Little Miss Opinionated

By: Bella Carbone and Serena Turner      In the 2010s, YouTube's beauty community gained an influential member who would gain a significant following for his makeup abilities. His signature slayed block eyebrows and bold eyeshadow or lip combinations made James Charles recognizable and popular. But, what truly helped him stand out was the fact that he was a gay man gaining recognition in a highly women-dominated space. Yes, there were gay male beauty influencers before James Charles but his fame and capitalist ventures were quite an accomplishment. Another aspect that helped James Charles gain awareness and recognition was his catchphrase and fanbase greeting of “Hi Sisters!” that aggressively began every single one of his videos. At face value, this expression of community amongst his followers primarily young girls and other gay men seems harmless and endearing. Yet, when we look deeper there is a notion of appropriating a term often used amongst Black women to displa...

By: Serena Turner Recently(and by that I mean in the past 20 years), I have found myself comparing myself to everyone around me. And I am living in a constant state of feeling less then because of these comparisons. The worst part about comparing yourself is that it only hurts yourself. Because while you sit there counting all the numerous ways in which you feel other people have it better (or worse) then you do, the rest of the world keeps on moving. I get so stuck in that comparison cycle. I run on it rampantly. It gives me the motivation to try harder and do better while also dragging me down so low that I don’t have any energy to pull myself up. I took the title of this blog post from a piece of advice I heard one my coworkers give to another coworker. She said that she had recently learned that instead of comparing herself to other people, she should use them for inspiration. While this felt helpful at the time, I have since become disenchanted by the statement. I used to think us...

By: Bella Carbone Today I made myself a hearty, nutritious meal for dinner and it was delicious as well. The food was so tasty it inspired me to write. I was apprehensive to write this because I was thinking to myself how is posting a recipe relevant to my radical blog? But that is when I thought to myself that finding the time to buy fresh, healthy ingredients, to prepare and cook yourself a meal that's both balanced and flavorful is not only a privilege, it is radical. I think that for someone like me who has not only struggled with eating in general, eating healthy, has PCOS which is directly affected by your eating habits, and struggles to find time and energy to cook, choosing something nourishing as well as the act of eating is truly revolutionary. It is also an act of self-care on one of the deepest levels. Our eating has an undeniable effect on our overall health and well-being. Just as it is self-care to enjoy the treats we crave, it is self-care to put into our body the e...