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Jan 15, 2025 | 
bookbrowse.com | Valerie Morales
BookBrowse: A brilliant study of human smugglers who carry clients across the US border for profit. Their highs and lows, dreams and realities are documented by anthropologist Jason De León.
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Aug 1, 2024 | 
medium.com | Valerie Morales
So there I was, through the broken sunroof of a random vehicle I had stumbled upon and decided to start jumping on. Why was I jumping on this very expensive black BMW? Well, that's a little complex but I'll do my best to explain. It was because the little green men in my head told me I could catapult myself into the stars by jumping on said vehicle.
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Jun 21, 2024 | 
medium.com | Valerie Morales
When I tell people I'm schizophrenic I am almost always met with a sad and forlorn glance downwards towards their shoes, unable to meet my gaze anymore and a quiet pitying "I'm so sorry". To which I have to respond, "Don't be" you idiot. After all, sanity is completely overrated but I'm sure you're too busy chugging the corporate capitalistic Kool-Aid to notice. Most of society has a small perspective on reality. It's usually the typical: go to school, get a job, start a family etc.
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Jun 10, 2024 | 
medium.com | Valerie Morales
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May 15, 2024 | 
bookbrowse.com | Nell Irvin Painter |Valerie Morales
BookBrowse: Nell Irvin Painter has delivered a collection of essays that explore the complexities of culture, gender, art, and belonging.
Nell Irvin Painter's ninth book, I Just Keep Talking: A Life in Essays, is a collection of previously published work. The essays bear witness to history, art, politics, and black culture.
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Apr 4, 2024 | 
medium.com | Valerie Morales
He’s beautiful. In the tousled hair, careless kind of way. His expression jumps to his face- no filter to the world, just honesty. I guess that was why I believed him when he told me he loved me. Looked me dead in the eye, smirked and said those three words. From then on, I truly believed everything would be okay because we did it! We found each other. It was us against the world and together, we were unstoppable. But he didn’t tell me something. He didn’t tell me that we’d been here before.
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Apr 4, 2024 | 
medium.com | Valerie Morales
I know whenever I pick up an article I look for experts and PhDs that tout their advanced knowledge and expertise (and make me think wow why didn’t I study harder at Kumon). However, you’ll find no suited-up experts here, just a semi-humble girl with frizzy hair and an awkward smile. Diagnosis: schizoaffective disorder. Since I’ve been hopping in and out of the hospital for over 10 years, I guess I can say I’ve done a lot of grassroots research on my condition. Here is my journey to my diagnosis.
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Apr 3, 2024 | 
medium.com | Valerie Morales
The symptoms of a mental health condition are difficult to pick apart. Suppose you’re anything like me, deeply interested in philosophy and mildly obsessed with being free to express yourself. In that case, you might start to question where the mental illness ends and your personality begins. Am I manic or am I just an eternal optimist? What aspects are problematic? Then I realized I was butchering my psyche in trying to make sense of myself in this way.
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Apr 3, 2024 | 
bookbrowse.com | Paul Alexander |Valerie Morales
BookBrowse: Billie Holiday's haunting voice captivated thousands, but she couldn't control her personal demons.
In 1958, Billie Holiday began work on an ambitious album called Lady in Satin. Accompanied by a full orchestra for the first time in her career and nervous, she was often late to rehearsal, drunk, or both.
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Mar 5, 2024 | 
medium.com | Valerie Morales
As a young girl, I always loved the amazing story of Alice in Wonderland. The white rabbit in a petticoat, the always smiling Cheshire cat and of course the iconically mad Mad Hatter. Back then the famous line that stuck out to my ever-blossoming imagination was, “We’re all mad here”. Madness seemed to me an eternal party of absurdity and humour. It should be of no one’s surprise then that at the age of 22 I received my official invitation to the rager that is mental instability.
