Tag: mental illness

How to NOT Become an Altar Boy

Richard DeFino

Since the beginning, I can remember I’ve always hated the Church. I just could not stand it. Way before I first watched Joel Osteen and his Mega Church extravaganza and way before I first watched that sack of shit faith healer Benny Hinn fake heal someone, I never liked the Read more

Richard DeFino

Ricky De Fino grew up in New York City and currently resides in Buffalo NY. When he isn’t writing about his anxiety and his crazy Bronx upbringing, he enjoys watching countless hours of television with his wife Andrea, cat Bebe and dog Zeke. Two years sober, good coffee and veganism keeps him sane. His work can be found in Two Cities Review, tNY Press, Purple Pig Lit, Dialougal and Cycatrix Press.

Five Thoughts

Paakhi Bhatnagar

Five long, sticky and clinging thin, thinner, thinnest: numbering. One small and short, a stubble amongst the firs on her palm, the rest four ticking like ugly babies shoved in a cradle in a casket. The lines bleed out a night’s hard work we cry crimson and one sticks out 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.

I Have Three Children

Kimberly Brown

The question I dread the most as a grieving mother is; “How many children do you have?” It’s not that I don’t know how to answer, it is all the questions that follow. I’m immediately forced to decide whether or not I want to reveal more intimate information than the Read more

Kimberly Brown

Kimberly Brown is the founder and editor of Minerva Rising Press. Her novel, Cora’s Kitchen was short listed in the 2015 William Faulkner – William Wisdom Creative Writing Competition. Her work has appeared in Mused BellaOnline Literary Review, Compass Literary Magazine, Pitkin Review, Chicago Tribune, Today's Chicago Woman, National View, and Naperville Sun. Kimberly has MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College and a Master of Science in Written Communication from National Louis University. She also maintains a blog at The Confidential Writer.

Arsonist

Paakhi Bhatnagar

I see a corridor and I see it with all its edges. I throw a burning ember on the wooden floor and the mustard wallpaper suddenly shudders; the shroud that left my room uncovered now melts and slithers into my mouth. It soaks into my throat and curls into my 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.

Suicide, American Women and Privilege Bias: A Toxic Cocktail of Shame

Dr. Dannii Cohen

The suicide rate is up 63% for women aged 45-65 and up 200% for girls aged 10-14. A worrying statistic but for some reason, this statistic and the damage privilege bias is causing to vulnerable women and girls is often ignored.

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.

The Jacket

Natasha Alexander

The ruthless cold shakes my being,
flooding me with memories,
reminding me of the days I walked naked,
freezing to death by my consuming pain.

Natasha Alexander

Writer, always Wife and Mother first. Perfect is overrated, I am flawed and yet loved. Now that I don’t chase perfection, I can chase my dreams. I have completed a "Write a Novel" course in 2015 through S.A. Writers’ College and passed with a distinction. I also completed the Copy-Editing and Proof-reading course through them in March 2016. My first Manuscript of 60 000 words has been written and currently seeking a publisher. I have been writing poetry since I was 14 and the reason/inspiration behind all my writing is a stand against women abuse. It is a cause that I hold close to heart. Something that started as an outlet for feelings too ghastly to speak about has turned into my passion.

How Can I Feel?

Paakhi Bhatnagar

Every edge that I jump from; every memory that I try to bury within the freckled folds of my unkempt bedsheets; every word that I take back and fill my half-empty stomach with (never not empty); all comes back like gruel on the back of a bathroom sink. I hear 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.