Once upon a time, The Girl with the Tree Tattoo posted about the difference between being someone’s friend and being friendly. Your ballroom dance teacher, she argued, isn’t your friend; he or she is being friendly, because ballroom is a business. Your teacher is part of your dance journey, not your whole life.
Image created by 1:1000.
“Video games of varying genres shaped my childhood, but none more so than the Harvest Moon series – which (accidentally) introduced me to characters that broke the gender norms I’d come to accept as facts.”
Check out my recent publication at Pop Culture Uncovered!
Scientific studies laud video games for the variety of real-world benefits they offer players, ranging from neurologically combatting depression to restructuring the way we think. When it comes to gender, though, we rarely hear good news; it’s easy to find discussions on the sexualization of female characters and the harassment faced by cosplayers who dress as these characters.
But that doesn’t mean that there are only negative stories. Video games of varying genres shaped my childhood, but none more so than the Harvest Moon series – which (accidentally) introduced me to characters that broke the gender norms I’d come to accept as facts.
Girls and Flowers
Also known as Story of Seasons, Harvest Moon is a franchise built on a simple premise: your character has decided to revive a derelict farm. Your main goals consist of planting and watering crops, caring for livestock, and creating a life in…
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Good news, everyone! My second guest post has just gone live. Check it out on Psych Perspectives. 🙂
Good news, everyone! It’s my very first guest post 🙂 Check it out below!
{Hello to all my readers. This post was written by a very talented fellow blogger, Natalie. I know that I have readers out there that will really enjoy this very insightful post. Happy reading :)}
Let’s talk about sexism.
It sounds simple: there are boys and there are girls, and everyone should be treated equally. Telling women they should have children instead of work? Sexist. Telling men they shouldn’t show emotion or cry – ever? Also sexist. And pressuring girls to wear pink and boys to wear blue? See previous statements.
No one wants to admit that they might be sexist, but maybe we, as a society, need to talk about. I confess – I’m a recovering sexist.
Image Credit: Chris Murphy, creative commons
If I had to summarize my personality in one word, I’d choose “tomboy.” In high school, I played competitive tennis. In college, I bought a…
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[2018 update: Unfortunately this journal is no longer available online. Thank you everyone for your support!]
Flashback: In 2014, I was finishing my undergraduate studies, feeling pretty unsure about my future. My university’s literature magazine had rejected every piece I sent. Should I bother pursuing writing further? Did I need to go to grad school to succeed? Should I get a day job and write on the side? Up until this point, my life had been decided for me: go to school, do some homework, repeat. I had no idea what to do now that I could make my own decisions. Continue reading
1:1000 is a unique journal that pairs stories and essay with images — a new turn on the cliché “A picture is worth a thousand words.” And the most exciting part? As of today, my newest short fiction piece about gender is available with them — “The Power of Water” — paired with Kayla King’s gorgeous river shot. Woohoo!
You can check it out here. Let’s show 1:1000 some love! 🙂
Image courtesy of 1:1000
“Is this real life? Is it just fantasy?”
This has been one of those weeks that can’t possibly be real. Queen, it must be fantasy.
Yesterday, I found out that Nanoism accepted my twitter fiction. Today, MTV accepted my essay on overcoming gender stereotypes, “Confessions from an Ex-Sexist.”
Woohoo! What an awesome start to the week (and to April).
Check out my short article here. Let’s show MTV some love 🙂
Something exciting happened this weekend: Nanoism accepted my Twitter fiction submission.
Woohoo!
Twitter fiction is the ultimate flash fiction: the entire story must fit within the space of a single tweet (that’s 160 characters). While taking a break from my dirt bike novel, I’ve worked on a couple short pieces, but this is one of my favorites.
Check it out here. 🙂 Enjoy your Monday, everyone!
I don’t normally publish twice in one week, but this is too exciting to skip — I’ve been sending out a lot of submissions lately to different online and print fiction magazines. One of the sites I sent to was Shotgun Honey. They accept crime fiction stories of less than 700 words. I read crime fiction in school, but I’d never written any myself, so I figured, what the heck, let’s try it out. It was a difficult piece to write, because it was far out of my comfort zone — I like writing stories that deal with gender stereotypes, and the piece I wrote had nothing to do with that.
However, I’m really glad I pushed my boundaries, because my flash fiction piece “The Hunt” went live today on Shotgun Honey. Woo-hoo!
You can check it out here. 🙂
