“Wait… you’re bi?!”

I’ve gotten this exclamatory reaction more times than I can count. It happens when I nonchalantly mention my bisexuality in conversation, or when I discuss my attraction to women in public. People do a double-take, stunned that I’ve never mentioned anything about this before.

The reason some people react like this is because I don’t ordinarily tell people that I’m bisexual. I’ve never had a big coming out moment with friends or family or anyone else. I’ve never sat anyone down and said, “I just want you to know I’m bisexual.”

You might be wondering why I…

It happened in February.

One of my articles had gone viral for the first time. I was overjoyed, to say the least. I was on a high and no one could bring me down. Each day, I would giddily check my stats, smiling each time I saw success. I’d check my notifications for any new comments. I loved knowing what other people thought of my story, my writing, my presence. Whether the comments were good or bad, supportive or hateful, it was exciting just to know that people finally had eyes on my work. …

What defines attraction? How can I make them like me?

These questions are ones that we’ve probably asked ourselves occasionally in our lifetime. Usually the question surfaces in the case of a crush. You’re down bad for them, falling faster than you can control, and you wish with all of your heart that they liked you. So do they? How would you know?

Or maybe you’re lonely and looking for a romantic spark. When everything feels hopeless, you wonder if you’ll ever have a chance again to experience those butterflies in your stomach, that soaring feeling in your chest when…

Who was the first feminist?

If you’re like me, you’ve thought about this question quite a few times. Feminism is a well-known, widespread social movement in the present day, but where did it originate? Was there ever a “first feminist”? Could we even pinpoint that pivotal moment in history?

The answer is complicated. There’s a lot about history that we don’t know — some of it which we may never know. But in the history of the Americas, there’s one figure that historians have widely recognized as the first known feminist in the New World. Her legacy has stretched across…

The last time I saw my cousin, she said something I’ll never forget.

“Hey, you have fat hands, just like me!”

We were sitting on the carpet of my aunt’s house together. I can’t remember what we were doing — drawing, playing a board game, maybe reading a book? She is my second cousin and almost ten years younger than me, so I remember trying to engage her in something age-appropriate. Both of us were content and engrossed in the activity, grateful to have the chance to spend time together. …

For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a writer.

As a kid, it started out with writing adventurous novels on yellow legal pads and short stories on my parents’ computer. During my early teenage years, poetry became my go-to genre. I’d scribble stanzas on my phone during school and come home and pour my thoughts out on paper. This was the birth of my writing career, long before I got started as a freelancer.

I wanted to be a famous author; I wanted to write a bestseller. I wanted to be a published novelist by the…

I promote health, not obesity.

She’s just promoting a bad lifestyle by saying she’s beautiful when she weighs that much.

She’s not healthy, she’s fat.

You won’t be body-positive when you get heart disease and die.

These are real comments that I’ve seen on social media. The first one appeared in the caption of a post by a skinny influencer who claims she is “body positive” but is clearly fatphobic based on those words. The rest of the quotes come from comments on TikTok or Instagram posts that were directed to people in bigger bodies. …

They’re charming. They’re gracious. They’re attractive. They give you butterflies — the kind you thought you would never feel again after your third-grade crush. An enormous, warm smile fills your face when you see them. In their presence, you feel safe and loved.

But will it last? Despite all of these wonderful qualities and the way you feel about them, can this relationship weather life’s many storms?

It’s a fair question. We’ve all been there — hopelessly, blissfully in love with our significant other, hoping that they are our future. But there are questions. Maybe there are doubts. These doubts…