I grew up playing team sports, and I don’t know where I’d be or who I’d be today without them. A crowd gathers at the airport outpost of a local brewery at Boston Logan. Leaning against rollerboards, strangers marvel together. It’s 4-0, 16 minutes in. A sign spotted behind the net reads “Let’s Party Like It’s 1999.” […]
I decided to stop feeling guilty about being a “bad homemaker” and just own the homemaker that I am. So, I hired a housecleaning service, and then, in true Millennial navel-gazing fashion, I had an existential meltdown about what it says about me that I hired a housecleaning service. And because I’m a woman who […]
Let’s say there’s only one person in a given audience who is bothered by “guys,” is that person’s opinion worth me selecting another word? You bet it is. It costs me nothing and I made the space incrementally safer for one person. Yesterday at work, I did 30 push-ups while wearing a dress. Yes, I am […]
My life doesn’t look the way that she thought women’s lives should look—no husband, no children, an unkempt house, and a penchant for oversharing on the Internet—but is she proud of me? For a while now, I’ve been writing a eulogy for my grandmother. I don’t know when, or even if, I’ll ever give it. […]
The sooner we admit that nobody builds anything on their own, the sooner we fairly recognize the work of women, and anyone else crushing it behind the scenes. It’s been an interesting week in my office. I recently learned that we employ a company to come in and take care of our plants. While I’m plugging […]
For those of us lucky enough to have the engaged kind, the ever-present kind, sometimes the step-parent label, so wrapped in stereotype and qualification, doesn’t quite fit. I am turning 27 next week and my Facebook feed is predictably overflowing with engagement rings, bridal white, and blurry sonograms. While some friends prepare to take on […]
It was a rough year in gender and race, but there were a few bright spots. Oof, what a terrible year. Ebola. ISIS. Boko Haram. The murders of Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and so many others. If you visit CNN’s “What Stories Got You Talking in 2014” page, it’s a veritable cornucopia of the […]
As 2014 comes to an end, we want to thank you for being part of the Role Reboot community, sharing so many interesting stories and perspectives with us, challenging us, and supporting us. Before the new year begins, we wanted to took a look back and share with you 10 of our top pieces from […]
Friendships often start by accident, but they are maintained on purpose. It is winter in Chicago, when the pigeons and humans congregate under the inadequate glow of the train platform heaters, when friends and strangers alike are identified only by the bridge of a nose and the bottom edge of an eyebrow, when the beginning […]
I’m 190 pounds, and wanted to be able to tell people I did it. I like being one of those big women who confounds expectations. I like twisting myself into a pretzel at yoga, leaning into an arm balance, attempting, though often failing, to lift gracefully into an inversion. I don’t mind that my belly rolls […]
If we didn’t already judge women for how they dressed every day of the year, maybe Halloween wouldn’t feel like such a pressure cooker for the intersection of shame and exhibitionism. Oh the Halloween lists I could write! 17 Intersectional Non-Appropriating Feminist Costumes 10 Sex-Positive But Not Slutty* But Still Cute* But Not Trying-to-Hard* Costumes (*What […]
Chill out, ladies, “the system” has got you covered. When newly appointed Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was asked his advice for women seeking promotion or a raise, he said, to a conference hall packed to the rafters with thousands of technically brilliant and ambitious women, “It’s not really about asking for a raise, but knowing and […]
