Dear Monica,
I am writing you to apologize for the way you have been treated by the public at large. I am terribly sorry that your humanity was stolen from you before your life could even begin: at 25 years old, you went from being a person to being a target, and no person deserves that.
I was a child entering junior high school when you made headlines overnight. At 25, you seemed grown, cool. I heard the adults say things. Everyone had an opinion. A lot of things made sense to me when they talked about adultery, but something I never could understand was why they cared?
As I entered adulthood, I thought of you every time I saw something regarding the Clintons. Where were you? What was your life like?
Now as the time has come and gone and I can look back at my...
Lifestyle
Dear teachers,
It's nothing against you. I just happen to have a view on high school that you, on the other hand, do not. Look through my eyes for a minute...
If you knew me during high school, you would know that I suffered at the hands of tormentors and people who didn't like me just because of the way I dressed, the way I acted, or that I couldn't "do well" in school.
I suffered at the hands of teachers who would constantly lecture me because they didn't understand that the reason I didn't come to school everyday was because I was too busy dealing with the real world. Having a single mother who was ill and relied on her children to take care of her. While I was silently suffering from my own mental illness.
I was lucky enough that they kicked me out after completing the...
3,087
An Open Letter to the Haters and Shit Talkers Who Think I’m Single and Pathetic.
Being in a relationship is frosting on the cake, but it’s not my whole cake.
By Gwendlyn Snider
I’m one week short of 36 years old, single, not dating anyone at the moment, and have no children. Yup, it’s just, me, myself, and I in my very cozy studio apartment in San Francisco, CA. I don’t even have pets. Here’s the most important thing that you need you know about me: I’m happy, fulfilled, and excited for the next steps of my career and life overall.
For many of you, this might be a shock. You’re 36, and not married? Can I just save you from the commentary, please? What you’re probably thinking, my mother has already said to me a dozen different ways: Don’t you want someone to share your...
8,925
I will never forgive you for taking away my childhood and adolescent years. Because of you, I missed out on things that almost every other person not struggling with mental illness(es) got to experience.
I will never forget the seemingly never ending nights spent isolated in my room. The agonizing doctor appointments where zombifying drugs were pushed on me, with the promise that they would cure me of you.
Because of you, I lived with the constant fear that I could only get worse. The countless questions I got from teachers and friends and family when I couldn't drag myself out of bed to attend my classes or interact with anyone.
You ruined so many opportunities for me, and took me away from the people I loved. For those years, I felt an overwhelming sence of emptiness. I was...
2,431
Thanks.
Let’s just start right there.
Thank you for bringing your uniqueness into my life.
Every single one of you brings something different.
Whether it’s shared tragedies, likes, or dislikes you make me feel more validated as a person than I would if you didn’t exist. You let me know its ok to be crazy. You let me laugh at myself, with you, and at you. You let me cry, sometimes with you, sometimes the tears are just my own. You let me call you up when life is crazy and I’m pretty sure the path I was so sure about is crumbling away at my feet. You talk me back into rational thinking, you bring me to a place of peace. You let me know I don’t have to get it all right on the first try. You call me out when I’m out of line. And in the same way encourage me to test...
2,567
Popular opinion in this country is that a woman is selfish if she doesn't become a mother. But in my opinion, it is selfish to bring a child you don't want into the world. To women like me, motherhood isn't a life commitment, it is a life sentence.
For as long as I can remember I haven't wanted kids. I used to think eventually I would change my mind, but the older I get, the more I realize how a child would ruin my life plans.
After I graduate from college soon, I want to travel the country. Chicago, New York City, Boston, Miami, San Fransisco, Seattle.. I want to live in all of them. I can't pack a child up and move them every year or two.
I don't want to get married, so with my career in substance abuse I won't have time to raise a child on my own. But what kind of life...
2,837
Has someone close to you ever been addicted to drugs or alcohol? A child, a sibling, a parent, a friend? If yes, you probably see addiction as a disease. If no, you're probably ignorant to what addiction really means. Maybe because you think they're 'worthless' or maybe just because you simply don't understand.
Addiction doesn't discriminate. It can happen to anyone. It doesn't matter where you come from, the job you have, or the life you choose. Anyone can get wrapped up in it.
Addiction is not a choice. I repeat - ADDICTION IS NOT A CHOICE. Contrary to your beliefs, addicts don't choose to be addicts. They don't want to need that needle, that pill, that drink. It's out of their control.
If you've never been addicted or close to someone who was, chances are you don't...
4,089
Who ever you are, you are beautiful. You've always second guessed your self even when you are right. You've never really appreciated your talents and you can be incredibly shy. You always tried to lift people up because you know what it feels like to be down. But no one lifted you up. You spent so much time searching on the Internet how to make your self more attractive because you feel unloveable. But you never took a deep look in the mirror and saw your perfect imperfections like every one else does. You stare in the mirror and just see nothing but ugliness when in reality your perfect. You try to be just like the most popular girl in school because she must be perfect because every one loves her. You weigh your self every day and if your weight fluxuates a pound you freak out because...
3,060
Thank you for not judging the way my OCD has held me hostage for the past year. Or the way scars criss cross my veins, forming a constellation of suffering.
It wasn't easy opening up to you but you never criticized me for my past mistakes. Thank you for accepting me even though you didn't understand me. You allowed me to be less afraid of being with another person.
I think I knew in the begging that we wouldn't have much time together. When you talked to other girls because you were "bored" or picked up shifts on your day off, I knew I would never be first for you. Even though you didn't put in the same amount of effort, there were days where I hoped you would change. Like when we went shopping at Ikea and put all the furniture together in the same night. Or when you showed me your...
2,632
You’re kidding. No really, you must be.
I read your article "Rape Or Sexual Assault? Which Word We Use Matters More Than You’d Think" the other day during a round of extensive research on rape statutes from state to state, and at first, I was flabbergasted. The more I read, however, the angrier I became. In a piece that was weighing the impact, validity and benefit of two terms currently used to name a terrible, all-too-often-committed crime, the presence of words like ‘modern’, ‘less emotionally charged’ and ‘too much cultural baggage’ seemed to be talking more about the public’s comfort than the validation of rape victims or the focus on perpetrators.
“In the word rape, I see a victim in a dark alley. I see a drunk girl being attacked by a friend on the way home from a party. I...
3,062