Category: Columns

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.

To The Girl in The Mirror

Paakhi Bhatnagar

It is like being skinned, like being slowly unguarded and left in a formidable puddle of my own dearth. I sit on a couch, a sofa, a loveseat, anything to cushion the bone I am about to be. “Let’s undress this sweetheart, we are only here to celebrate nudity.” But, Read more

Paakhi Bhatnagar

Paakhi Bhatnagar is a student from India and an avid reader of historical fiction. She is a passionate feminist and blogs about current politics and feminist issues. She also possess the uncanny ability of turning everything into a debate.

Going to the Chapel

Julie Anderson

The last time I had been there was not for death,but for marriage, vows spoken and witnessed by all That was the last time I saw those faces smiling the last time we laughed the last time we danced, owning the room That was the last time I was serenaded Read more

Julie Anderson

Julie Anderson is the Creator and Publisher of Feminine Collective. Julie was inspired to create this safe place for women to share their secrets, desires, triumphs and pain as the antithesis of what mainstream media offers women today. In her column Pursuit of Perfection, she explores the importance of rectifying the balance of inner and outer beauty through essays, poems and articles on self-esteem, shame, family, and self- acceptance.

Shoeboxes in the Heart

Judith Staff

There are alcoves in our hearts Hollowed and laying vacant, ours to fill Like boxes which new shoes once came in, Now housing old photographs and mementos Stowed far under the bed, wrapped in shadows. Those shoeboxes, dusty-lidded and hushed, just sit Waiting. So are the heart-spaces, unobtrusively holding our Read more

Judith Staff

Judith Staff’s background is in teaching and early years education. She still teaches occasionally, though now her main focus is in child welfare and safeguarding children. Her work includes delivering training, presenting at conferences, and engaging in collaborative projects with schools around child abuse awareness and sexual violence prevention. She enjoys writing blogs and poetry on topics she feels passionate about. Judith loves running, gym classes and karate. She is married to an art lecturer and they live in Northamptonshire, England with their three free-spirited children, a 12- year-old son, and daughters aged 11 and 9.

I Quit, Bitches!

Dave Pasquel

It is fucking impossible to work with Bethany. Instead of being a team player, she’s an ego-driven, self-serving, arrogant, superficial little floozy. She regularly empowers herself to bulldoze over me by hijacking my responsibilities and compromising my professional reputation. In fact, she purposely intimidates everyone on the team by bullying Read more

Mama

Julie Anderson

I know you gave it all away Mama, I know this you don’t have to say it Mama, I know you wanted more, you left your past all by yourself you knew that there was a way Oh, gosh Mama you tried to dig a trench to escape the real Read more

Julie Anderson

Julie Anderson is the Creator and Publisher of Feminine Collective. Julie was inspired to create this safe place for women to share their secrets, desires, triumphs and pain as the antithesis of what mainstream media offers women today. In her column Pursuit of Perfection, she explores the importance of rectifying the balance of inner and outer beauty through essays, poems and articles on self-esteem, shame, family, and self- acceptance.

Chasing the Sun

Jacqueline Cioffa

Don’t look down at your feet The answers won’t magically appear On some tiny telephone screen with videos buzzing megabytes and wasted seconds A billion unknown faces The unfamiliar bizarre millennial Scrolling fast and furious Thunderstorms and lightening threaten Look up and out and dig deep Go ahead look all 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.