Author Kayleen Schaefer Writes Her Friendships Like Love Stories
I keep a box of love letters I’ve written and never sent on a shelf in my bedroom. The oldest ones date back to middle school, dedicated to crushes. The…
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Posts by tag
friendship
19 posts
Normalize Disliking People for No Particular Reason
Have you ever met someone and just thought to yourself, no, I’m good? Whether it be the sound of their voice, their mannerisms, or just their vibe in general, it…
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Empathy Isn’t Toxic: The Problem With Emotional Labor Discourse
In late 2019 this infamous tweet—pretending to respond to a venting friend—emerged: “Hey! I’m so glad you reached out. I’m actually at capacity/helping someone else who’s in crisis/dealing with some…
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The Last Single Friend Standing
Sitting cross-legged in my high school gym, a guidance counselor asked 200 girls to close their eyes and imagine their life in ten years. I shut my eyes and immediately…
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When Having Fun Feels Wrong
On January 6th, my weekly video chat with my friends from home was interrupted by an attempted coup. We stayed on the call, alternating between giving college advice to our…
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High School Friends Are Better
By the time you enter college, it’s expected that you hate your hometown and everything associated with it. After all, you likely just spent the last decade forced to physically…
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Why I Envy COVID Deniers
Since March, I’ve gotten into the habit of observing large groups of people who (still) get together to socialize. The ones huddled up in enclosed spaces have been especially fascinating…
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Anonymous Interviews: Are Your Friends Actually Social Distancing?
There have been a number of rude awakenings caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but perhaps none more alarming than realizing that you can’t always have faith in your friends. In…
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Why I’m Lonelier at School Than I Was in Quarantine
When I got that fateful email from my university in March saying that we would be sent home immediately due to COVID-19, I cried. A lot. I was in a…
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White People, Why Is It So Hard to Dump Your Racist Friends?
Following the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter movement became more powerful than ever. The country reached its boiling point: the streets were…
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