Stay Alive

I am gender nonconforming. I tried writing this blogpost over and over again in different ways, starting with different stories, taking different tones, but in the end I just needed to say it. I have never felt the categories of "male" or "female" fully encapsulated who I am. As a child, I idolized Amelia Earhart, …

A Long Walk Home

So I've been thinking about this post for a long time. Since way before the trip began. What does it mean to be a (relatively) young woman (?) traveling alone in 2018? I have always loved exploring on my own, but in the past it has always been within the context of a group. I'd …

Modern Horror for the Modern Woman

A short story by Laura A. Freymiller I first noticed it under my bed a few months ago, but who knows how long it was there before. It was small at first. I only found it because of the bump. It was about midnight, and I was tossing and not sleeping as I tend to do when Charley is out …

Laura’s Nth Cat-Call

Remember back in the day, back when I had never been cat-called? Ah, simpler times. It's been about a year since then, and now I've stopped keeping count. From the simple, "Hey there, beautiful" to the more complex "pulls-car-over-to-the-side-of-the-road-to-yell-that-he-'wants-to-get-to-know-me'" there is an infinite variety to the cat-call. A subtle nuance to the ways in which …

Here’s Why There Ought to Be a Cap on Men in the Government

I recently read "Here's Why There Ought to Be a Cap on Women Studying Science and Maths" by a really swell guy named Milo. (Fun facts: he also wrote something called "How I Forced Glamour Magazine to Say I'm Not a White Supremacist", so you know he's a keeper.) Inspired as usual by white men …

Poem from Women’s March

There's been a lot of discussion about the Women's March and its purpose and its controversy and I support that. I'm still thinking about exactly what and how I fit into this movement. I know I need to be a part of it, that I must be a part of it, but I also cannot …

Why I Am Marching

The past few months I haven't been writing. I've made vague scratches at the page, but nothing felt like enough. Donald Trump is nothing new. He is only the concentrated epitome of racism, sexism, classism, and xenophobia that has long held our country in its claws. His rise to power, however, has granted the more …

Who Controls the Narrative: Thoughts on Being a Woman, Luke Cage, and the Presidential Election

*I was working on this before the election and I wish I had published it back then, but I hope it'll still be relevant.* **Content warning: discussion of sexual violence** Narratives are what we tell ourselves to make sense of a disparate and confusing universe. Narratives have power. Narratives shape reality, our sense of identity, …

Why Everyone EVERYONE Needs to Vote for Hillary Clinton

Friends, I have kept silent this election, mostly in stunned bewilderment. I thought it was funny at first, that this hateful peach of a man was running for presidency. Yes, I laughed at the farce of it, at the way it pointed out the flaws in our political system. Yes, the corruption, yes, the humor. …

Deconstructing Sexual Assault

Content Warnings: Discussion of sexual assault and discussion of mental health issues. Just watched The Hunting Ground the other day. I am so inspired by the people, especially the women, who were a part of this project. I am so humbled by the strength of all the survivors who came forward, and so thankful to …