May 2013
7 posts
6 tags
A reMoveable Yeast
An itchy, sore vagina is no good to anyone and can really take the fun out of just about everything. If you have never been diagnosed with a yeast infection you may want to go and see your friendly OB because the symptoms commonly associated with a yeast infection could be due to something more serious. But if you are only experiencing mild symptoms, or are quite familiar with your vagina’s...
4 tags
7 tags
Period Propriety
So, I started my period today. Just like I have every month for the past decade. This is something like my 132nd period. One hundred and thirty-two, folks. You’d think that by now I’d have the hang of these things, right? Wrong! I’m still cursing my way through the day, rubbing away at my pelvis, and trying to remember the difference between ibuprofen and acetaminophen.
And today I was doing all...
3 tags
Turn Me On
Turn Me On
You forgot
Between a few caresses
Kisses that turn to lusty distress
To turn me on
And don’t get me wrong
I love sex
But that doesn’t mean I don’t love the rest.
How
After that deep sleep
Did you forget
That you forgot
To turn me on?
[[MORE]]I’m not going to weep
And cry that you never tried
To cook breakfast and a side
Of crispy bacon that would satisfy
A few romantic needs
Forget...
1 tag
8 tags
Personal Styling Through Personal Connection
Laurel Kinney started her styling business, Trophy Boutique, three years ago as a blog. Today her personal style services help Austin women going through transitional periods. Whether that transition be a divorce, a new job, or recent childbirth, Laurel helps “see them through that change”.
Sure, it’s a weighty claim but take a look at her background—the woman studied psychology and received...
6 tags
Yuna
Yuna is straight up dreamy. Donning elegant hijabs and singing so flawlessly, she’s a huge pop star in her home country Malaysia and is starting to make waves in the U.S. as well. Her self-titled album is full of beautiful and inspiring pop songs with mellow beats, beginning with “Lullabies,” a haunting track that starts with only a drum machine beat, a piano, and a perfect introduction to Yuna’s...
April 2013
10 posts
4 tags
Suck My Dick
I often subscribe to the type of feminism in which, as long as women and men have the same choices and representation, I think that we’re moving in the right direction. For example, when people ask me:
“Hey Basia, marrying four wives is totally kosher right?”
I respond with:
“Did you really just say kosher? And yea, totally, as long as I can marry four life partners of my choosing.”
A...
5 tags
2 tags
Impurity
We are the sea. A congregation of community, vast and pouring, set along the lengths of longing… a family in need. Is this the sound of an angry child? Tears beneath the moon… words beneath the roots… shame and what it really is, beneath the weight of truth. What is right has been reduced to feeling… and, though our honesty is failing, we’ve learned to rest in insincerity. Oil into an ocean…...
4 tags
6 tags
A reMoveable Yeast
An itchy, sore vagina is no good to anyone and can really take the fun out of just about everything. If you have never been diagnosed with a yeast infection you may want to go and see your friendly OB because the symptoms commonly associated with a yeast infection could be due to something more serious. But if you are only experiencing mild symptoms, or are quite familiar with your vagina’s...
3 tags
Lust For Grit
Acne backed, dollars packed
in a back pocket of sweat and last night.
Say you’re happy in a whirl of
whiskey, cigarettes, and girls.
I want to ask, “does it last?”
But what’s the point.
I envy your calm.
Basking in chaos,
appreciating change.
But you won’t change the game
to a simpler refrain.
Too weak of a heart,
Too addicted to crazy.
—By Jennifer...
4 tags
5 tags
What The F*@% Is A BB Cream?
I received one question that I know has been irking a vast majority of the female population and it is this: WHAT THE F*#$ IS A BB CREAM?
It’s true that they have become utterly ubiquitous in the past few months and every beauty AND skincare brand has been clamoring to put their so-called beauty balm on the market. It is somewhat rare that the entire beauty community is flipped upside down by an...
6 tags
Beets! They're So Much Cooler Than You Thought
Considering how delicious they are, beets are one of the most forgotten and unappreciated vegetables of our time. When I go off on a beet rant (which happens more often than I’d like to admit) most people wrinkle their nose and grit their teeth and say things like “yuck!” or “gross!.” I then proceed to ask them the last time they ate anything with beets and the typical response is either A. never,...
