This experience made me think about how I use my own privilege. Do I eliminate obstacles for others or do I take the easier route of deferring to the status quo? In the last decade I have increasingly sought to educate myself about the biased power structures in our society. I’d like to consider myself […]
Most experts now agree that a combination of genetic, socioeconomic, and environmental factors can all lead to obesity, yet too many doctors are still treating it as an issue of willpower. TW: eating disorders, fat shaming In 2009, I was struck by a mysterious stomach pain that effectively put my life on hold. I lost […]
Ask any woman about her experiences with pain and the healthcare industry, and you’re likely to hear stories like mine. It was only an hour after I took the first antibiotic pill for a sinus infection that I knew something was wrong. I was lying on the couch reading when I suddenly had the urge […]
We’re living in a time when women should be able to control what happens to their bodies, but that isn’t always the case. My mom still gets mad when she talks about the birth of my older brother, even though it’s been many years. Her face gets red and her hand gestures get bigger and bigger […]
Dear Dana is a bi-weekly advice column for humans who engage in romantic relationships. Please send your dilemmas, issues, conundrums, assumptions, conflicts, anxieties, worriments, obstacles, complications, predicaments, queries, questions, and any other synonyms for “problems” to deardana@rolereboot.org. Dear Dana, I’ve been married for five years, and my husband and I were together five years before that. […]
All these years after my father’s death, I’m still trying to figure out the nuances of the relationship I had with him, and what made him tick. It’s been six years since my father died. When he got sick with pneumonia in March 2009, we thought he would bounce back, even though the changes in […]
While my college and grad school friends tried to get pieces published and establish their careers, I played with my IV lines idly and watched the faces of the other women as they had mini consultations with our doctor. I was 23, and a newly minted Master of Fine Arts, when I left my family […]
The goal should not be to steel myself; not to cage my body in armor, but to surround myself with padding and supports. It always starts the same way: Just when I think I’m fine, the rushing in my ears begins, as though I’m swept up in a strong wind. Lost at the end of […]
I, too, championed the Breast is Best philosophy, but what happens when what’s best for most isn’t an option for some? He came early. It wasn’t time yet. I hadn’t even shaved my legs. Keeping with the tradition of the second child treatment, we also hadn’t purchased a thing. What size would he be anyway? […]
This originally appeared on Overland.org. Republished here with permission. The process of dying isn’t always about the patient, it’s about their loved ones. Nine months ago my mom asked me to buy an axe and chop her head off. I joked with her. Told her it would be a messy way to go. She was […]
