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reclamation magazine

reclaim your voice.

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  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • APPLY
  • POLITICS
  • CULTURE
  • RELIGION
  • WORLD ISSUES
  • THE ARTS
    • POETRY & PROSE
    • ENTERTAINMENT
  • FEMINISM
  • HEALTH & WELLNESS
    • MENTAL HEALTH
    • WOMEN’S HEALTH
    • FOOD & NUTRITION
  • LIFE
  • EMPOWERMENT
  • OPINION
  • LGBTQ+
By: Chi Ilochi October 22, 2018October 22, 2018

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Posted by:Chi Ilochi

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RECLAMATION MAGAZINE

Reclaim Your Voice.

Founded by Simra Mariam.

Copyright, 2019.

 

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  • To echo the words of Toni Morrison, “it there’s a book you really want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” 💬
  • “I always get asked, ‘where do you get your confidence?’ I think people are well meaning, but it’s pretty insulting. Because what it means to me is, ‘You, Mindy Kaling, have all the trappings of a very marginalized person. You’re not skinny, you’re not white, you’re a woman. Why on earth would you feel like you’re worth anything?’ ...’Why the fuck not?’ should be your motto. Write your own part. It’s the only way I’ve gotten anywhere. It’s much harder work, but sometimes you have to take your destiny into your own hands. I’m a fucking Indian woman who has her own fucking network show.” -Mindy Kaling
  • “If you are never to see yourself depicted... Not in story nor song nor poem nor painting nor prose... No shred of a tale by some distant kindred soul who saw and knew and felt then as you do now, and else another who loved and bore witness... Never see yourself except as crude caricature, mythical beast, or Magdalene penitent... You believe no other like you ever existed. You begin to wonder if you even exist at all. Unique women, defiant women — we live invisible lives, and if we are seen and seen by strangers, we are reduced to monsters. Vampires, who have no reflection in a looking glass. Mermaids, who die and become sea foam, blown away by the wind. We will take up and take back the tools to tell our stories as our own. Civilizations may rise and fall and rewrite the history of the dead, as so often they do. But we were here... and we lived, and loved, and mattered.” -Marguerite Bennett, Insexts Vol. 2: the Necropolis __ Artist: @_littlefang
  • TW: Eating Disorders __ “So many nights, I stared out at the inky black ocean, believing that if I could only learn how to eat again and keep my hands out of my throat, that would be enough. I prayed hard and desperately to God and the sun and the moon and the ocean and the universe... as if they were all genies, that I wouldn’t ask for anything more. But perhaps God isn’t a collection of genies, and perhaps it’s okay to hope for more than relief. To hope big... Because the truth is, while bulimia is a devastating illness I would wish upon no one, it has taught me about the fragility of life and the vital need for compassion. Today, I’m quick to love and throw my arms around any girl who has ever stared at a puddle of her own vomit and questioned the point of her life. Or who has ever let a photoshopped image on a glossy magazine preach to her about her own self-worth, her own beauty. Or who has ever been afraid to face the pain and suffering, within and outside of herself. Today, I’m quick to love.” -Excerpt from ‘Pound for Pound’ by Shannon Kopp
  • “There are days when I feel like I’m not good enough, strong enough, just simply not enough. Those days are some of the hardest. They test the weakest parts of me and trigger doubt, distress, and pain. But, more importantly, they are the days that build up my inner strength and define my true sense of self. No matter what I’ve endured in the past, what I’ve put myself through, or what others have done to me — I have the ability and the will to move forward. I will not give up. I will not undervalue or underestimate my capabilities... Now I know I deserve to be the happiest, most fulfilled version of myself that I can possibly be. And I promise to use my experiences to continue to grow, heal, and expand my life. It starts with me. In order to accept the love I deserve from someone else, I must truly believe that I am worthy of it. And I am. And I’ll never let anyone tell me differently. I value myself. I respect myself. I appreciate myself. I accept myself. I love myself.” -Excerpt from ‘Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me’ by Lily Collins
  • TW: Eating Disorders __ “Growing up in a Jamaican-American household, food was an integral part of my childhood. I remember my grandmother preparing fried dumplings and plantains, church hymns playing in the background. Food was our greatest treasure. Food brought the family together. Food celebrated new beginnings and eased the wounds of life’s untimely endings. When I was 8, I was diagnosed with dermatomyositis, a muscle disease that caused me to spend most of my childhood in hospital rooms and wheelchairs, slowly gaining weight whilst swallowing prednisone hidden inside mint chocolate chip ice cream. My mom made it her duty to help me lose the weight through fad dieting. I’ve tried every single one. In fairness, my mother did the best she could. As a single mom, she felt the camaraderie of these shared diets brought us closer. However, as an adult, I began to experience a paralyzing fear of food. My ‘I’ll start a new diet on Monday’ mindset lasted for 16 years as I compulsively ate and deprived my body. I was worried that I was not attractive enough. So obsessed and afraid no one would hire me as an actor if I didn’t win the battle with the numbers on the scale, in February 2011 I attempted suicide and landed in the hospital for multiple days. We do extreme things to our bodies because of those numbers. Numbers that cannot talk with us or love us. On March 20, 2014, I threw my scale in the trash, and to ensure I wouldn’t rescue it, I threw chicken stock on it. I have had to practice looking in the mirror and telling myself I am beautiful. I have had to stop judging my belly, stop starving myself, stop getting on the scale and staring at those numbers. It took me years to find the courage to stop pressuring my body. Food is still an integral part of my life, and I still struggle to this day after living a life of ‘quick fixes.’ But, I have come to the realization that my life is more important than those numbers on the scale and that the quality of the life I live is more important than how I look in the mirror.” -Danielle Pinnock for BuzzfeedNews __ Artist: @priii_barbosa

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