Paige Graffunder
Bio
Paige is a published author and a project professional in the Seattle area. They are focused on interpersonal interactions, poetry, and social commentary.
Find me on Medium.com
Find my books on Amazon.com and at Barnes and Noble.
Stories (108)
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Cut the Bull
Do you know what I hate more than almost anything else? Fake positivity posting on Linkedin about your job. When I got laid off from my last role, I was really upset. However, the work culture at that company was one of really intense gratitude and positivity, and I made a post about how grateful I was for the opportunity. I feel kind of gross about it now because what essentially happened was the company laid off 85% of its staff during a global pandemic. That is not empathetic human behavior, that is capitalist knee-jerking. I realize now in hindsight, and with a lot of time between now and then, that really what I did was respond to gaslighting.
By Paige Graffunder5 years ago in Journal
J.K. Rowling is a Dirty Rotten TERF
First, let's get a few things out of the way. Feminism benefits everyone. If you think feminism's only goal is to serve cisgender women, then you're doing it wrong. The goals of feminism help everyone. If true equality and equity were achieved all the harmful structures set in place by the patriarchy would be dismantled. That means men could express their feelings, and wouldn't have to resort to violence as the only way to express themselves. It also means that the control construct could be dismantled, and the idea that the best way to gain power is to rip it from someone else. Ultimately this is a really good thing, but some people have a hard time with the idea that they are still privileged in comparison to someone else.
By Paige Graffunder5 years ago in Viva
My Holiday Movies Vol. 1
I have a list of movies to watch every year with every holiday, getting as deep as having a few movies for Labor Day. Since the list of horrible unprecedented things happening in 2020 is growing longer, I thought I would start a year-long series of movies for every holiday. I am really leaning into celebrating the little things this year, as everything around us is horrible.
By Paige Graffunder5 years ago in Geeks
Returning To Work
I got laid off from the best job I had had to date in May of this year. To say it was a crushing blow is an understatement. I had never had a job like that, where everyone in the office got along for the most part and helped each other. The team I worked on became close like family, and we all still keep in touch even though most of us also got laid off. I never thought that I would find another job where I would make connections like that. And while I actively looked for jobs for the duration of my unemployment the future of almost every company that I applied for was unsteady. As a result of that, I was being asked to do a monumental amount of work for minimum wage. They wanted 10 years of experience for minimum wage. They wanted the earth and the moon and probably Mars too, for minimum wage. I turned down more jobs in those few months than I ever have in my whole life.
By Paige Graffunder5 years ago in Journal
Recovery In Perpetuity
I got a lot of good things going for me right now. A new car, new job, stable home. I am not worried about food or money or shelter or where my next paycheck is coming from. I am not running from anything, not hiding from anything. I have good friends who adore me and a supportive partner who is kind to me in all the right ways. I have made massive changes to my diet and begun keeping myself on a rather tight schedule that includes shopping days and meal prep days and becoming the primary chef of the household, therefore getting us all healthier.
By Paige Graffunder5 years ago in Psyche
No Justice, No Peace
As I sat down to write this, I searched on Unsplash for BLM, specifically looking for Black Lives Matters Signs wielded by Black protesters. It was important to me that none of the images contained the full faces of protesters and that the sign in question was in the hands of a Black person. As you can see the image I found contains no sign, but it does center a Black person and features no full faces. Why is this? Because through the thousands of images that I went through there was not a single image of a person holding a sign that wasn't white. Now don't get me wrong, I am not trying to diminish the importance of Non-Black POC or white folks in this fight, because it is a fight that we are here to offer aid to, not to center ourselves in. It is vitally important that we remember that for the duration.
By Paige Graffunder6 years ago in The Swamp
Love in the Time of COVID
I am particularly lucky to be able to share my home with people who know and value me as a person, from the soul and heart, and mind. One of them is my partner in life, and the other two are our friends. But friend doesn't begin to describe our relationship. We are a family. We maybe don't look like the nuclear family that was popularized in the media, but we are a family none the less. We take care of each other and talk, and laugh, and play, and comfort each other. We support each other when we are going through the hard stuff, and have learned over the last year of living together how to lean on each other.
By Paige Graffunder6 years ago in Humans
Wages in the Time of COVID
I was laid off from my job in April, and while it was in no way a pleasant experience, it has given me sometime to reflect on the job market as it is now, and as it has been. I am not going to disclose what I was making, or what I am currently making on unemployment, however I am going to throw some numbers around based on averages and input given to me by my friends who were also laid off. I hope that this serves as a wake up call for all the people who are currently looking to employ people. It is really important that we do not allow ourselves to sink into predatory practices like we did after the 2008 collapse.
By Paige Graffunder6 years ago in Journal
