If you google “being seen,” you’ll pull up a near infinite aggregate of motivational infographics and lists of quotes. Most of these quotes can be categorized as such: to be seen is to be vulnerable; to be seen is to be loved; to be seen is to be powerful; to be seen is to be understood.

As reductive as it seems, any (or all) of these usually ring true with the same certainty as a horoscope or a Hogwarts house.

None of them quite articulate what “being seen” actually means in practice, though philosophers, academics, romantics and life coaches have all taken the floor on it. But in doing so, they’re taking on the role of the “seer,” which, quite literally, places them at the direct opposite observational vantage of the “seeing” binary. …

Frida Kahlo is ubiquitous in pop culture as an unconventional feminist feature: often for her unibrow, sometimes for her colorful and flamboyant dress, occasionally for her torrid and riveting love affair with Diego Rivera, rarely for her radical political ideologies but ultimately for her unorthodox presence in 20th century art. Knowing nothing about her, it’s easy to admire Frida. Knowing literally anything about her, it’s easy to love Frida.

As a queer, disabled person I unabashedly adore Frida Kahlo. …

It’s been 11 years, and they just don’t know how to quit me.

!!! Trigger Warning !!!
Please be advised that this essay recollects years of systemic abuse. It also makes reference to drug use, self-harm physical and verbal abuse.

It’s our anniversary. We’ve been at this for 11 years. For as young as we were and as young as we still are now, it’s hard to imagine committing that long to anything. But I want to end things for once and for all.

We were kids on the internet, unsupervised and acting out beyond anything Harmony Korine could ever imagine. You were punk rock in the GG Allin kind of way. You exposed yourself on 4chan and hacked your exes’ myspace pages to post graphic images from Rotten.com. I can’t remember if I liked that about you, or if I was just ambivalent from being so desensitized by the outlaw internet of the aughts. But I liked you well enough that we were friends on LiveJournal and I gave you access to my private filters. …

In 1816, Mary Godwin (later known as Mary Shelley) began to pen the manuscript for what would be both her debut and her magnum opus: Frankenstein. In Godwin’s novel, a student named Victor Frankenstein is agitated by the recent death of his mother, which serves as the impetus to his hyper-fixation on preternatural theories of biology. Most people who are passingly familiar with the Frankenstein story know that Victor recreates the effigy of a humanoid out of multiple human corpses and other remnants and, by some manner of inexplicable science, reanimates his creation. …

As a writer, I believe in the importance of reading. As a disabled writer, I believe in the power of reading other disabled people’s stories. Hence why I indicated “Disability” as one of my interests in Medium’s “Customize your interests” tab. The recommendations I’ve received from Medium’s algorithm have been… troubling.

Note: while I will be making specific reference to these pieces by title and summarizing their content, I will not be linking to these pieces directly, nor quoting large passages. …

There’s been a recent uptick in outrage toward Rachel Hollis in the wake of her divorce, some of which has dredged up old blood. For the most part, her tendencies toward plagiarism and regurgitating the call phrases of other life coaches and motivational gurus has Been Known. But the divorce has touched on a new nerve, as one fan expressed:

The moment that masks were made mandatory as a public safety measure in the United States, affluent white women (or, as we’ve come to call them: Karens) already began planning their counterstrike against common courtesy. Some took the path of least resistance while also causing as much public nuisance as possible. These Karens are out in their communities rocking “anti-mask masks,” which are truck stop toilet paper-thin or perforated face coverings. The Karen caterers on Etsy (many of whom are Karens, themselves) are making a killing charging $10 to upwards of $25 per “anti-mask mask.” …

I first became aware of the ideology that would eventually be branded as Death Positivity in my undergrad. (The name of the movement itself, “Death Positivity,” wouldn’t catch on until Caitlin Doughty’s “Ask a Mortician” series would go viral, wherein Doughty would tongue-in-cheek adopt the nomenclature from the “Sex Positive” movement.) I read something online in about 2009 or so about “Death Cafe,” an informal get-together where groups of individuals, usually perfect strangers, talk candidly, if not awkwardly, about death. …