Many people tend to look at poetry as this big, terrifying entity with hidden meaning waiting to kick you across the face as it taunts you just out of reach. I’m here to tell you to stop doubting yourself. Read a poem; think about how it makes you feel. Read it again,...

A common misconception me and my fellow writing friends thought in high school was that we could only write well when we were inspired. We would go weeks without talking about a new piece of writing we started simply because we weren’t writing. Since beginning...

Would the man, the boy, and the donkey have left the walls of their cozy and sturdy farm if they had known the tragedy that was in store for them that day? Of course they would have. What a silly thing to ask. For what comes from fearing the unknown but empty tummies...

It was a school librarian who first told me comic books and graphic novels weren’t “real books,” exemplifying an attitude that is still all too present in literary circles. While a few serious autobiographical works like Fun Home, Maus, and Persepolis have reached...

So here’s the thing, I’ve got baggage. It’s not cute or quirky, and it doesn’t make me a tortured artist. It gets all jumbled together in the front of my brain where I’m trying to sort through the setting description for the fiction I’m writing (well, trying to...

There’s a more than solid chance that you’ve heard of the names J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan. Or, if you’ve lived under a rock the past two decades, you’ve at least heard of their creations: Harry Potter and Percy Jackson respectively. Bonus if you’ve read both of...

Sometimes finding time to write is tough, especially if you work full-time, or go to school full-time and work a part-time job too. Finding time while doing that is hard, but imagine when you have a child. Time is nonexistent; your day is full of mommy chores and baby...

I remember when I heard Adventure Time was ending. It felt like an invisible hand was squeezing my heart. I stumbled. My vision became blurry. My left arm began to tingle. Everything smelled like burnt almonds. I woke up in a hospital. But what do you care? You don’t...

Hi, my name is Lauren and I swear. (Sorry, Mom and Dad.) Does it have something to do with my being a writer? Because come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever met a writer who doesn’t swear. As my vocabulary has grown larger, the amount of times I’ve been told...

Long ago, before the greater patriarchal regime and its correlated ciscentric literary sphere were erected, humanity existed in relative harmony… but that all changed when the gender binary attacked. Gender—in its entirety, in it’s full spectrum—is especially hard to...

My mom used to gush how she read to me while in her womb, how I kicked when hearing a story. Essentially, I’ve been a reader before I could even read. I’ve also been fat most of my life, and sadly, as a result, I’ve struggled with my self-esteem. Maybe that’s because...

Pursuing a liberal arts degree equips you with all kinds of useful tools that will help you get a job or question the world around you, but did you ever think about how your degree of choice might help you reinterpret your favorite childhood book? With endless lists...