For my law school applications — Your honor, when I was living on the streets as a teenager I stole a leather briefcase belonging to a hypnotist. Inside the briefcase, I found a bottle of red wine and a book written by Mumia Abu-Jamal. At the time I was traveling with my adult boyfriend. He was…

Just asking questions! — READ PART ONE Please read part one (see above) and then consider the following. My mother was a sex worker. My mother told me she got a bad grade on a philosophy paper when she was a student Portland State University (when I was a child and living with her…

The story of a woman who fought compulsory sterilization — The US has been in an uproar since a Supreme Court draft overturning Roe v. Wade leaked a few weeks ago. Many American women and other people with uteri are terrified that our rights to bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom will soon be taken away. Unfortunately, this doesn’t stop with…

Men know what it’s like to be a woman more than women do — I know this guy. Let’s call him Max. Max has a prestigious degree from a prestigious law school, and he likes to bring this up in conversation as much as possible. What he doesn’t like to mention is that his law license has been suspended for over a year. Max…

Just asking questions! — I asked my mother if I was molested when I was a child. Here is some of what she told me: One of your preschool teachers at Helen Gordon on the PSU campus was fired for “inappropriate touching” of children. That same teacher babysat you at home. Once I found…

Crosscultural Views of Death — 6/1/19 I have a very clear memory of when my mother first told me about death. It was when I was about three (almost four) years old, and my great grandfather had just died of a stroke after a long bout with emphysema. My mom explained to me what was going…

ALTERNATE TITLES: THE PASSENGER, WE THE DEAD — By Peter, Meredith, and Kevin Iris-93 (HAHA I GET TO BE IN THE MIDDLE) “Wait, remind me what happened?” We wake up in hospital beds. We are in three separate rooms. But it is the same room. I’m not awake yet. They woke my brothers up before me. My brothers…

It’s okay to be wrong. I have always been a big supporter of LGBT rights. My aunt and uncle on my Mom’s side are both gay, and when I was a kid my Mom explained to me that people can love people of the same gender. I accepted this immediately…

BPD is already unfairly stigmatized — I’ve never been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. However, this fact never seems to deter people (usually men) with absolutely no psychiatric training from telling me that I have it. I do have bipolar disorder and complex post-traumatic stress disorder, but random people never seem to feel the need to…