Hello!

Woah, I'm blogging!  New to this, I must warn you that I may not be good at it at first.  My pledge to you is that I will be honest, be myself, and most importantly, true to myself.

At the age of 18, I moved out of my home town and into the "big city" of Columbia, SC to attend the University of South Carolina.  You laugh when I say city - but you should know I come from a town of one stop light and lots-o-cow pastures (nothing wrong with cows...or pastures.)

All through high school, my dearest friends were boys.  Girls were chatty and couldn't keep secrets.  Girls liked to judge and make fun of you behind your back.  I decided I didn't like girls and that it was best if I kept my distance from them. 

My sophomore year in college, I put on my big girl pants and said, "Hey, you know what would be fun? I should be a resident advisor for a residence hall and be in charge of other college students who are my age or older...because I know it all." (Well, I mean, I didn't actually say in my head that I knew it all...that attitude comes with the mentality of a 19 year old.)  I put a BIG FAT CHECK in the CO-ED box and as a side note wrote, "Please do not place me in an all-girl dorm."  The following semester, I began packing my bags to move into the women's quad. So much for my request.

That year was a turning point in my life.  Yes, there were chatty, not-so-nice stabyaintheback kind of girls - but there were also WONDERFUL women - who made me realize that my role as a resident advisor was to talk to these girls and help them realize what they were doing to themselves and others. 

My entire life, I have fought being a woman. I thought that I didn't get along with women and that I was at war with them - like, we were on this different journey.  I didn't get them, and they didn't get me.  Within the past few years, these feelings have changed tremendously.  I'm learning more about feminism, surrounding myself with strong, life-inspiring women, and find myself saying "wow, you've really been missing out...you were one of them all along!"

I want to blog with Skirt! because I feel that it's a safe place to express myself. The women ARE inspiring (and smart, and beautiful, and mature, and funny) and I can be myself.  I want to share my journey and gain some knowledge from this fantastic group of people.