It was seven when it was proposed whiteness was my external motivation. My dark skin tone was something I was going to hate and the community around me let me know it was expected of me. I was eleven when my openly paler aunt accused me of being the family…

I was holding an official check for $4900 when my leaseholder informed me that he would do what he can to help me move out of the property. I did not mention the check I was holding as twelve hours earlier, this same individual promised to put me into a…

I have not been excited about becoming an adult. Akin to looking for friends, I was not eager to look for a job. In my teens, a sarcastic print in my grandmother’s fridge attached the desire to be an adult with getting a job, moving out, and paying my own…

“Do you need a hug?” Was something I told my new roommate when she had a moment to talk. It caught me off guard that my casual conversation made her cry a bit but with COVID reaching a year anniversary, it was something I had not needed to consider offering…

I have been a renter of residences on and off since I chose to move away for college. There have been variants of that choice that have impacted my behavior when signing a lease or in the past three years, a rental agreement. I have enjoyed cohabitating in some capacity…

The last time I slept in my booty call’s bed, I was alone. It was not the routine of our arrangement- satisfying an itch when they felt the urge to flirt with me. I did mind it. It was the bare minimum I could emotionally afford when ad after thoughtful…

$1200. That is what comes to mind when I think about my last relationship. Is it the main thing I reflect on? No. It is what I recall as a waste of money and what being in a relationship stole from my financial situation while dating. Was the money worth…

One of the first things tsunami mentioned to me the first time we shared a table was the admission that I am ‘real’. While the comment was made in the form of a compliment, the choice of words bothered me in some capacity- how can I not be real? I…

If there is something that I need to accept for my future with my tsunami is that I will not be alone in bed with me and my laptop being practicing lonely tactics like listening to TV. It is not something that will come naturally or fills me with dread…