Sara is an English teacher in Connecticut.
Role Call is a Petal + Sass blog section featuring interviews with professional young women occupying diverse careers- and their advice to teens.
Name: Sara Erdmann
Age: 32
College & major: Hamilton College ’05, Creative Writing major, French minor
Graduate school & concentration: University of New Hampshire, MFA in Writing
Binghamton University, PhD in Literature and Creative Writing
8 out of 10 people contract HPV in their lifetime.
Chances are, if you have been sexually active in your lifetime, you have contracted (and likely spread) HPV (Human papillomavirus). No, not you? At least 8 out of 10 people will get or have already received a hearty helping of HPV. Most often it comes and goes without complication, but for many, HPV can become problematic if left untreated- especially for women.
[Vah – Gi – Nah]
Did you wince?
Do you feel uncomfortable about it?
Did you click on this post just to confirm your disgust?
Did you click on this post because you never see the word ‘vagina‘ in your newsfeed? You probably don’t.
If you can’t say the word ‘vagina,” how can you take your body seriously – and why should others?
Melissa is a Physician Assistant in Boston.
Role Call is a Petal + Sass blog section featuring interviews with professional young women occupying diverse careers- and their advice to teens.
Name: Melissa Ayala
Age: A solid 33.
College & major: MVCC, Florida Atlantic University, & Le Moyne College (A lot of transfers based on financial status), Biology/Pre-Med.
Graduate school & concentration: Le Moyne College, Physician Assistant Studies Masters.
‘Love Letters’ is a Petal + Sass blog feature that regularly asks a group of diverse women in their 20’s and 30’s about their experiences with health, sex, emotional wellness, body image, college, careers – and what they wish they had known themselves as teenagers. Visit the ‘Love Letters’ To My Former Self page to learn more about the contributors.
Question posed: Do you have any ‘dating regrets’ from high school? Did you date around, just focus on friendships, or have a long-term monogamous relationship? What would you tell yourself about dating in high school if you could do it all over again?
Incorporate elements of your style as a talking point
If you’re interviewing for college this year, you may be wondering how to dress for something that isn’t exactly a job interview but is still pretty critical to your future. But do clothes really ‘make the [wo]man’?
College tours and interviews typically begin over the summer months and into the fall of your senior year. Many colleges require the interview as part of the application and admission process, particularly at liberal arts colleges or Ivy League schools. For many students, the college interview is the most intimidating part of the process. But should it be?
Bernadette is a Research Associate at the University of Southern Maine.
Role Call is a Petal + Sass blog section featuring interviews with professional young women occupying diverse careers- and their advice to teens.
Name: Bernadette Doykos
Age: 32.99 (might be 33 by the time this posts, who knows)
College & Major: Wesleyan University (CT), Sociology
Graduate School & Concentration: Harvard Graduate School of Education, Ed.M. in Risk & Prevention (now Prevention Science and Practice because no one understood what that meant and it was hard to get jobz)
Vanderbilt University, working on that PhD in Community Research and Action (working hard to only secure degrees with meaningless titles to anyone outside of our immediate field. CRUSHING IT)
A recent New York Times opinion piece raised an important question every woman should stop to consider: Why do I apologize, and do I apologize more just because I’m female?
“For so many women, myself included, apologies are inexorably linked with our conception of politeness,” shares NYT contributor Sloane Crosley after apologizing half a dozen times to a waiter for an unsavory dish she was served. “Somehow, as we grew into adults, ‘sorry’ became an entry point to basic affirmative sentences.”
‘Love Letters’ is a Petal + Sass blog feature that regularly asks a group of diverse women in their 20’s and 30’s about their experiences with health, sex, emotional wellness, body image, college, careers – and what they wish they had known themselves as teenagers. Visit the ‘Love Letters’ To My Former Self page to learn more about the contributors.
Question posed: How did you feel about your body as a teenager? How has your body changed over the last 10 years? Has your body perception changed as you got older?
Petal + Sass 