just alyssa

Someday in my future I may have children and I can’t help but look at this world and worry about what kind of parent I’ll be or how I won’t be able to save my child from the hurt and pain of being human. Even in all my worry, I know I don’t have to have a “perfect plan”, because life has its own way of working out in the end…but just in case… If I should have a daughter,  I’d want her to know that the world is imperfect. I’ll want her to look up with those big blue eyes that she’ll get from me and pray she sees something else in the world. I’ll teach her to carry rainboots, even on the driest days so that she never fears the rain.   I wouldn’t let her try to be everyone else’s anchor or the captain of the ship. Instead, I’ll show her how to be a shipmate, helping others politely without ever being power hungry or sacrificing herself for the sake of the ship. I’ll teach her to be her own ship. I’ll show her that words can be a cage if guarded too much. I...

If I had to choose a word that I hate the most, it wouldn’t be “sorry” or “moist”.   It wouldn’t even be hate. It would be… almost. While “sorry” and “hate” fill us with sadness and while “moist” is mostly just gross, “almost” is the disconnect between us and success. It’s a word that describes coming just close enough to something beautiful, before falling short. I have always been extremely independent, partly due to being a feminist, but also because I was raised to take care of myself. I’ve never once wanted to be taken care of and the idea has always seemed silly. This has been a slight challenge as I’ve gotten older. I have spent a good two years swimming in the rough waters of what is today’s dating world and I can’t say I’m getting any better at it. What I’ve realized about relationships is that I’ve never wanted it to be about labels or following a timeline. I have never relished in taking selfies with a guy to broadcast on social media or updating a ...

Being a feminist has been a great thing for me, but also a huge challenge. Feminism, by definition, is the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. That means that women deserve equal rights TO men. This does not make women dominant over men. It does not oppress men. It does not mean that women are worth more than men. Feminism is about equality. There were three waves of feminism, each having meant very different things in society. The first wave of feminism was for women’s suffrage. Women wanted the right to vote. They wanted to feel like they had some semblance of power over who was in control of their government. After women received the right to vote, many women felt they were done. They did not push the issue. However, other women became outraged that men still held all the power. Thus leading to second wave feminism. Second wave feminism is the one we all hate. Even today’s feminists. Second wave feminism was the era of br...