Original commentary and analysis columns published by The Real MainStream.
Nancy Johnson’s first novel raises a worthy question about lies, despite leaving characters unexplored, writes Cathy Chavez in her new “Off the Shelf” book review.
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Even good people need to work on healthy apologies and overcoming defensiveness. Alex Kestrel offers some tips In his new “Starting With You” column on self-investment.
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How many times have you made little Tommy give Grandma a hug, or scolded him because he didn’t want to give Aunt Sue a kiss? Or given into that hug at the family barbecue from the creepy neighbor that stopped by, because you didn’t want to seem rude? Remember how it felt when that person grabbed your ass at the bar? Ever been pressured into having sex with someone? These scenarios are all consent violations. I know I am guilty of the first scenario with my own children. It wasn’t until I entered the Leather…
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Asexuality and its spectrum trigger indifference and confusion among both LGBTQ communities and the “heteronormative.”
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With the image of “Veiled Truth” watching us, Joan Altabe examines how resistance to COVID restrictions has affected the arts world.
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We can’t accept constant negative self-talk as normal. We need to decide that it’s a problem to be solved. Self-bullying eats away at us and degrades us. Decreasing negative automatic thoughts, by contrast, has been shown to decrease depression symptoms.
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Dear Lori, I know things are rough right now. I know that every day carries such an overwhelming feeling of dread and confusion. I know you’re afraid to go to school, that you feel sick every morning and think it’s hopeless, like it’s never going to stop hurting. I know it seems like the taunts will never stop, the things other students, even teachers, say to you. Things like “Amazon,” dyke, freak, linebacker, or lezzie. Like they’ll never stop asking you things like, “Why can’t you just stop trying to…
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I have been to quite a few away-from-home events over the last couple of years and often have seen my Leather family posting about their “event drop.” But I’ve never really experienced it. I thought maybe I was broken, or maybe didn’t have my heart in it. Maybe that was why I was completely fine upon returning home from most events, ready to go with house duties, mom duties, work, and “let’s get it done.” This time is different, so very different. This time, I was helping kick off a…
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My sister used to tell me I was “weird.” She’d make fun of me, and I’d go to our mom, in search of a solution. “Stop being so sensitive,” she’d respond. This would have been a perfect opportunity for my parents to teach me conflict resolution and communication skills, but that’s not what happened. My parents didn’t have their own skills of emotional regulation, so they weren’t capable of teaching those skills to me. In my family, good communication skills and emotional literacy were hard to come by. My parents…
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Increasing minimum wage won’t help workers. But it will increase prices, especially for items that those very workers consume. For those people making minimum wage, their real costs of living will stay about the same. But when their salary doubles because of minimum wage, so will the cost of everything they consume. Consider my straightforward reasoning, using the example of a fast food worker making a cheeseburger. A cheeseburger made by someone earning $15 an hour costs more than a cheeseburger made by someone earning $7.25 an hour. The only…
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