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From Ties That Bind To Freedom: How I Escaped The Cycle Of Codependency
For many years, I lived in a constant fear of being abandoned by the people around me, so I did everything in my power to keep them happy and close by me. That strategy worked fine until the day I found myself standing all alone without anyone else to turn to. My earliest memories are of chaos. Chaos both at home and school, one seeming not to escape the other. It’s because of this that I made sure as soon as I had the means, I would turn and run away. But, I could never get away from the broken ties of ropes left over from the circus of our…
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I Prefer To Avoid The Trappings Of Modern Life
I don’t have a television, a radio, or a newspaper subscription. You might say that I’m living in the past, but I’m actually living in the present. I’m not avoiding modern day life, I’m simply choosing not to partake in some of its trappings. The world has changed since the time of my youth and for better or worse, it is changing faster now than ever before. As such, if I want to maintain my sanity and stay grounded in reality I need to take responsibility for what’s important and spend my time on those things rather than everything else. My goal is to live mindfully by focusing on what…
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1984 By George Orwell
The novel is set in Oceania, one of three intercontinental superstates that divided up the world after a global war. Orwell used England as a model for Oceania, but every other country was somehow involved in its creation: he based Eurasia on Russia and Eastasia on China. He created a new language called Newspeak to reflect how totalitarian societies try to control everything—including words. It portrays a totalitarian future society where citizens are reduced to nothing more than cogs in the government machine. Big Brother is an omnipresent figurehead whose face appears everywhere, even though no one knows what he looks like and his real identity remains unknown. And yet…
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The Gender Binary is an Unnecessary Construct
If you’re unfamiliar with the gender binary, it refers to the idea that there are only two genders and everyone falls into one of those two categories (male or female). It’s an idea that causes unnecessary strife in our society. While the concept is nothing new—people have believed in the gender binary since before we had scientific evidence to support it—it’s still not one without consequences or negative effects on people who don’t conform to it. Luckily, we have generations of scientists and forward-thinking humans who are working hard to dismantle this concept in every aspect of their lives. There are more than two genders and they can be hard…
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Animal Farm By George Orwell
George Orwell’s Animal Farm may be categorized as an allegorical novella, but it’s far more than just an entertaining piece of literature. It’s considered one of the most important books to come out of the 20th century and has been cited as one of the most influential political novels ever written. The story follows a group of animals who realize that their life under their human owner isn’t quite how they thought it would be, so they revolt and begin to run the farm themselves, led by their intelligent pigs and ending with brutal totalitarian rule and censorship. The story is about a farm run by a group of animals,…
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What It’s Like To Be Born With Female Pseudohermaphroditism
My name is Thomas, and I was born with a condition called female pseudohermaphroditism. My condition means that while I was born with normal-looking male genitals, I also had a functioning female set of internal reproductive organs. After a doctor encouraged me to intentionally cause myself harm because, as they were concerned, “people like you should not exist”, I decided to write this article to educate, inspire, and inform those who are curious about my intersex condition. This condition is what caused my external genitals looked more like those of a boy than those of a girl. However, it wasn’t until I got my period as an adolescent that I…
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Is Intellectualism Dead? A Provocative Question For Our Times.
In the last twenty years, intellectuals have been receiving increasingly rough treatment by the public and the media. The title of intellectual has, over time, become associated with negative stereotypes such as elitism, disengagement from reality, immorality and more. It’s worth wondering whether intellectualism has been driven to extinction or if it can experience another renaissance similar to what it experienced in the 19th century when philosophers such as Schopenhauer and Nietzsche were just starting their careers. There was a time, not too long ago, when thinkers were admired. By thinkers, I don’t mean that they all read scholarly papers or spent countless hours in seminars discussing theories about physics…
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The Cult of Ignorance: How I Became a Victim of the Isaac Asimov Phenomenon
Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe. Frederick Douglass A few weeks ago, I was having a discussion via Twitter where the person I was talking to asked me what my opinion was on some current event in the news (I wish I could remember which one, but it’s escaped my memory as if it were never there to begin with). What I do remember from the conversation is that when I responded with my opinion, the person…
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The World Is On Fire: Why We Should Be More Concerned Than Ever
No matter where you look, the world seems to be on fire. We are witnessing a political nightmare in the United States, terrorist attacks in Europe, school shootings throughout the United States, protests and civil wars in the Middle East, and a rapidly-changing global climate that will affect millions of people across the globe. While this may feel overwhelming, now more than ever we need to remain calm and help solve these problems together as a species. Here’s why it’s even more important than ever to keep your wits about you and stay informed—because the world really is on fire right now. Violence against journalists has dramatically increased in recent…
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The Beat Goes On: How Allen Ginsberg Inspired Me As A Writer
Allen Ginsberg, one of the most famous poets of the 20th century, was also a dedicated mentor and advocate of emerging writers, including me. My experience as Ginsberg’s protégé taught me valuable lessons that I apply to my own careers in freelance writing today. So, I’d like to share some insights into what it was like to work with this legendary writer and learn from his legacy while he was still alive. Before meeting Ginsberg, I thought the most important component of writing was tight structure and coherent thoughts. I wrote in third person, avoiding first-person to keep things impersonal and consistent. The old adage “show, don’t tell” had been…
