White supremacists target woc who love white men — Meghan Markle said in episode 2 of her Archetypes podcast, reports Entertainment Tonight, that she until she began dating Harry, she felt she was treated as a mixed-race woman. When she stepped out with Harry, however, the hatred emerged, and she felt targeted and ID’d as Black. It’s a vulnerable…

The Angry Women of Color in My Life — My mother is the darkest-skinned member of my extended family. She refuses to leave the house without curling her hair into waves more palatable for the white-washed suburbs in which I was raised. She piles on layers of makeup as though it will defend her from my father’s casual emotional…

Miscommunication. Misunderstanding. All Misnomers for the same damn thing. — A man pulls me to the floor. I let him. I am drunk. I have not eaten more than two granola bars in two days. We are in a well-lit area, the floor of a hotel crowded with twentysomethings, Birthright participants like us. I allow the public arena to convince…

Rape killed the best woman I’ve ever known, so no. I’m still not over it. — My friend killed herself, and for the longest time I thought it was my fault. That night, she was drinking. D was always drinking, by then. She drank during the day. She drank all night long. She drank and sometimes she popped pills, but why would I worry about that…

Revisiting The ‘Bad Girl’ of the Biblical Tale of Esther — Queen Esther married Ahashuerus in the ultimate Cinderella story of the Bible. She was chosen from among all the eligible virgins of Shushan, once upon a Biblical time. God made it so because Ahashuerus’ most trusted advisor, Haman, had an evil plan to kill all the Jews. Because Queen Esther…

Dismissing the Stereotypes of Mental Illness — I think I am proud of my personality disorder. I am proud of its origins. I was a child of the kinds of abuse one does not refer to in polite company, even if that company is other writers, storytellers who pour our traumas onto the page in hopes of…

New documentary ‘The Price of Glee’ asks why these young stars had to die — It’s easy to forget how it used to be. Once upon a time, though, Glee was the best new show on television, the cast was young and fresh-faced, and the Hollywood dream seemed well within reach for every “gleek” out there. That was a long time ago, now. Still, I…

The horror story of self-abnegation women write for ourselves — I went to a poetry slam last week at the venue I’ve been going to since I was 19. There, sitting at the bar, pretending to be casually drinking a beer, was C. C had been waiting for me. C, apparently, had decided to plant himself in this space, my…

He insists she is a big lying liar. Will he get away with it? — Pamela Anderson is now defending Tim Allen, because patriarchy reigns supreme and even goddesses must be subject to its whims. Apparently. “I’m sure he had no bad intentions,” she said to Variety via text message. She thinks he was probably just trying to be funny. Sure. It’s funny when the…