3 tags
10 tags
March 2013
13 posts
5 tags
One Is Not Always The Loneliest Number
Music is an important ingredient in my life—and because of that, I go to shows all of the time with my friends and loved ones. Recently however, I was listed and had a plus one to go see Dragonette at Chicago’s Metro. Life got a bit hectic — I forgot about it, and then the day of the show I wildly went through my contact list trying to coerce someone to go to the show with me to no...
9 tags
7 tags
Get It, Girl
I love books. I also love a good time in bed. Needless to say, I figured a book called Thanks for Coming: One Young Woman’s Quest For An Orgasm would be right up my alley. But I wasn’t prepared for just how challenging that quest would be. Despite her sexual experience, Mara Altman has reached the age of twenty-six without having ever reached orgasm. Or having ever masturbated.
It’s the latter...
12 tags
2 tags
Cancer
Wanted words, you know, intelligent syllables?
Needed to purge,
desired catharsis.
Another cancer
baby, it spreads without treatment
and I can’t face the spread
any longer.
If I could eradicate it -
but no,
I have to set it free.
Wanted some feeling you know, real emotion?
Needed to connect,
desired love.
Honey you don’t even love me;
just lied to make a prettier story
and I...
6 tags
Where's My 'No Co-Pay'?
When I went to CVS this past August I was thrilled. Tea-publicans of the radical right would say I was excited because our socialist Kenyan President was forcing them and other patriots to pay for my free slut pills to roam free and fuck everything in sight.
However, I was actually excited because eliminating the co-pay on birth control is a huge step in making women’s access to health care more...
8 tags
8 tags
Jess Williamson: A Soft Heart
I met Jess Williamson for the first time on a late October night in Austin with a cold front moving in and a drink in her hand and a nervous excitement in my voice. Over the past several months, I’ve heard from friends and fellow fans about her shows in Austin at places like Antone’s and Cheer Up Charlie’s, as well as those in LA, Portland, and Marfa. I tried my best to interview her in a...
4 tags
Losing It
When I was younger Younger meaning 3 months ago Meaning the time before you and me became well, You and me, I wore a silver ring that my mom got me At some Christian bookstore for my birthday when I turned Sixteen inscribed with the words wait for me and back then I didn’t know who was doing the waiting and What exactly I was waiting on but I wore it
And it was understood That you...
3 tags
Life According To Me
Life According To Me
1. Have a heart. Compassion counts for a lot in a world of cruel, soulless automatons. While being successful often means you have to put yourself first, you can still give back to other people; it takes time and its a difficult balance but its possible, and its a good aim. The old mantra of “treat people how you would like to be treated” doesn’t really cover...
5 tags
Great Aunt Lo's Mississippi Mud
Do you ever feel like you need to consume an inordinate, unwarranted, ridiculous amount of CHOCOLATE? Of course you do, don’t even act like you don’t, it’s okay — you’re not alone. So instead of tearing apart your kitchen, searching through all of your coat pockets, and digging in all of your clutches, purses, and gym bags looking for something, ANYTHING, that could possibly take care of...
February 2013
10 posts
3 tags
Bukowski Girl
sometimes I don’t wash my hair
only read Bukowski in bed.
you should shower, you sneered
your lips avoiding the top of my head.
as if there’s anything more than
the last of the rum,
my weeping uterine lining,
that stupid somber song you hum.
.
girl, hate those dirty black hands
how you smear ink on the sheets.
oh and I hate erasures like
I hate typos and models and cheats
and all the...
7 tags
Our Leading Lady Laurel
Vagina’s Leading Ladies Brunch series continued in February at Austin’s Zocalo Café. This month we were treated to advice from personal stylist Laurel Kinney of Trophy Boutique, featured in Vagina’s Winter 2013 issue.
The weather outside was dreary but Zocalo’s floor-to-ceiling windows filled the room with light and fresh cut flowers on the tables betrayed the drizzly morning. Our February group...
6 tags
Long Creek: Erotic Fiction
Wind whipped past her face, brushing loose strands back to fly in the air behind her. The giant black stallion below her thundered around the turn and lengthened his stride. Crouching low on his neck, her form was streamline and sleek as they raced against invisible competitors down the track. Even without hearing Martin cheer from the sidelines, Charlotte knew they had just clocked an amazing...
