My Cardboard Balcony

Christ. Talk about a week. I'm sure everyone and her grandma knows how shitty the U.S. government situation is. It's enough to make you want to throw a brick through the Capitol Building windows. And of course, it's driven my anxiety levels up quite a bit, realizing that my Congress isn't even capable of doing the most mundane tasks in office because they're so bitterly divided and polarized. But this is politics, and as much as I'm involved in politics...I hate politics. So moving on. My anxiety has been worse the past few days, not helped by my country's dilemma. And of course, it's lowered my mood substantially and made me feel sort of hopeless. I finished up my temporary job, and I was really sad to leave that office because the people working there were extraordinary despite the repetitive and demanding nature of the work. Now I have been offered a job at a large retail store...basically doing what I did for three months back in 2008. I don...

Shortly after coming out as a lesbian to my family and friends, I was encouraged by a university colleague to submit a guest article to Chapman University's newspaper, The Panther. The following was published on February 19th, 2011. I still have the actual newspaper with this article in it. Rainbow On My Sleeve by Belinda Roddie Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex and ally (LGBTQIA) community have a lot of heavy tales to tell. Most revolve around the pressure of exposing one’s true sexuality, usually in front of disapproving peers or family members. We hear a lot about abuse, murders and suicides when it comes to LGBTQIA issues. These are very real problems that need addressing. It took me nine years to come out, but I can safely say I have no sob stories to tell except my own inner turmoil. But does that mean I’m one of only a lucky few? Not necessarily. There are a lot more happy homosexuals and transgenders around than yo...

"These are the Halloween decorations?" asked my manager, wrinkling her nose as she folded her arms across her green polo. "Er, yeah," I replied, gesturing at the orange and black streamers accompanied by paper Jack-o-Lanterns and stringy spider webs. "It's all I found in the stock room." "Yeah, they're not as festive as I hoped," my manager replied. She exhaled. "Yep, we need an upgrade. Scott! Gregory! We've got an emergency situation!"