personal essay

personal essay

coming out

Relearning How To Dress Myself From The Closet I Came Out Of

I feel the need to do something to the outside of my body to mark the tremendous shift I’ve experienced inside — to somehow match my inner self to my…

Katrina —

Apr 5, 2018

olympics

personal essay

sports

Broom Broom Pow Is Queer Culture (Or How I Fell In Love With Curling)

You know what sport doesn’t get nearly enough recognition as a gay sport? CURLING.

Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya —

Mar 27, 2018

camping

education

first person

Carrying Heavy Shit: Teaching and Unteaching Gender in the Wilderness

“There’s an easily accessible narrative in wilderness travel, to pretend we’re living outside of society, and to strive to create a better version of it. The temptation to argue that…

Renee —

Mar 27, 2018

family

hair and beauty

first person

My Absurd Skincare Routine Is the Softest I Am to Myself

Sometimes being queer and black, bisexual and biracial, feels like contradiction, like too many things, and sometimes I’m not sure that I’d recognize myself if I walked by.

Rachel —

Feb 23, 2018

personal essay

first person

The Good China

“We rarely left the bedroom and when we did, we quickly returned. We called in to work and on one occasion we both no showed. It was heavenly, but as…

dondress —

Feb 20, 2018

butch

fullscreen

first person

Wherever West Is

“Loving women and loving the land are the two things I told myself I would never do, and somehow, they got all tangled up in each other.”

Jeanna —

Feb 8, 2018

christianity

personal essay

first person

Bad Religion

“Here was a community where race apparently didn’t matter, because we were all humans, made in the image of God. Where a pacifist, sensitive, caring Jesus was the primary male…

Abbie Jones —

Jan 23, 2018

country music

personal essay

first person

I Hated Country Music Until I Met Lena

“Who was this country-music-loving New Englander? I both hated and loved that she seemed to be playing this garbage as if to impress me.”

Cassie Pruyn —

Jan 9, 2018

personal essay

winter fashion

queer fashion

The Ghosts of Winter Coats Past

What does a winter coat say about the time in your life when you wore it?

Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya —

Jan 2, 2018

personal essay

writing

first person

How to Dismantle Your Imposter Syndrome One Episode of <em>Murder She Wrote</em> at a Time

Before Angela Lansbury told women they were partly to blame for sexual assault, she helped me with my imposter syndrome.

Aisha —

Dec 18, 2017

fullscreen

personal essay

first person

Judging Tonya

“By the end of the 1994 Winter Olympics, I was 12 years old and quite certain I’d picked the right side.”

Sally —

Dec 8, 2017

personal essay

first person

The Time I Lesbianfiltrated My Mother’s Straight Book Club

LGBTQ representation in literature is important. Also, chicken picatta is delicious.

Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya —

Nov 30, 2017