i write because

I Write Because…

This article is part of Erin Harding’s Writerly Link Up series.

Writerly

I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. It sounds pretty pretentious, but asking me why I do what I do is like asking me why I breathe; I’ve been doing it for too long to stop now. That isn’t to say I don’t love writing. I do! But figuring out exactly why I do this thing requires a lot of soul-searching. For my first Writerly Link Up post, I  dug deep inside and found fourteen reasons why I write. Continue reading

Writing for the Soul: Overcoming Minor Bouts of Depression

I don’t often write poetry. It isn’t that I dislike it; I’m actually quite a fan. It’s just that the only time I ever feel like writing poetry is when I need to alleviate a great weight of emotion. It’s like writing for the soul. I don’t often write it because it’s like opening my chest cavity or my legs up to a stranger. Having my poetry read is an intimate experience I find difficult to share. Continue reading

Signs of Adulthood: The Second Puberty That Is Your 20s

The Millennial Generation are redefining what it means to be an adult; this is not wholly intentional. Rather, it is largely the culmination of social and economic factors working against Millennial independence. In young adulthood, we are the best-educated generation, but student debt makes the few households we head less likely to thrive. Perhaps as a consequence of this, Millennials are less likely to marry, or are—to rephrase—more likely to delay marriage; according to one Pew study, “marriage today is more prevalent among those with higher incomes and more education.” Because we marry later or not at all, Millennial women are more likely to give birth out of wedlock, although we generally do so at later ages than women from previous generations. Denied and eschewing the milestones that defined growing up in previous decades, the Millennial Generation have been forced to develop new trends and signs of adulthood, which follow or run tandem to the experience of a second puberty in their twenties. Continue reading

Stop Trying to Cheer Me Up: Why Websites for Pregnant Women Should Include Those Who Don’t Want Children

There are huge chasms between the experiences of childless Millennials and mothers, and nowhere are these gaps more apparent than on the Internet. Websites for pregnant women draw thousands to discuss conception, pregnancy, and motherhood, while excluding women who don’t want children. There is a new culture war waging between these two communities, but they have more in common than they think. It’s time they came together and stopped with all the bullshit. Continue reading

Social Responsibility in the Digital Age: Sex Crimes, Jennifer Lawrence, and Rape Culture

Over the Labor Day weekend, while average US citizens were watching college football, cooking out, and enjoying the extra day away from work and school, a vile crime was committed against members of a particular group, who are, every day, simultaneously worshiped and reviled. At this point, it’s probably old news to you, but I’ll tell you the mainstream gist of it all: Jennifer Lawrence is now naked on the Internet. Continue reading