Category: Women’s Issues + Awareness

Turn Your Life into the Best Story You’ve Ever Read

Amy Oestreicher

Shopping lists, to-do lists, packing lists — lists are an easy way for busy people to retain information.  Of all places, I found myself making the most lists in the hospital.  And of all kinds of lists (after a surgery that went terribly wrong) I found myself creating a gratitude list.  I’d Read more

Amy Oestreicher

Amy is a PTSD peer-to-peer specialist, artist, author, speaker for RAINN, writer for The Huffington Post, award-winning health advocate, actress and playwright eagerly sharing the lessons learned from trauma through her writing, performance, art and speaking.. In 2012, she wrote, directed and starred in a one woman musical about her life, Gutless & Grateful, touring theatres across the country for three years, and earning rave reviews and accolades since it’s BroadwayWorld Award-nominated NYC debut. As a visual artist, her art has been featured in esteemed galleries solo exhibitions, and her mixed media workshops emphasize creativity as an essential mindset. Amy’s “beautiful detour” inspired her to create the #LoveMyDetour movement, a social media campaign inspiring people to flourish because of, rather than in spite of challenges. Recipient of the Great Comebacks Award. Her Washington Post and On Being with Krista Tippet, and is a regular contributor for numerous publications including Elite Daily, The Mighty, Indie Chicks and Career Girl Daily. Her story has appeared on the TODAY Show, CBS, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen Magazine, among others. Amy's passion for the arts as a means of healing and expression led her to devise storytelling workshops for the Transformative Language Arts Network National Conference, the Eating Recovery Center Foundation, and The League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling. Determined to bridge the gap of communication between wellness resources on college campuses and students, Amy is currently touring college campuses with a program combining mental health advocacy, sexual assault awareness and Broadway Theatre. For information on keynote presentations, private coaching, workshops and signature talkbacks, visit amyoes.com.

Cosby’s Indirect Impact on Pop Culture and Why it’s Still No Excuse

Drew Sheldon

Every time I hear about a celebrity behaving badly, I have a great struggle. A good friend of mine does a lot of set and prop work for movies and TV shows. He has encountered a large number of celebrities and has a very low opinion of most of them Read more

Drew Sheldon

Drew Sheldon is a feminist, disabled veteran, PTSD sufferer, and adoring cat dad. He watched a lot of television in the 1980's and remembers most of it fondly. He blogs about his personal journey of discovery and improvement at www.swmseeks.wordpress.com.

5 Things to Consider Before You Hit SEND

Amy Ferrari

We have all been there … been so pissed that you see red. So mad that you are going to tell that S-O-B what you really think so you blurt it all out there to youareajerk@ihateyou.com Today I was the recipient of just that sort of email (or text) that never, Read more

Amy Ferrari

I am a proud mother of 2 children. One is a College Freshman; the other is a high school sophomore. My fiance Jeff has rounded out my corners and always can put a smile on my face and in my heart. I am a reformed dance-mom and swim-mom thanks to my daughter. (I can’t believe I will miss those days!) Currently, I am a hockey-mom, cross country-mom, and tennis mom thanks to my son. (I love a good Cowbell!!!) I am a Physical Therapist, and I am proud to say that I recently finished my doctorate in Physical Therapy. I feel blessed to work with the students at my local school district, ranging in age and grade level, they all have developmental challenges. I love it! Working in a profession that is both challenging and rewarding has kept me on my toes and eager for more. I have done so many different things and helped many different people along the way! I am an avid gardener, handy girl, family gal and holiday hostess! Hosting holiday get-togethers seems to be my niche. I love to travel, hike and cruise the sea shore. On my bucket list: I would like to get into teaching college-level courses in Physical Therapy. I would also like to clean my basement and garage. But not today.

