10 years ago this week, 18 year old Cork girl, Leanne Wolfe took her own life after enduring 3 years of bullying. Leanne’s parents were on holiday in Spain when the phone rang and their son simply said “Leanne is gone”. Leanne’s mother, Colette’s mothering instincts took over and, from all those miles away, she
Read More
1. You ascribe intent. Your friend never texted you back. Someone jumped ahead of you in the queue. You were mistakenly left out of a group chat. You take it very personally. So what caused you to be so offended? You took it as a personal dig, a slap in the face. Happy people do not do
Read More
We don’t let many boys hang out here at shona.ie, but in this case we’re making an exception. Meet your new idol, Kid President. Need a pep talk? KP has possibly the best pep talk ever given. Kid President has interviewed President Obama, kissed Beyoncé, launched his own TV show and his book, Kid President’s Guide to
Read More
Over the next few weeks, we will be introducing you to our new youth council, Ireland’s fabbest young women. Each of our members will tell us about themselves, and share why they decided to join us. This week, meet Clodagh, a 20 year old English and French student, currently in Nantes, France on her year abroad. Clodagh
Read More
There are many types of verbal abuse, trolling, cyber bullying, slut shaming, exclusion, we all know them. But do you think we would be so ready to do it if we could literally see the effects our words have on people faces? Photographer, Richard Jones has joined forces to create a project called ‘Weapon of
Read More
Tracey Ullman has been making people laugh for decades. But in her new show on BBC, she really highlights how ridiculous and frustrating people’s attitudes to sexual assault victims can be. In the video, she plays a detective who applies the same line of questioning often used for assault victims to a man who has
Read More
Very few people know how to respond when people when they say they struggle with mental illness. Here’s some things that have been said to me that made me irritated/belittled. There’s also a few responses at the end. “Oh that’s shit I get pretty depressed too. Especially when everyone goes out and I don’t and
Read More
Caitlin came out to her closest friends 4 years ago. Now fully out and very happy, she has written this piece in the hopes that sharing her experience might help someone else going through the same thing…. Learning to be Proud: A Reflection on the Awkwardness of Self-Discovery I accepted at some stage in my
Read More
People who suffer from depression often find it hard to verbalise or explain how they feel. Sometimes, a picture can tell a thousand words. Janelia Moud has been working on a project called “A Girl Called Meloncholy- A story of Depression” in which she uses images of a character with no face to explain the
Read More
Pretty much all of us grew up reading Dr. Seuss. But now that we’re a little older, we can really appreciate how much wisdom that little cat with his hat actually shared. Today would have been Dr S’s 112th birthday, and to celebrate we’re sharing all his best quotes in the one go. Enjoy x
Read More
With so much talk and advertisement – mainly aimed at us young folk – to “be ourselves”, to not be afraid to “be different” and “stand out from the crowd”, it’s a wonder that there’s any social clubs or societies left, because god forbid we have the same interest as someone else! We are encouraged
Read More
Last night, we received this letter from a girl who took part in a workshop before Christmas. If you have ever struggled you need to read it…. Dear Tammy, or any other beautiful soul that is reading this; Hi! I’m ***, and I’m fourteen, and back in about October or November of 2016 you came
Read More
This article was going to be one of the happier ones. I planned to return after a five-month absence with the news that I’d started on estrogen patches and was finally moving forward with my medical transition after a long road getting there. Then something far more important for our community happened. The tangerine whinge
Read More
This amazing video about the dangers of drugs has become a viral hit, and has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times in the last few days. Made by Newtown Abbey Arts and Cultural Drama group, it opens with some flashes of media headlines, before showing two teenage girls starting out a fun night that
Read More
Sophie Kane is back to tell us about how important it is for us to use our voices and stand up for what we believe in. Don’t for one minute feel that because you are young, or because you are a girl, that no-one will listen. It doesn’t matter whether its animal welfare, environmental issues, women’s
Read More
Last week we shared Aisling’s first post. Here she writes about how some days, all she wants to do is stay in bed. Most days, she gets up anyway, one day at a time. My bed is my castle. Nothing can come near me and nothing can harm me when I’m in my bed. Whenever I’m
Read More
Are you struggling today? Do you feel like noone sees you? Do you feel like everyone else is speaking a language you don’t understand? Do you wonder if you will ever find a place to thrive and blossom and stand tall? Are you wishing you could find the strength to stand up to those whose
Read More
Last year I gave up playing soccer, as I couldn’t seem to stay off crutches, and my age was catching up with me. Playing right back, Aisling was usually on my left, cleaning up all my mistakes, running faster than any other player on the pitch and astounding us all with her talent. She is beautiful,
Read More
