Christine Stoddard

Christine Stoddard

Bio

Originally from Virginia, Christine Stoddard is a Salvadoran-Scottish-American writer and artist. She also is the founding editor of Quail Bell Magazine, a place for real and unreal stories from around the world. Her art and stories have appeared in Cosmopolitan, Bustle,The Huffington Post, Vivala, The Feminist Wire, the New York Transit Museum, Philly Fringe Fest, and beyond. She also is the author of Hispanic and Latino Heritage in Virginia (The History Press, 2016). In 2014, Folio Magazine named Christine one of the media industry's top visionaries in their 20s.

Christine Stoddard Articles

Illustrations by Ajah Courts (http://cargocollective.com/ajahcourts/Quail-Bell)

China Street: Fiction From Quail Bell Magazine

The moon sauntered out from a curtain of clouds, whispering, “All things must end.”

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Image: WordsmithChristine.com

9 Obstacles That Moms In Freddie Gray's Neighborhood Face

I recently spent some time in Freddie Gray's West Baltimore neighborhood asking local women for their thoughts on police reform. I was curious because, as the Freddie Gray trials drag on, I can't help but feel that city and state officials are failing to ask everyday people what needs to change.

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Image: Thinkstock

Living In The South As A Non-Black Mixed-Race Person

Fielding off-putting questions and comments is a regular part of the mixed-race experience around the world. Yet this social phenomenon is especially common in places with a legacy of institutionalized and cultural racism. That includes the South.

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Social media notoriously gives its users the opportunity to present their lives as perfect and conflict-free. Image: Thinkstock.

My Friend's Instagram Post About Her Miscarriage Changed How I See Social Media

I scrolled through my Instagram feed to catch a photo of a friend’s first tattoo. It was an abstract design that paid homage to her wedding venue, a distinctive historic site in her home state. The tattoo seemed sweet at first, but then I read the photo caption. My friend had gotten inked to honor the child she lost in miscarriage.

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image credit: Thinkstock

Love It? Hate It? Vocal Fry Is Everywhere

I cringe when Kim Kardashian opens her pouty lips because I know the onslaught of vocal fry

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We can proud of our ancestors without claiming to be them. Image: Isaias Silva Pinto/Pixabay.

I Have Indigenous Blood — But I'm Not Indigenous

Indigenous people throughout the world already face so many challenges; they don’t need non-Indigenous people appropriating their cultures and championing family lore as fact. The genocide of Indigenous people is an ongoing travesty throughout the world

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What we cannot afford to do is spread more hate, especially among our own people.

I Won’t Resent The Latinx Folks Who Voted For Trump

In the weeks since Election Day, I’ve come to realize that while I’m entitled to my feelings, resenting the Latinx folks who voted for Trump is not a productive use of my time.

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It really had been a perfect day. Image: Andrew Itaga/Unsplash.

I Was Shamed For My Budget Wedding, But I Have No Regrets

Some people think that the size and budget of your wedding reflect how much love you and your partner have for each other: The bigger the wedding, the bigger the love. On the other hand, my father likes to joke, “The bigger the wedding, the bigger the divorce.”

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Patsy Cline and husband Charlie Dick's graves in Shenandoah Memorial Park, VA. Image: Sarah Stierch (CC BY 4.0)

Visiting The Grave Of Patsy Cline, A Hero I Didn't Know I Had

[CN: mention of intimate partner violence] Patsy Cline sang with such a beautiful range of emotion because she had experienced so many ups and downs in her own life.

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By the end of the first haunted house rehearsal, I knew the job would truly test my abilities to carry my body and voice well.

 Working At A Haunted House Was Better Than Therapy 

Before I became a haunted house performer, I thought having my face touched was one of the creepiest things imaginable. But it wasn't the eerie set music or the beheaded baby dolls that changed my definition of scary. It was what went on in the green room.

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