Monthly Archives: March 2022

I have a confession: As a woman and a feminist, I have felt a tinge of apathy - bordering on annoyance - towards Women's History Month. I've never shared this thought, even privately. I appreciate its existence. I believe it has value. So what's the problem? I think it feels like the bare minimum. As we enter a 5th wave of feminism - which we’ll all encounter regardless of our individual feelings or awareness of feminism - we are being challenged to upend long-held truths. You may have already felt this change. We are trading the traditional, male lens of history that values an unending record of battles, inventions, and clever or powerful individuals... with one that reexamines changing tides with a holistic appreciation for the effect those times had on a vast spectrum of peoples... Children. Families. Indigenous peoples. Traditionally marginalized folks of all stripes. We are challenged to grant them dignity by amplifying their voice in the records of the past. ...

I always knew that I had the heart to help people, but I was not clear on the path to go about it. When I think back to how I got where I am, I am often taken back to this specific time. I was a first-year at Arcadia University and I was opening a bank account for the first time all by myself. I do not remember a lot of it. It was such a mundane errand to run, but what I do remember is a conversation that I had with the bank teller. She was asking me what my major was and I told her that I wanted to go into a trauma counseling field. Then, she asked me if I experienced anything similar to what they have. I told her no. She shifted into a more serious tone and asked me how I was going to relate to anything that they tell me if I have not gone through it. That one conversation made me question my decisions. How was I going to counsel if I could never relate? Now, I am a mental health counselor intern at a high school in Philadelphia. After spending some time learning my way around and getting to know some of the youth, they have started to open up to me ...