White People Invisibility, Part Two

White Racism

When was the last time you really wanted (or needed) to say something, but kept quiet? Write a post about what you should’ve said. Earlier in the week, I wrote about an experience in a local Northside business where a man used a slew of racial slurs in front of me just as casually as […]

Allies at the Toonseum Offer Relaxed Way to Enjoy Pride in the Street

I have never been to Pride in the Street because I don’t really like standing in crowds, especially if people are drinking. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it – it just isn’t comfortable for me. When Melissa Etheridge played, I was out of state so I wasn’t even tempted. But when I heard Chaka Khan […]

The Natural Order of Things Requires You To Pay Attention

Pittsburgh Poverty

I was engaged in a Facebook “dialogue” yesterday around the young women in Nigeria who were stolen from their families. The actual topic was a #BringBackOurGirls rally planned for Mother’s Day, but I want to try to keep the girls themselves as the focus of the discussion. Not the rally. Not the rally organizer. Not […]

Six Summer Personal Care Items You Never Thought To Donate

Pittsburgh Pride

While it is not technically summer, the 84 degree weather has me thinking about things like finding my flip-flops, setting out the deck furniture and maybe even planting stuff that grows. I might get ambitious and carry my winter coats to the attic this weekend. Just another ritual in the day to day change of […]

Review: ‘Finding Vivian Maier: A Documentary’

Warning: this post contains spoilers about plot twists in this documentary. At the Roger Ebert movie review site, a film critic asks one of the moral questions at the heart of this film When does creative ability and the desire to share a true artist’s eye trump what has to be considered an invasion of […]

Mocking Violence Against Trans Women Is Not Acceptable

Trans

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” – Mahatma Ghandi It is my opinion that being an ally to the trans community requires me to believe the people in that community. I believe when they tell me that words like “tranny” and “shemale” and “shemail” are […]

Review: The Fosters from ABC Family

ABC Family The Fosters

May be spoilerish. You’ve been warned. I’ve been hearing many good things about this show from my friend Dana at Mombian. The story focuses on a lesbian couple that happens to be biracial, Stef and Lena, who are raising a blended family. Their children include Stef’s biological son from her first marriage, Brandon, as well […]

Nothing Lasts Forever Not Even Bucket Lists

Pittsburgh Bucket List

Have you made your bucket list? Now’s the time — write about the things you want to do and see before you become dust in the wind. When I hear this song, I don’t think of bucket lists. Bucket lists are sort of a middle and upper middle class concept, grounded in the idea that […]

The Art and Science of Unmaking Friends

Pittsburgh friends

Do you find it easy to make new friends? Tell us how you’ve mastered the art of befriending a new person. The fastest way in the world to shed yourself of a friend is to tell them the truth – the truth about your diagnosis, the truth about your needs and expectations, the truth about […]

Life is Hard

 Benjamin Franklin said: “There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.” Do you think you know yourself well? Well, technically Benjamin Franklin wrote this in 1750 book Poor Richard’s Almanac. I just completed an intake process for new mental health providers yesterday and one thing that struck me was how […]