personal essay

personal essay

sobriety

first person

The Freest Bird in the Cage

The women I kiss like to drink red wine, and I drink them in. I taste red wine and I move past it; my deliverance lies elsewhere.

Molly Priddy —

Sep 7, 2017

fullscreen

personal essay

coming out

Mastering the Art of Coming Out (and Making Lobster Bisque)

“I decided to make lobster bisque for my mom at the same moment I decided to come out to her. Only one of those things went according to plan.”

Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya —

Aug 14, 2017

fullscreen

immigrant

first person

Confessions of An Undocumented African Immigrant

“I couldn’t afford to go home, but it was common knowledge among the many international students that, technically, one could remain in the country beyond the visa validity period as…

Guest —

Aug 2, 2017

personal essay

love + sex

All My Exes Live in Brooklyn

“They were a union organizer and liked to throw themed parties (for example: Naked Brunch). One time I bought Gap jeans and they called me a capitalist pig dog. They…

Maree —

Jul 5, 2017

Alternative Lifestyle Haircuts

greatest hits

first person

I Never Meant for My Hair to Be the Way Back to the Lighthouse

“I thought changing something on the outside would change the wrecked ruin of me on the inside. I thought somehow the inside would get a memo from my outside and…

A. Tony Jerome —

May 11, 2017

Lesbian Musicians & Queer Female Artists

personal essay

music

Hello, Goodbye: From Faking My Taste for Crushes to Falling in Love with Music for Real

Then I met Summer, a junior counselor at the Christian summer camp I went to between sixth and seventh grade. Summer wore a different band shirt almost every day: Rolling…

Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya —

Apr 12, 2017

feelings rookie

mental health

first person

Feelings Rookie: Hopping Off the Plane at L.A.X. With a Dream and a Cardigan

Fitting into Los Angeles wasn’t going to happen for me. Or so I thought, until I stopped trying.

Molly Priddy —

Apr 11, 2017

masturbation

personal essay

sex

How My Dad’s Dirty Magazines Shaped My Queer Sexuality

My dad’s motorcycle magazines weren’t inherently pornographic; they were mostly actually about motorcycles. But beautiful, scantily clad women were pictured posing on them. And those women became an obsession.

Dayna Troisi —

Apr 6, 2017

donald trump

greatest hits

first person

We’ll Have Sex Again, I Promise

The joke was that we had to have sex before the election, because if Donald Trump won, I never wanted to be touched again. It was a joke. A joke.

Heather Hogan —

Mar 30, 2017

feelings rookie

mental health

tv feature

Feelings Rookie: How Teri Polo Made Me Cry in 4.5 Minutes

“Four-and-a-half minutes was all it took to throw me back into this huge river of feeling, and it was exhilarating and rewarding and made me feel light and warm in…

Molly Priddy —

Mar 28, 2017

audre lorde

personal essay

first person

Line Breaks for Resistance: How Black Poetry Lets Us Rescue Ourselves

If Alice Walker once said “hard times require furious dancing,” then hard times call for reading poetry, particularly black poets. Follow zaynab’s journey in reconnecting with black poetry as a…

zaynab shahar —

Mar 27, 2017

personal essay

sex

Community, Care, and a Femme Sex Coven

“It was everything I had been looking for, only better, because it came along with smooching and cuddling and spanking.”

Courtney —

Mar 23, 2017