Larada
Favorite writer: is Nikki Giovanni
Favorite sex scene: is any sex scene in Insecure because they are super realistic!
Posts By: Larada Lee
Who’s Right Is It Anyway?: My Thoughts on Abortion Access and a world beyond Roe V. Wade
As I sat and reflected on Roe V. Wade, on what happened to be the 48th anniversary of the landmark United States Supreme Court case, I realized that I am overcome with a sense of incompleteness. I thought of how legality renders itself useless when access is not at the forefront of abortion care as well. Over the years, I have grown a massive disdain for the reproductive rights movement in the US for this specific reason. Aside from being primarily lead by and centering cisgender, heterosexual, middle-class white women (as if that’s not the sole deal breaker), there has been very minimal effort and progress in addressing all of the barriers to seeking an abortion. The distinctions couldn’t have made themselves more apparent as I scrolled down all of… Read more »
Resonance is Radical
If you were to ask me a month ago what the most fundamental aspect of relationship building is, I would’ve said relatability- aside from intentionality. Relatability helps us build connection and understanding within our interpersonal relationships, in a hyper-individualistic and capitalistic world that leads many of us to believe that our struggles are solely our own to bare. Sometimes, in moments of distress or uncertainty, simply hearing “I can relate to that because…” can move us to be more open and transparent about our struggles. As someone who has endured a great deal of hardship, trauma, and calamity, I find myself connecting with people through those shared experiences often. To me, relatability has always been synonymous with comfort. By being relatable, I believed I was doing a fine job at… Read more »
Abortion: But Make It Positive (and Destigmatized)
“I never thought of you as someone who would make such a decision” were the words that were uttered to me in such a disbelieving and disapproving tone by one of the most trusted and beloved elders in my life. These words came after I revealed to them that I was 5 weeks pregnant and getting an abortion. This statement was bothersome for a multitude of reasons. The primary one being that while it occurred during a one on one conversation, it also echoed the sentiments of so many others that also take a larger role in collectively stigmatizing abortion. In translation, this individual really was saying “ I never pegged someone like you, who is such a staunch supporter of social justice and civil rights, to be a baby… Read more »
Learning to Truly Love
“Love is the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth. Love is as love does. Love is an act of will–namely, both an intention and an action.” – bell hooks, All About Love: New Visions. This summer I found myself having seemingly challenging internal and external conversations about love, what it actually is, and what it looks like when enacted. I deem these conversations challenging because that is exactly what they were in all of their essences due to the vulnerability, raw compassion, and overall perception shift they activated. At the height of my summer, I began reading a series of works by some of my own personal and most beloved Black revolutionaries and writers in an effort to become more… Read more »
