suicide

I wasn’t thankful. I was too negative. I wasn’t doing enough. When I found out my mood swings weren't my fault, that I had bipolar disorder, I cried.

Am I misrepresenting? Am I misunderstanding? Am I misremembering?

Without the destigmatization that occurs when an illness is deemed legitimate, America loses more lives to suicide. Without legislation that protects its constituents, America loses more lives to suicide. The common denominator here is loss, and unfortunately that loss will grow exponentially if the United States fails to see the suicide epidemic for what it is.

Three of my favorite t-shirts used to belong to dead people. I wear them when I want to feel my departed loved ones close to me.

Here’s the thing about depression: it cycles. Even when I’m on medication, going to therapy and doing everything I’m able to do in order to stay healthy and keep it at bay, it bleeds in and out of my soul.

My last name links me to my father. Every time I see it, every time I write it down, I think of him. It helps me keep him alive in my soul, and it makes me feel like I’m carrying a part of him with me wherever I go.

Heavy things, especially those involving teenagers, ought to be discussed around the table or on the sofa.

Some human rights campaigners argue that now is an important time to scrutinize federal funding of highly-militarized police trainings in the Miami area that may contribute to surrounding police agencies’ aggressive tactics.