I was one of them, btw. — On December 21, 2007, I secretly had an abortion in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was a Saturday morning and the procedure cost more than $500. The only person who knew this was my boyfriend, who not only insisted that I have the abortion—he also drove me to the appointment. Back then…

My life is a mess. It's really embarrassing. I'm pretty sure I could pen an honest essay about all of the ways I'm failing my child. It would be an entire laundry list of long-running items... ways my many shortcomings have and continue to shortchange her. How my lack of…

I don’t appreciate anyone coming onto my social media pages or blog posts to talk about “murdering babies” because they don’t like my pro-choice statements. At the same time, I want to be clear that I’m not just angry with conservatives right now. So, don’t get in my comments to…

Today, I feel like crying. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade today. While the ruling doesn't immediately impact me since I'm a currently single woman with zero desire to enter another romantic or sexual relationship, I grasp the weight of the Court's decision. I'm the single mom of an…

Oh, I'm so *shocked.* — Back in April, an 18-year-old child from Elon Musk's first marriage filed court documents in California, petitioning to change their name and gender identity. Per the paperwork, they “no longer live with or wish to be related to [their] biological father in any way, shape or form.” They've opted to…

Maybe I deserve this pain. — By the end of my mother's life, I was an awful daughter. I think she may have hated me. After a near lifetime of constant worry that she was never going to approve of me or deem me anything but a disappointment, I gave up on trying to make her…

"If you eat garbage, you'll look like garbage." Or so I've heard. — This summer break has been a strange one for me. For the first time in more than 25 years, I own swimwear, and I've started going to the pool to exercise. I never learned how to swim as a child because my mother said lessons were too expensive, and our…

A PRIDE month memo: queer lives are not here for our entertainment. — I've said it before: actors do not owe us access to their entire lives, no matter how much some of us believe "they signed up for" zero privacy. Usually, though, I'm talking about the public’s behavior. It is unacceptable, for instance, when a so-called fan records a young actress at…

1. Get a diagnosis from a specialist. — If you've been reading my stories about having lipedema and believe that you may have it too, please understand that the vast majority of physicians have never even heard of the condition. Most don't know how to make a proper diagnosis. Even fewer know how to treat this disease. That…