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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“I didn’t recognize you at first.” I had just walked into my first period when I was greeted by the confused stare of a classmate I’d known for over a year. He, apparently, didn’t recognize me without makeup. “Are you sick?” In my natural state, I look ill. I am pale, and I am veiny. […]
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Keegan Allen is a 30-year-old actor/singer/songwriter, but most importantly, he is a photographer. (You may recognize him from Pretty Little Liars, in which he plays the controversial but always kind character Toby). He may have lots of experience and fame with his other talents, but it is his photography that sticks with him every day […]
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and there are days where i make love to myself. after years of counted calories, guilted binges, and hopeful purges, this $5 coral mirror is now where self-love is made. dilated eyes, chills, and butterflies: this is progress. i am unconventionally gorgeous. this is not arrogance; this is forgiveness at its most raw. knock softly. […]
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“Excuse me, but can I take a picture with you?” All three of us spun around. My family and I were roaming the streets of Italy when a podgy, quinquagenarian tourist decked in a straw hat with a DSLR slung across his neck posed this query. “Sorry, who?” my dad probed. The man’s friends laughed […]
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Each morning I hid the girl I saw in the mirror — the girl that no one else saw but me. She was me in the natural state, with ratted hair, smelling breath, and a bare face. I covered her up with makeup to make her beautiful. I layered on a facial primer, foundation, and […]
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she had pretty beyond the skin past the flesh through thick blood right to the bone ………her bones even cracked ………with flowers.
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the fog is spitting straws of sunlight, the edges crisp like blades. sister’s hair is bouncing like waves as you run down the dock, the board swerving like drunk lungs, breath intoxicated. the night is painting the sky hues of desperation and angst. the waves start lamenting its heartache again, sings songs of lust and […]
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To be frank, it deeply saddens me to see how few people have truly accepted themselves. As an advocate of positivity, natural-body positivity is a part of that. I believe it is extremely important (especially as a woman) to take the time to learn to accept the skin you’re in. As women in today’s society, we […]
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