Lifestyle
For the lives that we love, and everything that comes with it.
#MeToo
In 7th grade I took the bus home from school everyday and I was one of the few girls that lived in the neighborhood. One afternoon this boy sat with me, I had my headphones in and tried to ignore him until he started touching my thighs. He said it was a "game" that they play, and you're supposed to let the guys touch you until you get "nervous". Yet, every time I would tell him to stop, he didn't.
By Maria Rose8 years ago in Viva
"The Burn"
When I was around 19 years of age, I was told that I would find it difficult to conceive naturally and that I would need help from the hospital once I was ready. I was told that I had a very common condition called PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). Over here in the UK I think the statistics are 1 in every 5 women, so quite a number! A whole 20%, in fact! I'd always imagined being a mom, right from being a little girl so this news was not something I had ever wanted to hear. As I grew older I had decided that, once I met my soul mate, I'd like to adopt as I wouldn't want to put my body and my mental state through all of the heartache that comes with disappointing IVF results or the negative pregnancy tests month after month so I had mentally prepared myself to never have to give birth! I met my soul mate and we discussed it. He was happy so long as I was in any way we decided to be parents, we would be parent nevertheless. Well, in the October of 2016, me and my partner found out we were pregnant! Naturally! No help, no doctors, no pills, and no IVF! My partner was over the moon, almost passing out all whilst I sat on the toilet repeating "shit, shit, shit." After all, I had never mentally prepared to grow a human, to give birth to am entire human! I was, well and truly, PETRIFIED!!
By Hannah Schofield8 years ago in Families
What Happens If Your Baby Is Born Earlier than Expected?
My friend Karen discovered this when she went into labor several weeks before her due date. Her husband was at work at the time, so she took a taxi to the hospital. After a substantial wait at the hospital, staff told her that she was several weeks too early. They sent her home.
By Andrea Dawson8 years ago in Families
Weird Things Your Cat Might Be Doing Explained. Top Story - November 2017.
Cats have many different signs of showing you that they want something. These behaviours may come across as unusual or out of the ordinary, however these behaviours have simple explanations which can help you understand your own cat a whole lot better.
By Hannah Louise8 years ago in Petlife
Raising a Family in a System of Division
I don't want to talk about the things that affect me or hurt me for others to say things like I'm so sorry you're going through this or you are so inspirational to me. When I speak about the hard topics I speak about them in hopes to provoke change. To provoke a new way of thinking and a new approach that will not only benefit me but benefit those around me also affected by the hard topics. I am not looking for sympathy. I'm not looking for a hand out. I am simply telling it as it is. I've heard things like what do you expect, you decided to subject yourself to discrimination by living in boonie town. Well my response to that is this; I have experienced discrimination in boney town and in very diverse populations. It makes no difference where I live, the discrimination will always be there because my skin will always be brown. I have had coffee thrown at me while being told go back to where you came from while driving in Toronto, Ontario, a very diverse area and plenty of people of color. I have had someone stop their car, come out just to throw racial slurs at me out of the blue, me just minding my own business, oblivious of this attack. I have been told I was: a coon, a monkey, a nigger, a drug addict, all in a very culturally populated area. I have had smoke blown into my face while standing in a bus shelter and told that the welfare system is corrupted because of people like me and the other niggers who don't pay taxes (Wasn't even on the system and paid my taxes). I chose not to have my children be subjected to racial slurs and tensions by removing myself from this area. The incidents happened more frequent than I could wrap my head around them. I wanted my children to have the same or similar advantages of the average Canadian child. Not the average black child but the average Canadian child. So I moved to the boonies. In the boonies my kids have been able to utilize the extras the inner city schools won't get, like a decent education, access to music, sports, technology that they wouldn't otherwise had gotten in an inner city environment. I raised my kids to be the best them they can be, not to be the best black kid they can be. Race has been such a big issue lately that it causes some uproar of conversations at my dinner table. It causes tension within my own household because of the varying responses towards it. I have been silent for a long time while I mend the hurt feelings of my kids from being told they couldn't possibly have done an A plus job on an assignment because people of your color cannot possibly have the understanding to complete such complex things. I have had to simmer rage between siblings who have varying views on how a racial incident should be addressed. The unequal treatment of black males verse black females. I have had to deal with unresolved feelings from my children when called niggers, monkeys or pretty for a black girl. My kids have triggered this post because I have always said I will protect my children no matter what and help them be the best they can be. I write this with feelings of disservice to my children for not teaching them how to be black while growing up. My eldest said to me that she was happy to not be taught to be different because it allowed her to see herself for who she is and what she is capable of rather than a black girl plus whatever the title is that may be added. She believes that because she is able to see herself for her and not limited by her skin she is able to fight through the labels and barricades that society tries to place on her. My children are thriving despite the racial attacks whether passively or aggressively thrown their way. Why do I write this then some may ask. I write this because the first insult/swear words that my youngest has ever dealt with is being told she's a nigger. I write this because instead of the typical conversation of counseling my child on why people say hurtful things I have to add racism to the hurtful things. I write this because my kids cannot go anywhere without me knowing where they are for fear that them being late or unaccounted for could mean they were lynched or arrested (yes I worry about that in Canada). I write this because they fight. We fight for everything and or paths are constantly blocked. I feel defeated most days. I don't know how many different ways I have tried to be of comfort to my kids through everything they go through. I feel broken most days but I still have to build them up. I don't know how to continue to do this for them, my heart is hurting and I feel broken. When I advocate for my kids or I expect policies to be followed, our human rights to be granted, I have been told you're asking the right questions and these are the questions that needs to be answered. So who is going to answer the questions that mothers and fathers of color have about the injustice they experience and now their children experience. How can we stop talking about change and actually change something. Report and statistics will not change the emotional damage racism has on our entire society. This is not a black problem this is an everyone problem. I'm going to just end this by quoting one of my favorite quotes: "Be the change you want to see in the world".
By Trish Nala8 years ago in Families
