I’m not sure what it is with me and writing hot-takes lately, but I’m just going to go with it!! My latest for CNN is about the lifelong benefits of community colleges and how attending one shaped my life. My time there, both as a student and then as adviser to the student newspaper (talk about getting to go home again!), has given me so many fond memories!!

And to think, I got the inspiration for the piece from the guy who lives in the White House! That, umm, seems to be a pattern lately, doesn’t it? Anyway, when I heard that he didn’t understand the value of community colleges, I was floored, to say the least. I know so many people who have gone to community colleges and my formative years were spent in those hallowed halls. I still live close to my alma mater and still love going there every once and awhile. These places of higher learning are so much more than just classrooms and teachers and students — they’re life-changers, the place where you form your path or build the foundation of a new one.

Here’s an excerpt of the piece, because, obviously, I could rave about the wonderfulness of community colleges all day long. You know I can’t say enough good things about them…

So what exactly does “community college” mean? Many things to many people. Different things to different people. It means a chance for a single parent who works full-time to take night classes and work toward a degree. It means someone who’s retired can experience the excitement of continuing education classes. It means someone fresh out of high school can save money on tuition and explore their options while taking general education classes at a two-year college.

And I doubt I’d be the writer I am today if it weren’t for the time I spent as a staff writer (and later, editor-in-chief) of my college’s student newspaper. I was able to get hands-on experience in all facets of newspaper production, from writing to interviewing sources to editing to design, as well as learning leadership skills that extended far beyond the classroom.

You can read the full piece here and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to email me anytime at mellow1422@aol.com and let’s chat! And of course, feel free to share my essay on Facebook, Twitter or even your local refrigerator. If you share on Twitter, be sure to tag me @melissablake so we can connect! I can’t wait to hear from you! Love you all… xoxo

[Photo via We Heart It]

I’m continually amazed at the wild ride that is freelance writing! Picture it: I was supposed to be on spring break a couple weeks ago. But when I heard that Walmart was pulling Cosmopolitan magazine from checkout lines, I knew I had to write about it. Grateful that CNN Opinion accepted it!! Guess I just can’t quit this writing thing!

Seriously, though, the idea that Cosmo belongs in the back of the store was just alarming to me. And sexist. And misogynistic. And, basically, it sends the message that women shouldn’t be seen or heard and “need to be put in their place,” which is incredibly scary to think of in 2018. So, I suppose, leave it to me to speak out — did you really expect I’d do anything else?

Here’s an excerpt of the piece, in which I take both Walmart AND the National Center on Sexual Exploitation for their insensitive and misguided co-opting of the #MeToo movement…

In other words, Cosmo is much more than the supposedly smutty sex bible this move by Walmart implies. It’s a teaching tool and fully embraces the needs of its readers. And it asks and swiftly answers the question: What does it mean to be a woman in 2018? The 2018 woman is empowered. She’s emboldened to go for what she wants — both in her work and in her relationships — so why can’t that be celebrated instead of demonized?

Meanwhile, magazines geared toward men, such as Esquire and Sports Illustrated, remain in full view, oftentimes, in those very same checkout lines. What are young women supposed to think when they see magazine covers of women in bikinis front and center and see Cosmo secluded to the back of the store? That women’s bodies should be regarded as shameful instead of celebrated?

You can read the full piece here and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to email me anytime at mellow1422@aol.com and let’s chat! And of course, feel free to share my essay on Facebook, Twitter or even your local refrigerator. If you share on Twitter, be sure to tag me @melissablake so we can connect! I can’t wait to hear from you! Love you all… xoxo

Remember my summer of the trolls a few months ago? OK, so it was more than a few months ago, but on some level, it does feel like it was just yesterday! Because, as you might remember, it was quite an intense summer. Getting trolled and bullied on Twitter by a politician is no fun, but I did what I usually do in these types of situations: I wrote about it. And when said politician was banned from Twitter recently, I had the opportunity to write a follow-up piece in the form of my essay on CNN Opinion!!

Being a writer is such a whirlwind sometimes!! I pitched this piece on a Wednesday morning. It was accepted Wednesday afternoon. I wrote it Thursday. And it ran last Friday. It’s my second byline for CNN, and it was a lot of pressure. But it was the cool kind of pressure, you know? The kind that, even though you’re scared and your heart is racing, you know you can do it. In the end, I think the pressure only motivated me, which is something I’m most definitely not used to.

Here’s an excerpt of the piece, which is really getting me excited about writing more timely pieces — it sort of reminds me of my old college newspaper days when I’d met tight deadlines as a campus reporter…

I’m troubled most of all by what happens when we start taking our online selves out into the real world. As much as we’d like to deny it, our internet interactions are changing the fabric of who we are — and, sadly, this change is not for the better. We’re short with the cashier at Target. We have no patience with the traffic on the drive home. And worst of all, we openly and vocally shun those who are different from us.

Frankly, it all scares me because I see the effects this online culture of hate is having on me. Where I was once optimistic, I’m increasingly bitter. Where I used to think the best of people, I now have seriously low expectations. And I hate it.

The price of free speech seems to be going up every day — as people become emboldened behind the safety of their computers or devices. Free speech shouldn’t give us an all-access pass to say whatever we want without any sort of repercussions.

You can read the full piece here and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to email me anytime at mellow1422@aol.com and let’s chat! And of course, feel free to share my essay on Facebook, Twitter or even your local refrigerator. If you share on Twitter, be sure to tag me @melissablake so we can connect! I can’t wait to hear from you! Love you all… xoxo