There’s a Place for Me

The Prompt: Tell us about a time when you felt out of place. A few quick anecdotes. When I started graduate school at Pitt in the School of Social Work, the other students in the Community Organizing track included about a half-dozen fresh from college folks in their early 20s. There was another half-dozen or […]

Why Ledcat Is Precious To Me

The Prompt: What do you love most about yourself? What do you love most about your favorite person? Are the two connected? About myself? Ha, that’s some interesting timing. This has been an intense week for me on multiple fronts and I’m not feeling much in the way of self-love. I tried all my tricks yesterday […]

Saturday Memory: Television Series “Family”

Family was a groundbreaking 60 minute drama that ran from 1976-1980 on ABC. The show centered around the Lawrence Family – Kate and Doug Lawrence and their three children – Nancy, Willie and Buddy who lived the quintessential middle class life in California. The show covered some daring topics – alcoholism, dementia, divorce/infidelity and even a […]

Five Ways to Help Someone Quit Beating Up On Themselves

The Prompt: If you could quit one bad habit instantly without difficulty, which would it be? Putting myself down. When you grow up in a fractured fairytale, you internalize a lot of negative messages that aren’t even necessarily about you – and when you are bullied and abused by your peers, it is worse. Not only […]

City Councilman Burgess Doesn’t Seem To Think LGBTQ Identity Reflects Diversity

City Councilman Ricky Burgess believes – nay, insists – that the next President of City Council be a person of color. And he’s willing to step up to the challenge.  Burgess notably the only member of that body who refuses to sign the Pridefest Proclamation because Pride is too “sexualized” has also historically  ignored the […]

CBS Program “Mike and Molly” Says F*ck You To LGBT Community

Last season, the hit CBS sitcom “Mike and Molly” went astray with two jokes about transgender women, specifically using the slur “shemale.” That very same weekend, a movie starring Melissa McCarthy used another slur, “tranny.” Trish provided some brilliant insight into exactly why these terms are slurs and not fodder for humor, especially on CBS […]

A Long Time Ago In a Graduate School Far, Far Away

The Prompt: Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home. The furthest I’ve been distance wise has been Western Texas – it was part of a several week “road trip” we took in graduate school. That experience was almost surreal – being chased by a wild boar, riding in a row-boat across the […]

Pittsburgh Bloggers Night at OUTrageous Bingo Set For December 7

OUTrageous Bingo will celebrate 16 years of raising funds to support Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ Community Center (the GLCC) and Shepherd Wellness Community at their upcoming event on Saturday, December 7, 2013. And the bloggers will be there to help make a little history. We’ll have a table to play together and cheer on our very own […]

Five Things In My Fridge Right Now

The Prompt: Name five things inside your refrigerator right now and how you feel about them. I selected the first items I noticed when I opened the fridge. Hummus – I <3 hummus. I’d say we keep it in stock, but that’s not accurate – we eat it as fast as we bring it into the […]

Let’s Remember Teens Can Be Lonely at The Holidays, Too

When I worked for a foster care agency, it used to break my heart that the teens were often lost in the system. And as the person who organized the holiday projects, it fell to me to figure out how to solicit donations appropriate for their age group. This is not easy. Most programs are […]