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What Matters To A Teenage Boy Is Probably Not What You Think
Posted by Lisa Johnson on
The following was a response to a question to a college essay asking, "What matters to you?" A bit unexpected... (GUEST BLOG by Izzy Johnson) -- Ever since I was young, one of my biggest fears has been being alone. That’s why community is so important to me. Although it has been challenging to feel a sense of belonging within groups, I crave connection. Who would have thought that spending Wednesday evenings sweating with a bunch of middle-aged women, dancing to R&B music, would be something that makes me happy? I was born almost a month early,...
- 73 comments
- Tags: Adolescence, Affirmation, Celebrate Life, Community Building, Connection, Exercise, Family, Health and Wellness, Inspiration, Love, Middle Age Life, Mothering, Parenting, Power, Relationships, Resilience, Self-Help, Social Activity, Strength, Teen Boy
How The Florida Project Brought Me back to one of the greatest American Pictures
Posted by Lisa Johnson on
I am not the kind of person who’s into “stuff.” For special occasions, I like to be taken out to a funky ethnic restaurant, or even better, whisked away for a weekend. Being a December baby, the holidays push right up against my birthday. As I’d already had an awesome getaway earlier that month, I knew that another would be unrealistic, and that was fine. However, when my boyfriend, Chris, started talking about how much I would love my Christmas gift way back in October, I knew he should stop getting his own expectations up. He announced...
- 3 comments
- Tags: American Pictures, Artist, Awareness, Cheap Gift, Christmas, College, Connecting, Connection, Copenhagen, Danish, Denmark, Exchanging Presents, Family Life, Feel Good, Gift, Great Gift Idea, Happiness, Hitchhiker, Holiday Party, Hope, Husband Gift, Intimacy, Jacob Holdt, Knock Your Socks Off, Love, Magical, Men's Life, Middle Age Life, Midlife, Moved, Movie Show, Non-Materialistic, Photographer, Photography, Poverty, Priceless, Racism, Real Men, Recovery, Relationships, Remembrance, Resilience, Romance, Share your Story, Social Activist, Social Justice, Soulmate, Spouse, Success Story, Talent, The Florida Project, Transforming, Traveler, Trust, Urban, Wake Up, What matters, Womens Issues, You and Me
What is Sexy? How Women Like Their Men to Dress and Why
Posted by Lisa Johnson on
I love listening to books on tape. Whenever I'm in the car, it's often a dilemma on whether to play the spoken word or my usual hip hop, though lately I’ve been immersed in a fascinating scientific study called A Billion Wicked Thoughts: What the World’s Largest Experiment Reveals about Desire. It looks very closely at what men and women find arousing, and why, and the very nature of the differences between our brain software. Yesterday, I was in the middle of a section on what women find desirable in men in terms of fashion. Apparently, many of...
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- Tags: A Billion Wicked Thoughts, Connection, Desire, Divorce, Family, Fashion, Feel Good, Friendship, Healing, Identity, Love, Men's Life, Mens Fashion, Middle Age Life, Outfit, Power, Reclaim, Relationships, Science, Separation, Sexy, Starting Over, Style
UNMASKING THE ABUSER: Commentary on Dina McMillan and How To Prevent Abuse & Domestic Violence
Posted by Lisa Johnson on
Being the parent of a teen daughter, and having just finished a domestic abuse advocate a certification course, I keep thinking about what I can do for my kids to make sure that they don’t end up in the same situation I was in, being married to an abusive partner. How did I, a smart, educated and competent woman, end up in something so outrageous? It was my sister who first said, “Lisa, you have been in an abusive relationship,” when I finally extracted myself after eighteen years, and my reaction was nothing short of shock. There is...
- 4 comments
- Tags: Advocacy, Against the World, Authority, Been There, Been There Got Out, Boyfriend, Crisis Counselor, Dina McMillan, Divorce, Domestic Abuse, Domestic Violence, Elin Stebbins Waldal, Emotional Abuse, Emotional Health, Entitled, False, Fatigued, Girlfriend, Grooming, Guilt, Healing, Intimacy, Isolation, Lying, Manipulate, Manipulation, Marathon, Monster, Narcissism, Narcissistic Abuse, Narcissistic Supply, No Empathy, Obey, Paramour, Partner, Prevention, Psychological Abuse, Push-Pull, Recovery, Self-Help, Single Mom, Spouse, Survivor, Teen Violence, Too Much, Too Soon, Transforming, Unbalanced, Unmasking the Abuser, Verbal Abuse, Women's Health, You and Me
RUDE ATTITUDE: How Twenty One Pilots & Panic at the Disco Inspired a "Too Cool For School" Sneaker Fashion Trend
Posted by Lisa Johnson on
When I was thirteen, a boyfriend of mine was so annoyingly into computers that I vowed never to use one. And then I ended up marrying a software engineer, who set up my first email account. Flash forward a couple of decades, and Psychotic Leopard would not exist without the freedom and reach provided by the internet. I used to scoff at the idea of meeting people online, but it does open up a world of possibilities for a former backpacker whose single motherhood forces her to stay local. Luckily, the computer provides me with chance encounters every so often,...
- 1 comment
- Tags: 21 Pilots, Accessories, Adolescence, Artist, Back to School Fashion, Backpack Style, Capable, Chucks, Converse, Crafty, Creative, DIY, Entrepeneur, Family, Fashion, Fashion Addict, Fashion Blog, Footwear, Funky, Get Noticed, Great Gift Idea, Husband Gift, Kicks, Love, Mompreneur, Mother & Daughter, Motherhood, Mothering, New to You, Panic at the Disco, Parenthood, Parenting, Present, Priceless, Reclaim, Recycle, Recycled Art, Recycling, Relationships, Resale, Secondhand, Shoes, Skill, Sneakers, Tag Sale, Talent, Teen Fashion, Teen Footwear, Teen Identity, Teen Style, Thrift, Too Cool For School, Tween Fashion, Tween Footwear, Tween Girl, Tween Style, Upcycle, Use Your Hands, What to Wear, Women and Business, Womens Issues