Category: Women’s Issues + Awareness

When I Was Young

Jacqueline Cioffa

If I could tell that young girl anything, I would tell her that no matter what horrific obstacles life throws at her, no matter the lowest depths of pain and insanity, or the highest highs, she’d manage somehow. No matter if she was rich or poor, single, famous, divorced, abused, 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.

I am a Mother

Marsha Owens

sick of this shit, white men and their bible blather, pathetic tough talk, grinning chins lifted as if they float above the scum they swim in. I am a mother listening to mournful sobs of a thousand children and more with bellies empty, these babies, their cries of pain and Read more

Marsha Owens

Marsha is a retired educator who lives and writes in Richmond VA. Her favorite quote for these troubled times: “Take your broken heart and turn it into art.” (Meryl Streep) Her work has been published at NewVerseNews, The Wild Word, and Life in 10 Minutes. #Resist

More than a Mouthful: How the Breastaurant Industry Feeds America’s Appetite for Exploitation

Michelle Riddell

I hereby acknowledge and affirm that (1) my job duties require I wear the designated Hooters Girl uniform; (2) my job duties require that I interact with and entertain the customers; and (3) the Hooters concept is based on female sex appeal and the work environment is one in which Read more

Michelle Riddell

Born and raised in Detroit, Michelle Riddell now lives with her family in rural mid-Michigan where she happily braves her husband’s penchant for DIY projects and her daughter’s passion for wildlife-as-indoor-pets. Her publishing credits include Motherwell Magazine, Scary Mommy, Parent.Co, and The Good Men Project. In addition to being a reviewing editor at Mothers Always Write, Michelle is a substitute teacher at her daughter’s elementary school where she tries very hard not to embarrass her. Find her on Twitter @MLRiddell.

Don’t Box Me In

Jacqueline Cioffa

I understand you. The unlucky, the unwanted, the misfits, the downtrodden. The middles, the lower class, the majority. I have been the underdog, the stigma, and the less desirable. I have been locked up, and it the lowest, most terrifying depths of despair. I have been locked up for my 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.

FEMININITY

Rayanne Esparza

Tick tock The hands on a clock Move slower for the worker For the female Who gets paid lower Wages upon checkbook pages I spend all my time Just to earn a 9 pennies and Two dimes Less than the average man Women Shouldn’t have to carry brass knuckles And Read more

Rayanne Esparza

My name is Rayanne Esparza, and I am 21 years old. As I grew older, I developed an interest in women's rights, mental illness, and being an advocate for people that have no voice, and I chose to express my opinion in poetic form. As societal issues become more prominent, I will rise up, and shine through in my poetry.

Someone Like Me

Dr. Dannii Cohen

If you think having a role model and seeing people who are like you when you are growing up is not essential, you are wrong. The power of the media is strong and whatever the message is you receive when you grow up is the one that can either help Read more

Dr. Dannii Cohen

Dannii Cohen is a former stand-up comedian and comedy writer turned author, psychologist, professional counselor, life coach and self-help expert. She is specialized in LGBT issues, anxiety, women’s issues, female empowerment, and bullying. Dannii is an agony aunt for The Gay UK. Her books; When Clouds Hide The Sun, Christopher The Lonely Bear and 50 Things To Know To Have A Better Life, are all on Amazon.

How I Became a Citizen of the United States of America

Victoria Addesso

My parents had sex; nine months later I was born. My citizenship is a result of dumb luck. I did not work for it or yearn for it. I did not have to struggle to get to this country. Citizenship was a gift. I have not felt the burn of bigotry Read more

Victoria Addesso

Vicki Addesso has worked in various fields over the years, full-time and part-time. In between family life and bill-paying endeavors, she works at writing. Co-author of the collaborative memoir Still Here Thinking of You~A Second Chance With Our Mothers (Big Table Publishing, 2013), she has had work published in Gravel Magazine, Barren Magazine, The Writer, Sleet Magazine, Damselfly Press, Feminine Collective, and Tweetspeak Poetry. A personal essay is included in the anthology My Body My Words, edited by Loren Kleinman and Amye Archer. You can follow Vicki on Twitter @VickiAddesso.

Mothers Intuition

Jesse Albatrosov

It’s the feeling of afternoon storms rolling in pale skies dimpled with stretch marks, lights dim as the rooms of stone castles in fantasies, smoke lingering from candles dragged gingerly through narrow halls. You can taste the moisture as it moves, tentative cool, dewy probes enveloping your skin and swallowing Read more

Jesse Albatrosov

Jesse is an emerging poet living and writing in the Central Florida area, with her husband and five children. She moonlights as a seamstress for her Etsy shop and is currently working toward her Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and English with a concentration on Poetry. Her work is published or forthcoming in THAT Literary Review, Black Fox Literary Magazine, Mothers Always Write, Press 53's Prime Number Magazine, Streetlight Magazine and others. You can find her online at www.jessealbatrosov.com or on social media.