Catherine Gigante-Brown

Catherine Gigante-Brown

Bio

Catherine Gigante-Brown is a freelance writer of fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Her works have appeared in Time Out New York, Essence and Seventeen. She co-wrote two biographies for Prometheus Books and her short stories appear in fiction anthologies. Catherine’s first novel, The El, is available from Volossal Publishing. You can learn more about her on her website.

Catherine Gigante-Brown Articles

Image: NY Post

Love, Candice: A Farewell to Candida Royalle

Candida Royalle pretty much invented couples erotica. She made it socially-acceptable. Respectable. The women in her films looked like real women and had real, comfortable female bodies. And her movies actually had stories. Good stories. She hired her friends—adult legends like Annie Sprinkle, Veronicas Hart and Vera, and Gloria Leonard — to create Femme films too.

Read...

5 Reasons Why I Can't Stand Shakespeare

The hell with his elaborate metaphors and rhetorical phrases. Iambic pentameter is cruel and unusual punishment.

Read...
the beach!

Confession: Bio-Friendly Hotels are Hell!

I know it’s not a politically correct one, but I’ve got a confession to make: earth-friendly hotels stink. There, I said it.

Read...

My Father Never Said I Love You, But I'll Be Different

I realized my father was from a generation that never said those three little words. He was saying he loved me without them. But I didn't realize it then.

Read...
People come in many shades

Earthtones: Proposing A New Way Of Seeing Race

Instead of categorizing people as different colors, I proposed we might begin to think of each other as Earthtones—because our skin colors are based on hues from the earth. Just as the planet is made up of a myriad of shades, it’s still one cohesive entity. We can be thought of as one entity also.

Read...
Credit: Thinkstock

Dear U.S. Government: Keep Your Hands Off Our Boobs!

A new U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation on mammograms ensures more women will die of breast cancer.

Read...
“Your left ovary is fine,” the nurse practitioner told me over the phone. “But you have a cyst the size of an orange on your right ovary.” Image: Cathy Brown.

For The Girls: A Fond Farewell To My Ovaries

I thought cancer was behind me. Until I had a weird pain near my left ovary which lasted for several days. It felt a lot like ovulation...Only, at 56, that train had left the station a long time ago.

Read...
Credit: Thinkstock

How I Learned To Get Naked With Strangers Again After My Mastectomy

I fumbled with my lace bra, hoping my silicone form wouldn't fall out from the left cup. I wasn't exactly ready . . . yet I was.

Read...
My mammogram’s fine. I’m fine. Until next year. But four years and counting, I’ll take the fear, I’ll take the dread, just so I’m still around to feel it again next year.

How I Survive The Worst Day Of The Year (Every Year)

As a breast cancer survivor, the worst day of the year is when I go for my mammogram. True, nobody actually likes mammos, but I’ve been bitten by one. On the way to my annual squishing, I realized that I have a bunch of coping strategies.

Read...

My OCD Kitchen

I’m sure you’ll find it a delicious and well-stocked place. There are just a few rules

Read...