The Orange Bead Collection

This morning I went to Whole Foods to get a veggie juice to start my day, and after I came out, I sat in my car for a little listening to my new music and drinking my juice. I look to my left and see the woman in the SUV next to me chattering happily to her mother, I'm guessing, through the Bluetooth in her car. She knew that she was in plain view to me through her non-tinted front windows, yet she gave me the feeling that she was so utterly uninhibited by anything else because she was in...

A couple of months ago, I received an order for 25 Orange Bead Bracelets from a remarkable young woman named Emily Ponte. She expressed her excitement over the OBC movement and wished to give the bracelets to her swim team at school. I was instantly moved at the thought of an entire team banding together to support such an important issue that affects 1 in 10 people in the United States. Not only that, but they were willing to break the ice in their college and home towns through the wearing of these bracelets in order to jump start a...

Hello everyone, my name is Taylor Spesak and for those of you reading this who don’t know me, I am Bree’s boyfriend of almost six years. Before getting into the rest of this there are a few things I have to say. First off, this is a story about life; there are highs and lows, happy moments and sad moments, along with times of joy and times of frustration. So please, bare with me. It ends well, I promise. Second, I want to apologize that it has taken this long to get this post up. Bree and I talked about...

No matter what you think, I'm not better.  It may appear that way, especially with all of the positivity I try and exude with those who I encounter. However, the battle inside my head is nowhere near done. I don't want to bullshit you; I'm still working and fighting and struggling every day. A dose of anti-depressant medication a day doesn't fix everything and I don't want anyone to think that it's that simple.  From my experience, the medication allows for you to rebalance in the neutral zone of your mind in order for you to discover your inner happiness....

Some times it starts with a warm embrace. Other times it comes from someone's breath on the back of my neck. Other times nothing happens at all, however that has become a very rare anomaly.  It begins as a hard lump, like a stubborn boulder, in the pit of my stomach and moves up my spine like a strand of icicles creeping their way into my brain. I feel sick, like physically ill, and it becomes hard to suppress those emotions without feeling like a crazy person. My entire body is frozen in the moment and the act becomes magnified...