage of neverending violence in our nightly news — For thirty days I slept on our green second-hand couch despite my fiancée’s pleas that I join her in our bed. Every night I fluffed the couch cushions, tucked myself in under a weighted blanket, looked out to the streetlights, and asked for a peaceful sleep. Yet every night I…Trauma4 min readTrauma4 min read
Jan 27Member-onlyWhat If Your Current Home is Your Forever Home?If you haven’t already, embrace your current space My wife and I live in a one-bedroom apartment in a lower-income part of town. From our complex, there are no cool bars to walk to or parks within jogging distance. In fact, our complex is so far removed from any business…Self3 min readSelf3 min read
Jan 26Member-onlyNo, Girl Bars Are Not Obsolete: The Reason We Still Need Safe Spaces For Queer WomenI didn’t realize I was a lesbian until I was 20 years old. At the time, I lived in Virginia and would journey up to DC every few weeks to let loose at Phase One, a lauded lesbian bar that had welcomed women like me for almost half a century…LGBTQ2 min readLGBTQ2 min read
Dec 30, 2022Member-onlyPost, Publish, or Upload That Thing You’ve Been Too Scared to ShareDo it today — I have a mean case of burnout. Between work, homemaking, relationships, a side hustle, and trying to heal some deep-seated trauma, I’m kinda spent. I spent most of last week limping to the finish line for my winter break. As of 5 pm Thursday, I have eleven glorious days where…3 min read3 min read
Published in The official pub for FACE·Nov 13, 2022Member-onlyAge & Alcohol Don’t Excuse Racism: Let’s Talk About That Viral University of Kentucky VideoIf you haven’t seen it yet, you’re in for a wild ride — I really didn’t want to write this week’s Medium post. Normally, I get a rush looking through notebooks and scouring the internet for something to spark a new story, but this week I didn’t have that luxury. From the moment I checked my phone Monday morning, my attention was dominated…Racism8 min readRacism8 min read
Nov 6, 2022Member-onlyThink You’re an Ally to Black People? Don’t Be So SureHave you actually earned the title? — Earlier this week I came across a Twitter thread that sparked a sharp and painful gut reaction. Written by esteemed author and journalist Clint Smith III, the thread explained a racist incident Smith witnessed while in a Charlotte airport. …Self Improvement6 min readSelf Improvement6 min read
Oct 21, 2022Member-onlyBlack Women Don’t Care That You Dislike BeyoncéPlease stop wasting your breath telling us about it — Unless you have been cut off from pop culture for the last twenty years, there is a good chance that you know who Beyoncé is. …Race5 min readRace5 min read
Oct 2, 2022Member-only3 Truths That Will Change How You View DeathMy grandfather died when I was two. The memories I have of him are from long after he’d died: I remember his smiling face in the portrait that hung in my grandmother’s hallway and I laugh at stories my aunts and uncles told as they reminisced over beers every summer…Death6 min readDeath6 min read
May 5, 2022Member-onlyThis is What it Feels Like to Be Triggered While Going About Your DayHow a random podcast landed a blow I never saw coming — Content warning: sexual assault, emotional neglect I love podcasts. True crime is my favorite genre, but I stray into news, mental health, and entrepreneurial podcasts pretty regularly. Every once in a while, I crave something new and dive headfirst into a random podcast just to switch it up. If I…Mental Health7 min readMental Health7 min read