“What is the matter?” the narrator’s husband asks in one of the last paragraphs of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, The Yellow Wallpaper. It’s the first time he asks his wife what is wrong. But by that point, it’s too late. You see, no one likes a mad woman. And in the end of The Yellow Wallpaper (*spoilers*) our female narrator ends up quite mad. But she also takes back her own power and, in a way, her freedom.  When Taylor Swift released folklore in July 2020, listeners got a few more glimpses into the painful battle for her masters that was coupled alongside the heartbreaking b ..read more

All right, buckle up, it’s been over a year since I last posted and that last post was (you guessed it) also about Taylor Swift. I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while, but felt embarrassed/ashamed to write it. “All these people think love’s for show” I’ll try to keep it simple: Back in 2016 I developed a theory involving Taylor and one of her exes. I clung to that theory for a long time and wrote thorough posts with all of my evidence (aka confirmation bias). The last one I wrote was as recent as last summer, though, that one strays a bit. Someone once told me I only became int ..read more

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to Instagram it, does it make a sound? – Taylor Swift, Oct. 2108 A handful of summers back, I found myself on a boat on a large river in northern Idaho. As we motored along the water, someone pointed to a large brown home that sat at the water’s edge with pastures and a beautiful barn. The home had a breathtaking steeple roof, divided by large glass slats—you can just imagine the warmth of the sun streaming into the living space. “Shania Twain lived there.” The pre-teen ghost of my past squealed in my heart, though my exterior just casually said ..read more

When Rebecca Lee Douglas first reached out to me to ask if she could interview me for her podcast, GROUP, my knee-jerk reaction was to politely say “thank you, but no thank you.” I sometimes don’t even answer the phone when it’s people I love, what makes you think I wana jump on a call with a stranger? Listen to our 30min love-chat here! Actually, I don’t even think I responded to her first email. Rebecca Lee Douglas is the founder and producer of the podcast GROUP, which focuses on mental health. She brings experts in and discusses important mental health issues in a relatable, em ..read more

Let’s go back to the lightning bolts. But first, I need to acknowledge how amazing this one theory is and how much it’s helped me put some things in perspective. This beautiful and insightful theory, by Fearlesslove13 & @shesdeads (brought to my attention via Buzzfeed) dove into the idea that the Taylors in the video are not good vs. evil. But instead, she is training. YES YES YES. In their post they say: this means that the darker taylor, the one in the hoodie, represents all of the old taylors, and the media’s perception of them.  she’s the one that recognizes the world is cruel, a ..read more

For the past few weeks it has been hard to breathe. This blog post sharply diverts from the usual theme, tone, and message of my blog. But, as a writer, this is how I try to make sense of what I feel shifting in the air. Thank you, in advance, for reading. I believe a painting is attempting to be crafted right in front of all of us. But just like all great works of art, when you are too close you do not see it for what it is. This? Well this is just a playful splash of red paint. And that? That there is simply a delightful use of black and gray shades. Sometimes we are unable to see clear ..read more

As a lifelong holder of the”maybe you could chill the fuck out a bit” badge I know a thing or two about headaches. I had them on an almost daily basis as a child until one day a dentist looked at my teeth and was like “hey, where are your canine teeth?” (*spoiler alert: I’d ground them away in my sleep like a hobo chewing on roots in the woods trying to talk to birds*). Since then I’ve slept with a mouth guard every night of my life even while camping, even with boyfriends, even while making out sometimes cuz nothing says sexy like excessive saliva. The headaches got better and even thoug ..read more

In my suggested readings section of this site I mention the book “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg. I read this book for the first time in the fall of 2014 and I am still a believer. The gist of this book is: change one habit, change your life. But what if we aren’t even aware of some of our habits? Shit, man, what then? After I first read “The Power of Habit” I literally only changed one habit from my days and by God it worked! For years I had a small novel bouncing around in my head, but hadn’t gotten around to writing it. So the one habit I changed was how I spent my lunch br ..read more

The other night I got mad. Real mad. I came across something online, something someone said about a person I know, and the mama bear in me raged. I wanted to act. I wanted to chase someone up a tree. I had my response and was ready to throw it like a pine cone. Anger is an emotion we all have and we constantly are learning to navigate. I grew up around several individuals who had tempers and therefore I associate anger and being upset as “bad” emotions. I’m still learning how to be better at being mad. It is natural for things to upset us. It is okay for things to upset us. It’s how we handle ..read more

Back in June I started to notice something every time I logged onto Twitter: it made me feel terrible. I would scroll, I would watch, and I would feel so so lost. But I am a blogger. I am a writer. I am expected to “build my brand” as an online presence. I need a “platform.” I need to be conscious of my accessibility, my persona, and my level of likability. I’m supposed to gain copious followers. I’m supposed to prove my popularity by my retweets, my likes, my finger on the pulse of the youth. There is so much potential with social media. And I’m the first to acknowledge that it’s done wo ..read more