How Overcoming the Female Body Hair Taboo Makes Wild Swimming an Even Freer Experience
I’ve been swimming for longer than I can remember. And I’ve been being told how to be a woman for the same amount of time. In the heavily sexualised world of women and swimwear there are parts of maturing and adolescence which are acceptable, and those which are not.
The Best Version of Myself
For as long as I can remember, I never really felt a part of. I spent years of my life changing shades like a chameleon. I grew up with my father, stepmother, and half brother. Unbeknownst to me, my biological mother was an addict and signed over her rights to my stepmother when I was two. In her absence, I always felt a void. Thus my incessant fear of rejection set in. Isolation became my reprieve.
Here’s What I Learned From My Suicide Attempt (Mike’s Story)
When 9/11 happened, I joined the Marines. The Marines gave me a sense of being and purpose.
When you’re in the Marines, you are trained from the first day that death is creeping in. It’s always creeping in. It has to be on top of your mind. That I might die in Iraq was more of a reality than the reality of making it back home. I was quite comfortable with dying in war.
Maybe One Day
I was born and raised in Texas. I am part of a middle-class, traditional family. A mother, a father, and a sister. My parents have been married for 51 years. My sister and I are as close as two people can get without being in the same body. We were raised in the Baptist church. I have four college degrees. A Bachelor’s, two Master’s, and a Doctorate.
Getting Sober at a Young Age is a Wonderful Thing (Ben’s story)
I grew up in a nice town in South Florida, was fortunate enough to have both parents in my life and give me every opportunity to succeed. I did good in school, had plans to become a teacher after I graduated college, everything about my childhood was great, on the outside at least. I always felt different, I always felt like I missed some kind of class all my other peers attended on how to grow up and be happy
Thrown Into the Mix
Where to start…I think at the beginning. I was born in Truro to My dad a black man from the Seychelles and my mum who was born in Holland. Sounds simple enough. Then you look a bit deeper and find My Dad’s family were slaves.
Hello world, I’m Amy Kate
In June of 1972 I was born at the Leicester Royal Infirmary, much to the relief of my long-suffering mother. The summer of ’72 had been a pretty hot one, definitely not the ideal time to be heavily pregnant. Following a fairly uncomplicated birth (I’m her fourth child, shelling peas was mentioned when I asked my mother to recall the occasion), the midwife promptly cut the umbilical cord and pronounced to my mother, ‘Congratulations, it’s a boy.’ That moment, for every child, sparks a chain of events which will shape its destiny.
Acceptance
Recently, I was pressed by a friend to create a stozzy; tell an interesting story from my life that may intrigue, help, or inspire others. Now I am no author let me tell you, yet I decided to accept the challenge to see what I can do.
Black Music vs. White Music: Growing Up in America
I grew up in Southern California during the flashy 1980s. During my childhood, I lived in an African American and Latino neighborhood in East Long Beach; however, I was bused to school in the primarily white Belmont Shore neighborhood.
British Indian life
I would like to share my life experience as someone who is British, was born in England but comes from an Indian background. Up until high school, I don’t really remember the colour of my skin crossing my mind much.