In many families with African bloodlines, rejection of natural hair is passed down from generation to generation. Mothers teach their daughters to “fix their hair,” and daughters learn to fear for their own children’s hair. Elizabeth Acevedo has had it with this family tradition. Watch her embrace the possibility of having daughters with natural hair in this spoken word poem.

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Do you believe your communities are safe and welcoming for all? This comic shows some of the ways you can tell if not everyone feels that way. This practical information is vital to our understanding of why intersectionality is a priority. It’s not about you being a good or bad person, but having better tools – so here are the tools you need to create safer spaces.

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For years I was like a lot of Americans who list “LOSE WEIGHT” as their top new year’s priority. But what if I told you that the current you was actually pretty awesome and you didn’t in fact need a you-replacement? Rather than pursuing a new YOU this year, try pursuing a new VIEW, where you already have the perfect body to have the best new year imaginable.

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With the repeated images of real life violence, including the Boston marathon tragedy, children’s (and adults’) emotional health are being affected. An easy response is “turn off the TV!” However, simply not allowing children to watch television is not enough to help them cope with violence. We need better approaches to help this generation of youth cope with and resist a culture of violence.

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The words “you have breast cancer” forever changed me. There is the initial disbelief and then the profound, down-to-the-bones knowledge that life is utterly beyond our control and, at times, sucks. I had a toddler and an infant and breast cancer. There are no words. Rather than grow more fear of the unknown, I want to plant seeds of power in anyone who needs some words of encouragement.

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The three books in the Hunger Games series laid out on a table in a pile with another book open on top

What if things don’t change? Dystopian fiction gives us an eerie idea. It’s alarmingly similar to the real world we’re living in. So how can we empathize with fictional characters and alien races, but fail to acknowledge the oppression people are facing in our own world? We can enjoy dystopian fiction, but we have to be mindful of what it is. Here’s why.

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The ideas around social capital and popularity often run alongside privilege and desirability politics. Previously, I wasn’t aware of these terms. But after a few, let’s say, “discussions” with other organizers, I’m  was made aware of the ways social capital can create hierarchies in organizing spaces. These conversations led to a few things: Some folks…

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The silence of a missing young girl named Relisha Rudd, of the 276 Nigerian school girls half a world away from her, and of the thousands of child sufferers of abuse, assault, and abduction unwillingly call us to a greater understanding of how to protect our young. Thankfully, experts in violence against children — and survivors of childhood violence — are speaking up.

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