Walking in Winter

By enakshi ganguly Now that the weather is getting cooler, I just want to go into hibernation. I’ve been sleeping a lot more and eating more warm foods like soup and chilli. This is me every winter. This year though, I want to be more active, more engaging with the weather. This is sweater weather. Cuddling weather. Clean-off-the-summer-dust-from-the-crockpot kind of …

How to Bike When You’re Scared to Bike

By ena ganguly I was in the 8th grade when I learned how to bike. My parents tried to teach me when I was younger, but the thought of leaving my training wheels behind always frightened me. And then, the ultimate betrayal happened when my Baba promised he was holding the back of my bike as I pedaled without the …

10 Affirmations for When Everything is Too Much

By Jae Lin Sometimes, things can get so stressful and burdensome and overwhelming; the universe says it’ll all balance out, but it doesn’t always feel like it; when life is too much, it’s everything all at once. For those of us who live at the intersections of identities that have been marginalized, it’s understandable and easy to feel overwhelmed for …

A Starter’s Guide to Nourish Skin

  By ena ganguly We hear about skin care all the time: the do’s and don’ts, the sometimes and the maybes. It’s really confusing, especially if you are struggling to take care of your skin. I won’t lie, my family blessed me with beautiful skin. My people are from the Bay of Bengal, where the climate is humid and hot, …

Imposter Syndrome

  Imposter syndrome affects many people. However, marginalized communities can be especially susceptible to this these feelings. But what is imposter syndrome? Imposter syndrome is a term that was originally coined to define an individual’s fear of being exposed as a fraud despite evidence of their success, competence, or belonging.  People experiencing imposter syndrome may feel like they have deceived or tricked …

ACA Open Enrollment is Here!

Open enrollment for Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans officially opened November 1st and people  have until December 15th to enroll in one of the marketplace plans. This year, because of changes made to budget and politics in Congress, the open enrollment period is much shorter than it has been in past years. At the same time, the budget for advertising to let people know …

Self Care & QPOC Students

  Academia can be a very complicated thing for many people, but especially for QPOC. The influx of new knowledge and ideas can help grow and shape communities. Unfortunately, QPOC students can often feel that their needs are not being met, or that they are being asked to deny certain parts of themselves in order to succeed. Often many of …

Dealing With Allergies

It’s almost that time of year again, where the leaves begin to change color, the weather gets colder, and where fall allergies come back to haunt us. Some people spend all year waiting and wishing for this time of year, while others look to this time of year with displeasure. I think we can all agree that allergies are not …

Breaking Down the Language of HIV & PrEP

New HIV infections in the US continue to be on the rise, and like many other things, our QPOC communities continue to be disproportionately affected. With gay, bi, and queer men of color, and trans women of color being the most impacted by new infections. Recently, there have been an increasing amount of conversations about Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), currently the …

What’s in your grocery bag? By Gbeda Tonya Lyles

Our bodies need food and water to continue to function.  Intuitively we know that all “food’ is not food. How do you shop for quality, nourishment, and longevity? More and more research shows that our food quality is diminishing from mass food production, insecticides, and hormone injections. In addition, good food is limited by pre-selected food availability, the quantity of …