How many times do you need to say “Hey” before you realize she’s not answering? — This morning, as I was scrolling through my Facebook feed over coffee, I stumbled upon one of my many groups. I won’t name it, but the group features women talking about rude, creepy, or just plain annoying encounters they have with men. …

Let’s have an honest chat about nicotine addiction. — I smoked my first cigarette at age 11. A girl in my class with a bad reputation quietly passed me one of her cigarettes at school. I kept it hidden in my pocket for the rest of the day, occasionally letting my fingers gloss over it just to make sure…

Can we please just leave people’s bodies alone? — As I was scrolling through my Medium feed, I got a suggested article from the author Victoria Suzanne. To summarize, she talks about a rude comment someone made on a fashion page about thin people. …

Fun conversation spaces… or bullying enablers? — If you have been on Facebook in the last few years, you have probably seen what are known as tag groups. These Facebook groups have names that are intended to make a standalone statement. For example: if you stumble across a long text post that makes liberal use of emojis…

Being poor or working-class affects more than your bank account. — As I’ve mentioned previously, being poor or working-class can affect your life in a lot of ways. Sometimes this can manifest in obvious ways, like not having health insurance or putting up with classism. …

Plus an idea on what to do if you dislike them. — A little over a month ago, an article from popular author Jessica Wildfire popped up on my feed. To summarize: she defended so-called “doom and gloom” writing on the grounds that these types of articles are a means for people to commiserate about the not-great aspects of life. Yeah, yeah……

Is so-called “Rainbow Capitalism” a sign of progress… or an attempt to capitalize on good intentions? — It’s officially June, which means two things to me: (a) my birthday is coming up at the end of the month, and (b) people will be incessantly complaining about Pride Month. I’m not just talking about the haters, though they are certainly part of it. Since anti-LGBT types are incapable…

It isn’t always what you think. — We've all been in this situation: you reach out to someone but never hear back. It is never fun to be on the receiving end of silence, but for some of us, this is anxiety-provoking. Remembering the advice from a past therapist, I started unpacking these emotions a while back…

It is what it is. — These days, I can’t log onto Medium without seeing posts expressing displeasure over low views and/or low payout. I empathize with other authors’ frustration — I’m not going to pretend like I haven’t felt the same frustration myself during a slow month. However, at the risk of being a Pollyanna…