Ultimately, Zigzags was fueled by the nostalgia of all the places I’ve loved and left and missed. There’s a lot of flirting and parties and witty banter, but it’s very much about the necessary and heartbreaking recognition of when it’s time to move on.

When someone I know is dealing with a difficult situation, I typically feel extremely “Put me in, coach!!!” But when I am the one in a difficult spot? Well, then, thanks so much for offering but I’m perfectly fine to handle this on my own!!! The fact is, asking for/accepting help is incredibly difficult for a lot of us—even those of us who know, logically, that no one can get through life alone.

We finished reading “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler. At its core, the book is about embracing truth and change, which is especially true now — when our world seems much closer to Butler’s science fiction. We’d love for you to talk to us about it!

Conflict is meant to happen. Relationships are strengthened by conflict. What are our capacities to engage with conflict in a way that doesn’t destroy us, but help us better understand each other?

Trying desperately to want less than what one truly requires — and the goodness that comes from giving up that ghost — is a prominent theme in “Something That May Shock and Discredit You,” Daniel Lavery’s new collection of essays, out Feb. 11.

Maybe that’s why black women love Toni Morrison. She laid bare the kind of secrets that we barely even whispered to each other, the shames that we buried underneath our quick tongues and sisterhood hugs and fashion slays. She wrote for us, and for that she is ours.

It’s June, it’s June, we’re living, it’s June. Do you feel our powers rising with the heat, our stares lengthening with the daylight, our desires coming on like freak lightening?

You’d be surprised the kind of memories that can be sparked by a simple phrase or even by the look and feel of a book.

“I was going to do a story about trans women arming themselves? And all the edits we got back were like, ‘Can your characters look directly at the reader and quote trans murder statistics from last year?'”

Drive Here and Devastate Me, queer femme author Megan Falley’s fourth collection of poetry, is a love letter to the queer community. We talked with Megan about her writing process, femme invisibility, body politics, and of course, love.

In an unsafe world, we have to make our own survival packs. Carry the words of these 100 fierce poets in yours.

Talking about Kristen Stewart, gems, lesbian tropes, Girl Scout crushes, swine flu, the apocalypse and more with award-winning queer writer Carmen Maria Machado.

“To read a piece about lesbian e e cummings, you have to fully commit, but you could tell Dr. Brown was scared.”

“Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones” is the kind that shakes and wakes that brave, mad, dangerous girl I used to be.

“One way we can change the narratives around our sexuality and our erotic bodies is by taking up space as sexual beings and celebrating other women and femmes doing the same.” This zine is on it.

“If I saw my writing career through the eyes of a mediocre white man I’d be, like, that dude would be fucking high on himself constantly.”

Why is that people of colour have to bear the brunt of speaking out about racism while white people enjoy the privilege of remaining silent? What happens when the tables are turned?

“I think I feel a little less desperation to be liked and a little more “fuck you if you don’t like me.” I think I enjoy flaunting my monstrousness.”

AfterEllen is a part of a legacy of brilliant publications created by passionate lesbian, queer and bisexual women that unfortunately no longer exist, but were cool for a while.

“This wholesale group exclusion of a person based on an accusation that they are somehow dangerous without any opportunity for that person to describe why they think this charge is happening or how they are experiencing it, or for anyone to look at the order of events that produced this accusation or the history of the person accusing — I mean, this is the definition of injustice.”