What a Late-Night Stop at a Gas Station Taught Me About Rape Culture

Sarahbeth Caplin Stoneburner

“Are you sure it’s not too late to drive home?” Josh asked. “You can sleep on the couch if you want.” By my standards, 10:30 PM wasn’t that late. But the drive was an hour long, and I needed to get up early the next morning for my internship. I kissed Read more

Sarahbeth Caplin Stoneburner

Sarahbeth Caplin is an author, blogger, and editor living in northern Colorado. She has a degree in English Literature from Kent State University and is working on an MA in Creative Writing at Colorado State. Her new novel, A Stunning Accusation, is published by Booktrope and is available on Amazon. She blogs at www.sbethcaplin.com and tweets @SbethCaplin.

Homeless: Tongue and Groove

Jacqueline Cioffa

I am the crazed lady, barefoot and blistered. The annoying pebbles and gritty gravel burrow deep inside the open crevices and souls of my naked feet. I own nothing. I wear tattered, ripped dirty dollar store hand-me-down jeans and some tossed aside beige stained football hoodie. I recall some arguing Read more

Jacqueline Cioffa

A retired, international model, and celebrity makeup artist. Co-Author of Model Citi Zen, the guide. Founder of http://modelcitizenmakeup.blogspot.com/. Author of numerous prose pieces in various literary magazines. Most recently published in Little Episodes Brainstorms the anthology, among esteemed artists Sadie Frost, Melvin Burgess and Todd Swift.

The Real Amelia Earhart

Erin Davis

When Amelia Earhart disappeared near Howland Island in 1937, she had no way of knowing that her legacy would be her disappearance and not her life. We have celebrated the wrong Earhart, a woman who disappeared at sea when we should have been celebrating who she truly was: a woman Read more

Erin Davis

After flying her uncle’s Cessna 172 as a little girl Erin Davis realized she had no other choice but to walk around Everett, Washington staring in the sky watching airplanes until she was older and could become a pilot. Thankfully, after years of successfully avoiding peril while walking in such manner, the 20-year-old young woman now studies in the Aviation Sciences program at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. She uses her private pilot license to artfully dodge marriage proposals and to plan on becoming the youngest female to circumnavigate the globe. Erin Davis, Aviator can be found on her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If you would like to contribute to her historic flight around the world you can do so at her CrowdRise.

Why I am a Feminist (and other men should be too)

John Michael Antonio

It was wintertime 1974 in Cincinnati, Ohio and I was 11 years old, holding my mom’s trembling hand as we were walking up and down the sidewalks of our neighborhood. Tears were in her eyes, born out of a fear of how she was going to feed her two youngest Read more

John Michael Antonio

John Michael Antonio is a freelance writer, photographer, poet and screenwriter. He claims his Midwestern roots while at the same time admitting his incurable and insatiable love and addiction for all things New York City. He has been the husband to his wife, the love of his life, for almost thirty years and is a father of three wonderful children. He is an unapologetic male feminist as well as a passionate lover of fashion, art, movies and music from all eras and genres. An endless dreamer, John Michael is also an avid historian, ex-punk rocker and a legendary Internet surfer who sleeps, on average, about four hours a day. His work has also been featured on The Good Men Project.

How Guatemalan Women are Weaving their Way Out of Poverty

Margret Avery

I have often heard or read about someone who says they wish that they could make a difference in the world, but they are just one person, so what can they do? Plenty, is what my answer would be. Let’s look at Ruth DeGoglia who had the idea in college Read more

Margret Avery

Margret Avery expresses her talents through being a singer / songwriter / actor / writer and poet. She has also worked as a freelance makeup artist with her work gracing the pages of many editorial and commercial publications. The passion to express through song led to her writing and continues to grow with equal tenacity. Margret has contributed as a writer to Suite101, Women’s Voices for Change and now proudly for Feminine Collective. Margret’s writing is included in Feminine Collective: Raw and Unfiltered Vol 1 and that makes her smile on a daily basis. Her music can be heard on Spotify, Pandora, CDbaby, Soundcloud, Reverbnation and NumberoneMusic.