Category: Featured

When My Best Friend Accuses Me of Being Normal

Jessica Rinker

I’ve gone through phases when I’ve wanted to appear normal. I wore properly pasteled clothes from Lands End, drove a mini-van, attended mom and me classes, bought the right snacks for soccer practice, made Halloween costumes by hand, went to the mall in regular intervals. Actually all that makes me Read more

Jessica Rinker

Jessica M. Rinker received her MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2014 and is a freelance writer and editor as well as a reading teacher for the Institute of Reading Development. Between teaching, reading, writing, and mothering her life is books and kids--all soul-fulfilling work. Jessica is represented by Linda Epstein of Emerald City Literary Agency, has had work published in Curious Parents Magazine and is a theater critic for patheatreguide.com. She lives with her partner, Joe McGee (also a children's author) and her sheltie, Marley, (who is not an author, but is an excellent fetcher), in Pennsylvania.

Control

Alison Lee

I didn’t question his intentions, because why wonder about what can only be good? Who doesn’t want to be worshiped? He only wants to be with me! He loves me!

Alison Lee

Alison Lee is the co-editor of Multiples Illuminated: A Collection of Stories and Advice from Parents of Twins, Triplets and More, a writer, and publisher. A former PR and marketing professional, Alison’s writing has been featured in Mamalode, On Parenting at The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Everyday Family, Scary Mommy, BonBon Break and Club Mid. She is one of 35 essayists in the anthology, My Other Ex: Women’s True Stories of Leaving and Losing Friends (Fall, 2014), and has an essay in another, So Glad They Told Me: Women Get Real About Motherhood (Summer, 2016). Alison lives in Malaysia with her husband and four children (two boys and boy/ girl twins).

Getting Into the Flow

Natalie Yeh

I know how to chase my tail, how to let my ego spin me into a tizzy. I know how to let my ego convince me that I was no good and that to survive, I needed to suppress my womanhood. I learned how to do that early. These days, Read more

Natalie Yeh

Liminal Spaces with Natalie Yeh -- aerospace engineer with a penchant for the spiritual, artistic, and cerebral -- is an attempt where she tries to accept her own messy humanity in exploring the gifts in her everyday stories and milestones with compassion, gratitude, and mindfulness. Gifts she believes we can all share and learn from when we choose to see our continuous threads of connection in our common humanity rather than uphold paper walls of illusions of separation that some treat as real. When she has free time, she loves to cook, shoot landscape photography, practice martial arts, write and dance. Her Chinese American background, bilingual upbringing, and transgender history all lend to her experiences in exploring the liminal spaces where her history, her present and her future are at odds and of a piece, creating herself and her writing as unique, cross cultural art.

The Grief I’m Not Allowed to Have

Stefani Twyford

I’m lying in bed, it’s dark, and I hear my phone silently vibrating on the bedside dresser next to me. Adrenaline shoots through me as I grab it, quickly looking at the screen for a call, a text, anything to indicate a communication about my parents. It’s 3 AM and Read more

Stefani Twyford

President and Founder of Legacy Multimedia, Stefani Twyford has more than 18 years experience designing, developing and implementing award-winning video biographies and tribute videos. Prior to starting Legacy Multimedia, she built and headed a successful Houston-based web design, e-commerce and marketing firm. With degrees in design, psychology and social work, Twyford also shares her knowledge about the importance and process of creating a meaningful legacy with her engaging presentations to various organizations. Twyford excels at helping people craft their stories and share their memories. Her commitment to high-quality work and customer service, and her gift for putting people at ease help her clients capture their stories in a way that will endure for generations. Her firm commitment to the arts, to the technology community and to women in business has helped many others and served as inspiration for the next generation of talented professionals. In 2012 she turned the lens on her own family and her father’s profile as a known street photographer. Her documentary “Martin Elkort: An American Mirror” screened mid 2014 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston followed by other screenings around the US and has won a 2014 Gold Remi Award for Best Documentary from Worldfest International Film Festival.

Swiss Army Knife Girl Makes a Stand

Veronica Mattaboni

Daddy always said, don’t start fights. He said, if I hear you’ve been starting fights at school you’re going to be in big trouble, little miss. Daddy always said, don’t start fights, but if someone starts with you; he said, if someone lays hands on you – Daddy always said, Read more

Veronica Mattaboni

Veronica is an fiction and poetry author from Pennsylvania. She graduated from West Chester University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in English: Writing and a minor in Creative Writing. Veronica's work has been featured in the GLVWG's Write Here, Write Now Anthology, Writer's Yoga Zine, and Daedalus. She has also worked as an Associate Editor with 823 on High, and as Editor in Chief of Literati.

Hell Hath No Fury Like My Midlife Crisis

Julie Anderson

I never did tell you the full story. I like to condense my material into bite-sized bits. You know, so that you can swallow the truth. Teeny tiny bite-sized thoughts, that sprout from some teeny tiny place. Don’t be fooled, what is bite sized can choke you. Hell yes, it 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.

I’m Not My Mother

Jayme Beddingfield

I started writing an article about being too quick to medicate children. I often wonder about the damage done to my developing mind from all the medications given to me as a child (some prescribed for me some for my mother). I find myself questioning how much of my anxiety Read more

Jayme Beddingfield

Jayme Beddingfield is the host and producer of 'Too Many Words' a comedy interview podcast. She is also the creator of 'Elliot Granger and The Clueless Brigade', which is a weekly serial that follows Elliot Granger as she stumbles through grief and growing up. The series is featured as both a fictional podcast and written story that appears on The Scribbler. Jayme has been crafting stories since her third-grade assignment to write her own fairy tale. She prefers to work from the sofa with her dogs by her feet. Originally from Northern New Jersey, she now lives in Seattle, the city of her dreams. She lives with her husband, two children, and a slew of adopted pets. She is completely post-apocalyptic obsessed and also admits to being an audio enthusiast and recovering supervillain.

Before It Was Date Rape

Dori Owen

I grew up in a university town and was dating and partying with college boys while I was still in high school. These boys had gone to high school with me and my friends and several knew our older brothers and sisters. It felt safe. We knew their parents. It Read more

Dori Owen

Dori Owen is a storyteller, writing from small town Arizona, after living a few decades in California as an LA Wild Child, with a brief stop in Reno. She settled into grownup life as a project manager, collecting an MBA and a few husbands along the way. She is a shown artist and her favorite pastime is upcycling old furniture and decor she finds from thrift stores. She lives with the cat who came to visit but stayed. The love of her life is her grown son who lives in Portland, Oregon. Her essays and poems have been published in RAW&UNFILTERED VOL I, StigmaFighters Vol 2, and Love Notes From Humanity. Her blogs have been featured on The Lithium Chronicles, Open Thought Vortex, Sudden Denouement, and The Mighty.