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Health+Wellness

Mental Health in the Age of Social Media

Posted on January 29, 2020
A photo of social media icons.

I grew up in a time before social media. As fantastical as it sounds, there was a time before social media existed, where all socializing happened live and in person. Relationships were developed through physical and organic interaction—the old-fashioned way of getting to know someone. Bonds were built slowly and solidified over time. But as social media platforms and apps have entered the scene over the last two decades, the ways we connect were transformed, shifting to focus on increasing…

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On Spiritual Teachers: Having Them and Being Them

Posted on January 17, 2020
A photo of Rumi, spiritual teachers.

By Kelly M. Marshall I never set out to walk the path of a teacher. When I committed to yoga as my primary spiritual discipline, I was an anxious, depressed, dumpster fire of a human being. My relationship with myself and any changes I made before that day were motivated by shame, fear, and perfectionism. I wore myself out trying to fit the mold of what I thought a worthy and good human being looked like. It was through the path of yoga that…

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Emergent Pathways: Houstonian Dr. Kaden J. Stanley Offers Trans-Centered Mental Health Services

Posted on November 27, 2019
A photo of Emergent Pathways owner Dr. Kaden J. Stanley.

Houston-native Dr. Kaden J. Stanley comes from a family that greatly values higher education. He spent his childhood cheering for his North Carolinian parents’ Atlantic Coast Conference basketball teams and dreamed of, one day, becoming a Duke Blue Devil himself. In the sixth grade, Stanley and his parents agreed that he would continue his schooling at a college preparatory academy. The school he would attend from sixth through twelfth grade was, as Stanley describes, southern Baptist and radically fundamentalist—Senator Ted…

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Opinion: On The Need for Trans-Inclusive Abortion and Healthcare Services

Posted on November 21, 2019
A photo of trans-inclusive healthcare.

Abortion is a polarizing issue, but every person who can conceive a child is worthy and capable of making the private decision whether or not to have the procedure. Historically, the anti-abortion crusade has been heavily targeted toward cisgender women. Yet, cisgender women are not the only people who can get pregnant or receive an abortion—many transgender men, intersex, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people can too.…

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Need A Therapist? There’s A Quiz for That

Posted on October 7, 2019

I think the last time I took an online quiz, it was to see what kind of hot dog I was. Spoiler alert, I’m a Chicago-style dog. While these benign online quizzes, first made famous by Buzzfeed, have become popular for passing the time (and escaping from the inundation of celebrity pop culture and political scandals), Houstonian Ryan Schwartz has created one that is actually here to help.…

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Queering The Enneagram: Self-awareness is the Original Queer Super Power

Posted on May 13, 2019
A photo of queering the enneagram.

I was raised as a little girl in the Midwest, but I never quite fit the mold. I found myself adventuring through the woods and spending hours in the Walmart toy aisles, fawning over the hot wheels, Star Wars, and Legos, all the while knowing I was “behind enemy lines.” I prepared back stories about shopping for a brother or a classmate’s birthday, knowing full well the truth would be unacceptable. Self-awareness came early for me, as it does for…

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Let’s Set The Record Straight—Abuse Doesn’t Make You Gay

Posted on April 23, 2019
A photo of a queer survivor of abuse.

To this day, one of the most common misconceptions I hear in both my classes and from my well-educated non-queer colleagues (one that I actually addressed in my 2015 doctoral dissertation) is that being LGBTQ is not always a normal, naturally occurring identity. Instead, it is the result of abuse. I am both terrified and frustrated to no end that this myth—that abuse can “make you gay”—is still very much alive and well. I am in awe of how many…

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Shifting the Medical Paradigm: Intersex Activist Pidgeon Pagonis Headlines LGBTQI+ Health Week at UTMB

Posted on March 18, 2019
A photo of intersex activist Pidgeon Pagonis.

“There are alternatives to what society tells you that you have to be,” muses Chicago-based intersex activist Pidgeon Pagonis as we discuss their upcoming speaking engagements at LGBTQI+ Health Week at The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, Texas. The mantra was passed onto them by their aunt—a rebellious woman who defied gender norms long before Pagonis discovered and embraced their own identity. Pagonis’ father, unapologetic in his own right, also taught them that you don’t always have…

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