LIVING YOUR TRUTH: Friendship, gratitude, suicide, and coincidental healing
“Day” in Hebrew is a word that means “enough.” The suffix “-enu” means “to us.” When put together, “dayenu” is a word that means, roughly, “it would have been enough for us,” as in the song “Dayenu,” a Passover song over a thousand years old. The song is like a prayer to God in gratitude […]
STRENGTH & FOCUS: How to set your S.M.A.R.T. goal in 5 minutes – and achieve it
We all set goals. Well, to be honest, many of us do. I’m sure you and I can both name a handful of friends and colleagues who absolutely never set goals. When asked why, they probably offer this excuse: “What’s the use? I never achieve them anyway,” which is a sound argument, isn’t it? In […]
LIVING YOUR TRUTH: The conversation about HIV/AIDS has changed, yet stays the same
I remember the first time I heard of AIDS. It was some documentary my parents were watching, something about a woman who was dying of a disease doctors knew very little about, back in the late ‘80s. I asked my mom what had happened, and she told that the woman lost her immune system, and […]
LIVING YOUR TRUTH: When all the LGBT news is negative, depression can sneak up on you
In this week’s column, let’s talk about depression. Because it’s real, it sucks, and I have it. In case you haven’t noticed, it’s been two weeks since I last wrote an article. Trust me, it wasn’t for lack of things to write about. We had a lot of awful things happening, including Germaine Greer, a […]
PUTTING IN WORK: The truth about streaming music and artist payouts
Independent musicians have to fight for every dollar, and CD Baby CEO Tracy Maddux knows this well. With growing reports of artists not getting paid by streaming platforms, it’s easy to think that they aren’t a realistic revenue stream for indies. When I caught up with Tracy at the Future of Music Policy Summit in […]
STRENGTH & FOCUS: Overcoming anxiety – 6 steps to bring boiling thoughts down to a simmer
Regardless of whether I like admitting to it or not, I am no stranger to an anxious mind. Thoughts race, juxtapose, conflict, build up, and scatter all at a seemingly unceasing rate, and I am left feeling like an empty vessel fueled by what comes from the mind. This week’s Strength & Focus is a […]
LIVING YOUR TRUTH: Make yourself heard, and not just on election day – the 2015 Philly Trans* March
“Did you watch the debates?” was a popular refrain among many of my friends this week, which may or may not show you the caliber of people I associate with on a regular basis. I’m not bragging, honestly, but I realize that I tend to keep myself living in a bubble – a very queer […]
STRENGTH & FOCUS: 5 tips to overcome overwhelm
Wow! The last few weeks have been a powerful and extremely productive experience. My colleague Larunce Pipkin flew in from Austin, Texas to hang out in Northeastern Pennsylvania for a few great events. We were both featured presenters at the NEPA Yoga Festival, which was hosted by Nearme Yoga and took place on Saturday, Sept. […]
LIVING YOUR TRUTH: Nervous and vindicated – speaking my truth, publicly, at NEPA BlogCon
“Are you nervous?” my friend asks. I just smile and tilt my head to one side. “Well,” I reply, “I’m probably not as nervous as I could be, but I’m about as nervous as I should be.” She laughs. “Fortunately, this isn’t my first rodeo,” I then tell her. Sometime later, I go over the […]
LIVING YOUR TRUTH: How do you properly address someone if you don’t know their gender?
Last week, I lamented on Facebook that I was struggling with a topic to write about. It wasn’t a lack of inspiration; however, it was a lack of positive topics to discuss. There was too much negativity, too much anger and pain. Too much murder, too much death. Too much Donald Trump and Kim Davis. […]
