Reclaiming the power (and pain) our complexion has on us “Ewww! Your epidermis is showing!” I can still see those three saucy girls approaching me and every other vocabulary-challenged kid on the blacktop during elementary school recess. Such good actresses they were, each one wrinkling up her face in disgust to sell their ruse and […]
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Saying high school and teenage life is rough is an understatement. As articles in Germ Magazine attest, high school is an awkward period that can be quite challenging to endure. In so many cases, it’s not at all like the perfectly curated images and videos you often see online, as many of us struggle with […]
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Modern media typically portrays high school as a very special phase in a person’s life, but the industry does not usually show the entire picture. For many people, high school was a mostly awkward period that they had to endure. In many cases, it’s far from the images that you see in movies or magazines. […]
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For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to be pretty. What “pretty” meant was a mystery to me. In some ways it still remains a mystery to me. In the eyes of many African and Asian girls, “pretty” entails Eurocentric features: lighter pigmentation, lighter eye colour, a narrow nose—everything that has […]
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Two truths and a lie… When I was seven, a man said I would eventually go crazy. My mom used to tell me: I love you, but right now I don’t like you. A teacher told me that I’m smart but intellectually lazy. Figured out the lie yet? It’s impossible to know without knowing me, […]
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Most of us do a good job faking false smiles when there are really just frowns underneath. Our social masks pretend that we aren’t offended. We also boast steel hearts, laughing with the group that apparently jokes about us smack dab in our face. A new sunshine and most of us forget yesterday to pursue […]
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I have a certain memory from years ago that I can’t seem to shake. A friend one day wore a pink shirt paired with a long green skirt – an unusual but nice combination. It definitely caught your eye. A mutual friend went in for a hug, and with a smile he said, “You look […]
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When heaven gave out locks before my debut as a newborn, my angel on the assembly line must have gotten distracted and given me five times the normal allotment. Perhaps he or she had skipped breakfast. It happens. My mane is not your normal girl’s hair, with its unenviable coarse, horsetail texture, curly frizz on […]
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I’m fat. I always have been, and, honestly, I probably always will be. My jeans make a very specific “swishy” sound when my thighs rub together, and there are parts of me that resemble cottage cheese. Before you jump to conclusions, let me expand a little more. I’m fairly healthy, I have no chronic illnesses, […]
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