Caitlin Hartlen
Bio
Radio host, writer, editor, cat-lover extraordinaire
Stories (2/0)
The "F" word
Feminism is not just a boon for women. Tearing down gender roles and patriarchal institutions benefits everyone. Think about a world where men are taught from a young age that it's alright to have emotions; where they aren't continually repressed. Or, a world where women are taught that it's awesome to have ambitions, to be successful in whatever way they can dream of, and that their voice deserves to be heard.
By Caitlin Hartlen6 years ago in Viva
Life, Grief...
Grief’s a funny thing. Not hilarious, but funny as in weird, the way that it can creep up on you silently or smack you full in the face and destroy you. It doesn’t wait until a convenient moment when you can prepare for it and meet it with hope and determination. It’s almost as big an asshole as the cancer that causes it for so many people. Grief was never taught manners, it has no sympathy for you, and it certainly doesn’t care that you have things you need to be doing. It’s been said that it’s a necessary evil of life; one of the steps in a process to recover from loss. I don’t see it as a step so much as a recurring theme when it comes to loss; one that never completely goes away, but one that eases with time, guidance, and distractions. In 2012, within the span of two months, I lost two of the most important men in my life to cancer. There are days when it doesn’t feel real, and as though I’ll wake up and see them again, hear their voices, and share in their laughter. Crushing, cruel reality breaks in and grief visits again. There are barely words to express the hopeless feeling that nothing will ever be the same again. That when all I want in the world is to talk to them, instead I have the knowledge that they can’t hear me, or respond the way I need. I believe their spirits are living on in me, in everyone they touched in their short lives, in the sky, the trees and the earth. I don’t believe there’s a God who has a reason for taking them away from me, or any higher power who has control over these things. It sometimes feels as though a grander scheme is at work, but at the end of the day, every one of us is responsible for how our lives turn out. Preaching and crying to someone who can’t hear you and cannot physically give you comfort or strength seems fruitless to me.
By Caitlin Hartlen6 years ago in Longevity