Lifestyle Category

A gig, a joint, a position, a role, a racket, a profession, a grind, they’re all still a job. Employment. If you’re a creative type, living in the rust belt, or were as foolish as our staff and majored in liberal arts, you’ve probably found yourself unemployed or scrambling from project to project in this post-career employment economy. At some point you’ll have to make ends meet and this will mean one thing: working for someone else. And if your only skills take place outside of cyberspace, or you speakRead More

1. The Dysfunctional Teenager This person is the person who gets stoned before every big school event just to see how different it is compared to the times they went sober. Their mother is done raising them, and says things like, “I’m done! There’s nothing left for me to teach you!” They’re probably into really artsy, expressive things, and are insanely talented. They dabble in any and all forms of art, and somehow still make it thoughtful and art show worthy. They know all the good music, the good concerts, theRead More

Others notice it, or recognize the absence of it.  That silent “R” that Bostonians leave out when speaking.  When you hear it, or don’t, that’s when you know you’ve stepped into the greater Boston area.   You’re now in “Boston Strong” territory. I have no problem screaming at the top of my lungs that I was born and raised in California.  We’re all from somewhere, and yes, I’m extremely proud to be a California Girl, but there’s something about saying I live in Boston that causes a smile that I didn’tRead More

I close my eyes and images appear in my mind. They’re ones I haven’t conjured up. They’re immediate and ugly and ferocious — a dismembered arm, a spider crawling outwards from an eye with its silky, black legs, and a red hourglass on its belly. I can’t sleep. Sometimes I wish I was a hamster. Hamsters are nocturnal, after all, and this sleeplessness at night would then be acceptable. I take a deep breath. (The kind that cracks your spine in a few places at once, but doesn’t calm youRead More

Family. Six letters, three syllables. We all have it in some way, shape, or form. Some people say it’s the people who are there from birth until death do you part, amen, forever. Some people say it’s the people who support you and love you. Both sets of people are right, of course, but the fact is that your family isn’t just what they have in mind– that the group of people who buy birthday cakes and hang your picture on their wall don’t have to be the people whoRead More

If you’re like me– sixteen and thrust into a grown up world of taxes and employment before you even graduate– then you’re probably internally dying over taxes, employment, and what in God’s name the powerhouse of the cell is…because you have a biology test next week and you have no idea. If you’re not like me, congratulations, because you still have a soul hidden from the rudest people in mankind and the desperate urge to sleep. Juggling this all would’ve been easier with a handy guide to navigating the intricaciesRead More

I’ve been in low places, like on the floor — in a matching sweat suit that wasn’t mine. While crying and kicking my feet, a teensy bit, like a two year-old in the peak of his tantrum. And the matching sweat suit was gray and didn’t belong to me and was the kind you purchase at Target in the men’s section for $11.99. And it belonged to my decently androgynous roommate who dated a pretty androgynous woman who wore the same kind of underwear. And when they walked by onRead More

I never thought I would be exchanging battle stories with my dad when it comes to the War of Love. He’s probably thinking the exact same thing. Not that it’s brag worthy, but my dad was going out on more dates than me at one point. We never expected to be in this situation, but after losing my mom to cancer over two years ago, we find dating to be a normal topic of discussion now. Sometimes it’s hilarious and other times it’s just weird. For better or for worse,Read More

So, I have kind of a problem with impulse control. If I see a cute (insert item of clothing here), and it’s not that expensive, I’ll usually buy it without much thought to whether it fits into my budget (lol, what’s a budget), or whether it fits into my wardrobe (but it’s cute! Who cares if I never wear it?) It’s something that I’m trying to work on. This past month I tried to go shopping-free, as in, I tried not to buy anything, except for food and toiletries (notRead More

It’s easy to always put the blame on your end, to think and assume that every fiasco is because of your doing, to just apologize even when it’s beyond your control. You have grown so attached to the notion that saying sorry will always make up for things, will always restore them back to how they are. I regret to break this to you but no, ‘sorry’ isn’t a magic word you can just blurt out to get things working how they used to be. You have to realize thatRead More

“Everyone in the neighborhood rejoices?” or “A bunch of meatheads have to look for something else to talk about?” you’re probably thinking. You’re right, there’s a tremendous and well-deserved reputation for Crossfit gyms to be full of braggadocios who are constantly throwing around jargon like “WOD,” “PR,” “AMRAP,” and the like. The Crossfit experience has definitely bred these things into members, but what it’s also bred is what’s given rise to the cultish following: fitness, healthy habits, weight loss. I can already feel your eyes rolling at your computer screen,Read More

While we all eagerly wait for Jesus to once again pop up from the dead (and doesn’t he take his sweet time), like the most anticipated pop tart that a hungry morning ever saw, our Catholic mothers have been reminding us for ages (or maybe just a week) to decide the Thing we will give up for Lent. This Thing is something of great importance, as we will all publicly post about it in order to be held accountable. With this sacrifice, there is a great chasm between what mother/JesusRead More

I pulled back the drapes, my drapes, white and wilted. Fog lied ferociously across the glass. And lonely, little drops of condensation were flung about. Ignorant, because they weren’t alone, but part of a larger collection of one morning. I was intrigued that I could do that myself. It didn’t take the breath of two bodies: one slightly cigarette scented and the other certain. It didn’t take sex. It didn’t take a whole night’s sleep of spooning and swaying under shoved down sheets. Just me. In the middle of my bed. WithoutRead More

As the economy teeters back from it’s near seven-year dance of riding on a single rail companies are once again starting to hire. And with so many eager participants to no longer be underemployed, HR departments are barely treading water above a deluge of applications. This perfect storm has given birth to the unhallowed beastie of employment-seeking, the kraken of job-getting: the group interview. In the wide and awkward world of acutely uncomfortable moments that is attaining employment, there is almost no greater circus of discomfort than the group interview. ARead More

I am in a transition phase. One where I’m not single, but I’m not in a relationship either. This means that I do not want a boyfriend, or someone exclusive, or a relationship for a long, long time. I am at that point in my life where I actually need to focus on me. I barely came out of my last relationship in one piece so I need to work on putting myself back together, and figuring out who I am. It is for this reason, and this reason only,Read More