Category: Personal Stories

Why is Taylor Swift so popular? The karmic genius that led to her success.

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Taylor Swift’s 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department,”  announcement at the 2024 Grammy Awards is cosmic-level for this Swiftie.

By Emily Laptad

CW: Mention of domestic abuse/violence, complex trauma, and childhood trauma.

On October 22, 2022, I woke up to listen to the bonus tracks on Taylor Swift’s tenth studio album, Midnights (3am Edition). It was a spiritual experience that nudged my personal life story in a direction I never saw coming when the lyrics, “Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first,” crooned through my earbuds as I listened to “Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve” for the first time.

So, it’s fitting that it’s 3 a.m. now as I try to weave together the words to illustrate just how much the historical popstar, musical mastermind, and 14-time Grammy Award Winner means to me—and so many other Swifties too. This particular editorial has been in the making for over a year now, and after tossing and turning over the shear dismay that Taylor blindsided the Swifties with a brand new album, The Tortured Poets Department, that’s coming out on April 19 (we all thought we were getting reputation (Taylor’s Version) instead) now felt like a better time than ever.

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How Lewis Capaldi Made Me Feel Less Alone in My Mental Health Journey

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By Erin Gabriel

My sister has the biggest crush on Lewis Capaldi, the Scottish singer-songwriter who first gained attention in 2017 with his debut single and viral hit Bruises. If you’ve been living under a rock and don’t know who he is (I am speaking to my 30-something millennial cousins who had no idea who he was) here is a photo for reference:

Sex icon, amiright? At this point, my sister would quote the viral TikTok sound, “That’s mine. I’ma stick beside him.” Anywho, I regress…

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Get Intimate with Intimacy Coach Beth Darling

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By Nicole Mitchell
Design by Whitney Young

After spending 15 years as a divorce lawyer—dealing with marriage counselors, understanding affairs, and finalizing relationships—Beth Darling decided it was time to change. 

When Darling’s own 20-year relationship ended, she decided her new goal was to help couples stay together and keep their love alive. “Rather than trying to make the journey of separation an amicable one,” Darling shares on her website, “I wanted to help couples stay together. I wanted to see love not only survive but thrive.”

In her new book, The 5 Kinds of Intimacy: How to Keep Your Love Alive, Darling shares a no-bullshit approach to creating a happy and satisfying relationship. Coming from the eyes of a hopeless romantic with a background in law, this book is a must-read for anyone in a relationship—whether you’re struggling to keep the passion alive or you’re still in the honeymoon phase. We did a Q&A with Darling about what she’s been up to.

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To be a woman takes guts

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By Kelcie McKenney

This poem was first published in Tessellation, a poetry and photography zine with all proceeds benefiting Barrier Babes—a Kansas City nonprofit that strives to promote inclusive and unapologetic sexual health education. Read more about the project.

To be a woman takes guts
Guts that leave blood stains on silk dresses and middle school seats
Guts that spill when you share the name of your crush at a slumber party after too much mountain dew and nail polish remover
Guts that leave a cold stain down your thigh after one missed period

To be a woman takes guts
It’s standing up for yourself after the room has spent the whole meeting talking over you
It’s learning to walk back to your car with keys between your knuckles every night
Its wiping the mascara from under your eyes and telling the reflection you can be both soft and strong

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How Caley Rose Uses Her Music as a Form of Empowerment

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By Nicole Mitchell

Caley Rose is a female empowerment pop singer of four years—and she’s just getting started. So far, her music has been in commercials, she’s been streaming her music creation, her single “GAME OVER” is on the Billboard charts, and, coming up soon, Rose will be performing at an event this Saturday in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

While Rose has been booked and busy regarding her music career recently, it wasn’t always that way. “I was always a singer,” she said. “But I got lost along the way and took some detours.” Her original end goal was to join Broadway as a performer. “However, if I was honest with myself, I really just wanted to do pop music.”

It took Rose a while into her music career to make the switch to pop. “I was working with different producers, and I wasn’t a songwriter,” she said. At the time, Rose followed the lead of what her songwriters wanted her music to sound like. “It wasn’t until four years ago that I started songwriting,” she explained. “Once I realized myself as a writer, I saw myself as a singer.”

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