3 tags
3 tags
Reflections Gone Wrong
A glance in the mirror
I turn sideways
Trying to push down any bumps I find
Move closer
Fingers across my face
Searching for a sign of imperfection
Hands running through my hair
Fixing
I take too long to ready myself
Make-up
Shaving
Hair dos
Fashion
Perfection is what they seek
The world is all too quick to judge
Too; a misused word
Too fat
Too skinny
Too short
Too...
6 tags
Valentine's Day Reads For The Single Gal
Valentine’s Day is just a few days away and I don’t want to say I’m cringing at the thought of it but… yeah, I’m definitely cringing at the thought of it. In my defense, I’ve never much cared for the holiday. I’m a grown gal with no real fondness for teddy bears with magnetic noses or those gross candy hearts that say “U R Cute” (hey, so is good grammar!). I’m surrounded every day by happy couples...
7 tags
A Well-Loved Olive Vintage Finds A New Home
Laura Uhlir’s Olive Vintage has just entered its newest incarnation along East Austin’s Rosewood Avenue. The store is already known for its well-curated collection of both women’s and men’s styles, jewelry, and locally made leather goods but has teamed up with Paper Party and Sound & True to form Rosewood Collective. The trio is celebrating its grand opening on Saturday, February 9 from...
5 tags
My Life As A Chick Magnet
My 22nd birthday was a blast. Three years ago my friends and family treated me to a night of drunken debauchery that ended with favorite friends on Sixth Street in Austin. Wearing a tiara and dancing on tables, I was obviously granted Birthday Girl attention. As last call was announced, we stumbled out into the dewy street to comically hail a taxi in our heels. That’s when I heard the words I’d...
4 tags
9 tags
A Perfect Inaugural Leading Ladies Brunch at...
The month of January featured the premier of Vagina’s monthly Leading Ladies Brunch series in Austin. The gatherings will all feature a handful of gals, delicious food, and a local professional lady who can share what she’s learned from her work and give advice for how we can translate her lessons into our own lives.
Our very first LLB was celebrated at East Austin’s Hillside Farmacy with music...
January 2013
16 posts
1 tag
3 tags
Lunacy
I drove into the moon
last night and
bruised my knee
until it grew into a perfect
purple orb and
the moon was jealous
and the moon was
the garage door
and the moon
bent my bumper into
a funny little frown
dimpling the license plate
until it was
pockmarked and
cratered and blemished
and the moon was jealous
[[MORE]]
I drove into the moon
last night and saw stars
or maybe
I had been...
3 tags
Orgasms
Orgasms: from every direction people seem to be telling me that I, as a woman, have difficulty coming. My friends say that men can come anywhere, even a slaughterhouse, but women have to be in the right emotional mindset. Statistics say that only 29% of women orgasm during every sexual encounter (Kinsey Institute). I have been told that we, as women, are socialized to be ashamed of coming,...
2 tags
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2 tags
Meditations on the Mundane
I am in love with the inarticulate beauty of barren winter branches,
those silver-tinged limbs tangled into a web like delicate lace, their intricacies darting against the black velvet of a February sky. I am enamored with the unspoken glories of the mundane. I revel in the extraordinary cacophony of a bustling city street, the boisterous cries of men working on the pavement, the guttural...
3 tags
Choosing Choice
I originally wrote this piece just before the 2012 presidential election reached its conclusion. And while I can’t speak for my editors or the zine’s contributors, Vagina itself is a pro-choice publication. As such, I was terrified of what a successful Romney-Ryan ticket could hold for the future of access to safe abortion services here in America. Ryan has co-sponsored “personhood” legislation...
Thank You!
Thank You again to everyone who came out last night to Vagina’s two-year anniversary//Winter 2013 issue release party! It means the world to us to have been surrounded by such an incredible a crowd. We had a great time at Cheer Up Charlie’s with Every Girl’s Annual, Ashlynn Ivy, Emily Liles, and YUM! Thanks again and again and again for supporting Vagina and the rad ladies who...
1 tag
