When young people find community and information around mental health issues, it’s often on the internet. Although sometimes hard to fact-check, firsthand experiences and informal mental health content on social media can be really relatable. I found words to talk about my anxiety when I read a Buzzfeed listicle of…

Author’s note, August 2022: I wrote the below piece just for myself in December 2020. Since then I’ve shared it as a Google Doc with one friend at a time: Whenever anyone said “online dating is scary and seems terrible,” I would tell them that I’ve actually found it kind…

A couple weeks ago I opened Hinge and found a comment from someone who had liked my profile: “Hey Natalie — just wanted to say phenomenal profile, it’s only a matter of time before you find some hunks, keep up the good work!” I thought this was both very kind…

Malcolm Gladwell popularized the idea that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something. That makes me just ~9,980 hours short of being an expert at judging men’s dating app profiles. Despite my lack of expertise, I am deeply fascinated by humans (I may have enjoyed being a…

Winter is a great time to date me. I am very cute in the cold — pink cheeks, felt beret, making hot cocoa and roasting chicken and sweet potatoes in my kitchen. I will make us a thermos of mulled wine to share and we can walk to the lake…

A real Shower Thought: trickle-down theory only works for shampoo and even then, you have to help it along a little — nw

*recently updated with even more strangeness!* I have recently gotten back on Hinge, and I have to say: things have gotten a lot weirder in the year since I last used it. It’s now more for entertainment than anything else — my roommate and I browse Hinge over lunch and…

Downstairs neighbor: I am sorry for the Noise at midnight — I was getting out of bed to get lotion for my dry hands and my foot got tangled in the sheet and I hopped — nw

I’m guessing you know what life is like. A safe bet, but even after the renaissance it’s tough to get excited about it anymore. That’s why I’m riding a new wave. It lives in its own damn house — push you off your kitchen counter, the perfect intersection of I…