Prisoner of Patriarchal Presbyterian Pedagogy: Alia’s Story

CC image courtesy of Pixabay, Bilder_meines_Lebens. HA note: The author’s name has been changed to ensure anonymity. “Alia” is a pseudonym. I grew up in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America. It was a small denomination, and I hope it’s getting smaller. In the RPCNA, only preachers and elders could be part of the governing body of the church: and

Then I Realized I Was Trans: River’s Story

When I was about 13, I asked my mom for the first time when I’d get my period. Beverly Cleary was a favorite author when I was in public school, and she wrote at some length about periods. My mind had not yet grasped that I wasn’t a girl and that periods were not for me.

Being Homeschooled Is An Identity: Sarah’s Story

My first day of school remains a vague and unpleasant memory, shrouded in the protective haze I tend to assign to experiences I’d rather forget.

I was fifteen. I remember not knowing what to wear, what to expect, what to do with my perpetually terrible hair. I remember that I didn’t own a backpack.

How Early College Actually Set Me Back: Jo’s Story

CC image courtesy of Flickr, nicoleneu. Editorial Note: The author’s name has been changed to ensure anonymity. ‘Jo’ is a pseudonum. Jo blogs at My Will Is Not Broken. This post is reprinted with permission. I graduated from college a few months after my 19th birthday. I had a Bachelor of Arts from an accredited college (which has recently been

Kiery Actually Does College

I almost believed everything my parents told me about how my uterus meant that higher education wasn’t an option for me

Leave: Shade’s story

Editorial note: Shade Ardent blogs at The Unspared Rod. This story is reprinted with permission. my car isn’t even full, it didn’t take that much time to pack my clothes. river stares from the window upstairs. she didn’t want to say goodbye. everyone else is busy with their lives. no one looks up as i walk by. ‘Hurry up, Shade’. i turn to

College Isn’t For Girls (And Other Lies My Parents Told Me)

All I needed to do was have my parents sign the waiver. They refused.

First Week of University to my Master’s in Education: Ellen Martin’s Story

In May of 2014, I graduated with my Bachelor of Honour’s Degree, with a major in Sociology. As I prepared to walk across the stage to receive my degree, I reflected on my experiences that had brought me here to this moment — from kindergarten through my final project in my fourth year of my undergraduate program. This was an

Finding Myself in the Ashes: Aisling’s Story

Editorial note: The author’s name has been changed to ensure anonymity. “Aisling” is a pseudonym.  The heavy wooden door to my dorm room closed with a definitive click behind my parents. I exhaled the weight of eighteen years spent wrestling for control, for individuality, for personhood. I was free. I imagined this moment often, with ever-increasing fervor as the end

Awkward But Determined: Darcy’s Story

At my homeschool graduation ceremony, I received around a thousand dollars in gifts from friends and family. I decided right then and there that I would spend it on the first month of classes at the community college in the city. I didn’t have a plan, I only knew I had to do something, had to get out of our