Chelsea Cristene

Thank you, Isolde, for making me pause, for encouraging me to ditch the pocket computer for conversation with someone new.

The first rule: Unrequited love sucks. The second rule took regrettably longer for me to get a handle on: My unilateral crush was not this guy’s problem.

If Trump is right (there’s a first time for everything) and we need to state what a problem is before solving it, then let’s state it now. Radical white terrorism.

Knowing a few compulsive liars over the course of my life has taught me some things. Living during Trump’s presidency has reinforced them.

I reject the insistence that a woman can’t choose what makes her feel beautiful without regard for the judgement of others.

When men’s dating preferences were observed, the age of women they expressed interest in never (never!) deviated from the early 20s.

Wanting a child and wanting to experience childbirth are two very different things.

I realized that allergies, much like mental health, are largely misunderstood and often dismissed as trivial or exaggerated.

Anyone who has been a victim of abuse will tell you that the burden of emotional labor is enormous, and that it’s amplified by the pressure to keep quiet.