Jeanne Joe Perrone

Lent is serious. I mean, it starts with people putting ashes on their faces while someone chants, "Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return," and then it ends with Jesus being tortured to death and then coming back to life. Yikes. I mean, I know we don’t have the monopoly on intense religious traditions, but dang, we Christians sure know how to party/freak out 6-year olds.

Rejection happens to everyone, in some way: Your kindergarten crush who called you gross, someone you love rejecting your identity, losing a job or a lover.

Family holidays typically mean 2-3 bottles of wine a day between three people, and that’s not counting the vodka. So this year, I am asking myself this serious question: How can I drink less and celebrate like a freaking grown-up instead of recreating Santacon in my living room?

Valentine's Day is upon us and the topic of love is ubiquitous. Even if you wanted to, you can't escape the pink hearts, gender normative clichés, and doe-eyed couples.

Once I was a good Christian woman. I was president of the abstinence club; now I support Planned Parenthood. How did I go from an evangelical Christian upbringing to this total change of heart? Do I want to make Jesus cry? What happened to me!?!

It has also happened to countless others from every culture and time in human history: Sleep paralysis, a fairly common sleep disorder that has almost always been associated with supernatural horror.

I was drowning in stuff, and felt constantly tired — even though I’d made an art out of trading in my old clothes at secondhand stores, minimizing expenses, and sharing apartments with strangers. Something felt fiscally oppressive despite the fact that I’ve never owned a house, a car, or anything larger than my bed.

Let’s talk about sex — Sex and the City, that is. (Wink wink, groan groan.)

When I was in third grade, my parents got divorced. My mom went back to school full-time in the hopes of beginning a new career that would support us. Oddly, this was one of the richest years of my life; my world split and shifted on its axis, and yet somehow didn’t knock me over — thanks to a SHEro (or two).

...for two years of my adult life, I didn’t date — at all. On purpose.