Catherine Gigante-Brown

At first, I felt like an abandoned ten-year-old, dropped off at a remote summer camp—with the extra added attraction of no cell phone reception or Wi-Fi. I thought the hardest part of the weekend was going to be picking out a robe. Boy, was I wrong!

I left Cuba in 1949, when I was 11 years old. Back then, I didn't understand why my mother sent me away. I still don't.

Makeup and I have always had a love/hate relationship: I love it; it hates me.

Content Notice: Death

I’m boycotting you until you start recognizing breast cancer survivors like me by carrying mastectomy bras.

Being a little bit chubby is better than being a lot dead.

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.

Although America’s “lying in period” fell by the wayside in the 19th century with the disappearance of the frontier, it’s alive and well today in many cultures globally. Seclusion traditions where both mother and child recover and bond are still the norm in many cultures worldwide.

Why, when I'm cool with being a salt-and-pepper chick, does it so clearly unnerve others?

The santero sent us off with a shopping list of ite