What about your friends, will they stand their ground, will they let you down again? What about your friends, are they gonna be lowdown, will they ever be around, or will they turn their backs on you?

What About Your Friends? – TLC

Friendships, like any relationship, needs two people to work on keeping it going. When one person is giving their all, and the other person is just taking what is being given to them, it can make the relationship one-sided. We have all had moments playing both parts, so how should we fix it?

One thing we should do is sit down and tell your friends what you need to make the friendship work. How will your friends know what you need if you are not expressing them? The next thing is setting your boundaries. You have the right to tell your friends what you will or…

I try my best to be very conscious of what I put in and on my body. With that said, I want to share four of many Black-owned personal care brands I love and use that you can buy & support too.

1. Honey Pot is a feminine care brand, powered by a Black woman, 100% natural, infused with essential oils & herbs. These products are also biodegradable and cruelty-free. I have very sensitive skin and have seen a difference using the items pictured.
2. Alaffia, a skin & hair care brand founded by a Black man who uses unrefined shea butter as a base ingredient. This brand also focuses on fair trade and women empowerment in West Africa.
3. Yadain Cultural Solutions is an all-natural herbal body, skin, and hair care solutions brand with raw ingredients. I use many of their body and hair products.
4. Tropic Island Living provides the best…

All the films and novels of dark academia revolves around a group of guys and maybe a girl or two who are minor characters. Dead Poet’s Society, The Goldfinch, The Secret History, Kill Your Darlings all revolve around males. The only female-led dark academia film is Mona Lisa Smile. [edit: since I wrote this post, I’ve watched a few more female-led dark academia films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock and Mary Shelley]. We need to see more women in dark academia! Not just as minor characters or the ‘girlfriend’ or ‘wife’—not that there’s anything wrong with that—but as their own people. A female in relation to the world or another female instead of a female in relation to a male. 

I want to see messy-haired girls, long-haired girls or girls with wavy, chopped bobs. Crimson-stained lips or pale lips, dark eyes with a galaxy…

There are periods in my life when depression takes things away from me. Sometimes it’s a small monster. Sometimes it grows into an uncontrollable force that overshadows my life.

The name is Shellynne. It literally sounds the way it is spelled. Shel – lin. It is two syllables and there is no A. The number of ways my name has been pronounced is probably the only thing that surpasses the number of nationalities people have assumed I represent. Let’s get that one out of the way now. I am American. If people ask me where I’m from, I say Los Angeles. When they ask where my parents are from I say Los Angeles. I think the most recent immigrant in my family was my great-great grandmother who emigrated from Germany.

The most tenacious people usually change tactics after I tell them my parents are from Los Angeles. Then they switch to “where does Shellynne come from?” I tell them it’s made up. Sometimes I share the story of how I’m named after my father’s friend and her parents made…