i read. i write. i rebel. my head hurts.
The Adventures of Miss Migraine is an ongoing column about my life with chronic migraine. A few weeks ago, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported a story about a black woman incarcerated in Pennsylvania who died after years of painful migraines. Kynesha Grant had been taking Topomax, which didn’t work. She requested a CT scan, but her...
Throughout my life, people have always felt the need to comment on my body and my food choices. From random old men in diners (“You sure can eat!” or “I like a girl with an appetite”) to coworkers (“OMG, are you pregnant?????” or “Wow, salad again, are you on a diet?”), the world seems to...
I loved Pittsburgh from the moment I stepped out of my parents’ mini-van for a tour of Pitt 13 years ago. The sun shone bright and high in the sky, and the Cathedral of Learning (still covered in soot back then), reached up to it as if in prayer. It felt like home already, though...
I started running at the end of May because I wanted to improve my overall health. Back then, I couldn’t run for more than a minute at a time without getting winded. Last week, I completed my first unofficial 5k run in about 45 minutes. I still have to take some walk breaks on those...
I was in the middle of writing a post on body image and running, but I’ve seen too many Facebook posts about Nike, the NFL, and Colin Kaepernick, and truthfully, I’m spitting mad. But I’m not going to try to change anyone’s mind here. Instead, I have some questions for you. For those of you...
Kelly reads everything, writes strange fiction, and always has a migraine. She lives in Pittsburgh, PA, with her partner D.J., their dog, a lot of tea, and too many books. In a perfect world, she updates this blog once a week with essays on writing, living with chronic illness, and navigating this big/small world we live in. Keep reading...
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