This week started out with my name change being signed, sealed, delivered back to me and ends with me leaving for a very, very (see the last four months of articles) much needed vacation. Sandwiched between those two wonderful events, is the gut-punch of the death of RBG and the absolute terror, uncertainty and overall dread that means for queer folks, women, and literally every other minority within our country’s borders. I found out Friday evening, and I just slid to the floor behind the desk and sat there staring at the wall for a chunk of time. I am […]
How to Travel Kind During COVID
Last week I had the absolute pleasure of checking in a very important guest. He was not famous, or a leader in his industry, or anyone of any outwardly presenting importance. Honestly, when I first greeted him in the lobby, I was jealous of his lavender polo, and I wondered why I did not own more lavender-colored clothes myself. Side note, I just discovered today what is going to be my fall work wear trend, polo shirts underneath sweaters, and I have a few grey sweaters begging to be paired with light purple. Mr. Important started our interaction quite pleasantly, […]
A Therapeutic List of the Things That Keep Me Up At Night
Even if you lived under the deepest rock within the darkest cave, hidden in an Atlantean-style air pocket under the ocean, you would still be aware of some of the reasons why this year has literally depleted the planet’s stash of good vibes and positive energy. This was supposed to be a year of overdue change, both at the political and social level across the country. Instead of allowing our great republic to continue to slide backwards into a chaotic dystopian nightmare, we were going to have a swell of momentum and pride that would help us correct the course […]
Isolation and Delusion: Ye and Mental Health
Two years ago, I wrote a column for Role Reboot about why I had purged my music library of Kanye West, with the exception of Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book (Slavery is a Choice comments). That album is an audible masterclass on black excellence, and very much a product of the latter’s talent opposed to the former’s ego. 2020, the year that will go down as our true reckoning with the systemic oppression that has propped up the fabric of our country as it continues to spawn with our celebrity-saturated-culture, would not be complete without Ye entering politics, complete with […]
It’s Not About You
I did not get my break. I have one on the books for this month, but in actuality, work is the least of my stresses. At least when I am checking guests in I get a reprieve from social media, where I can watch the parents of my former classmates argue over whether or not I hypothetically deserve the right to exist, or bemoan restaurants and businesses that have the audacity to choose public safety over personal convenience. Moreover, while the lack of a clear defined and implemented effort to combat said virus seems to be coming from our esteemed […]
I Need a Break
My heart hurts and my head is tired. It has been a week, and in five days’ time when this releases; I am unable to hypothesize where my moods will be. Not simply that I cannot speculate how I will be feeling, but realistically I could not have guessed NASCAR siding with me before the author of my favorite series about magical children studying at an English boarding school as a real event happening in my life. In light of that reality becoming canon, I am leaving my prophesizing skills in the dust that will hopefully soon render this year […]
We Are Not Ready to Heal
I cancelled a Zoom meeting this afternoon. It was a 60-minute commitment that did not require me to wear pants or deodorant, or do anything other than clicking an application on my computer, and yet I woke up this morning and immediately knew I simply could not. Even before I regretted checking the latest round of “White America Debating Racism Today” on various social media platforms, I was already trying to sidestep the wall I had just slammed into face-first upon awaking. It is always exhausting being a minority in this country. Something about the whole stealing the continent from […]
Don’t Freedom Tread On Me
Two weeks ago, the county I live in still had a ban on most stays with the exception of providing safe shelter for essential worker wishing to minimize the risk of exposure to their loved ones. There were days without a single arrival, and while I enjoyed extra time at home to spend with my animals and accomplish a variety of home projects, I enjoyed that I felt safe at work. Both my parent company and my immediate supervisors have and still understand the balance between financial security and employee safety, and I do not take my fortune for granted. […]
Breaking Stigmas
Mental Health Awareness Month during a global pandemic is a quagmire. Even in 2020, the stigma surrounding Mental Health is so entrenched, research leaps from innocuous to half-truths and stereotypes with a single click in the wrong direction. Add the upheaval of every norm within our society, and the result is a population with higher numbers of anxiety, depression, and mental fatigue. Mental health and wellness is already a subject of concern for those who are queer; LGBTQ+ Americans face rates of mental illness twice those of their cis-hetero peers. With everyone struggling more than before, I think it is […]
The Humbling Tale of Lovesac
I have found myself with a sizeable uptick in the amount of couch time I have each week. The mental fatigue from existing at this current juncture has me spending more time mindlessly binging, or shooting my way through the Wolfenstein games while my wife visits islands on Animal Crossing. Even before this, our couches were on their last legs, figuratively, because they never sent the legs when we purchased them. All 80lbs of our dog lumbering on them day in and out, as well as never being the best in quality had worn the cushions down to thin, lumpy […]