Kia Abdullah's Blog: Girl, Interrupting, page 2

How I deal with trolls

(A super-quick post this month thanks to the flu that’s floored me this week.) I recently ‘joined’ Instagram. I say ‘joined’ because in truth I created my profile five years ago but never posted anything. Last week, I started to share Instagram Stories, short videos that disappear after 24 hours. I like the transient nature […]

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How I deal with trolls

(A super-quick post due to the flu that’s floored me this week.) I recently ‘joined’ Instagram. I say ‘joined’ because in truth I created my profile five years ago but never posted anything. Last week, I started to share Instagram Stories, short videos that disappear after 24 hours. I like the transient nature of the […]

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10 things that make me proud – and one that does not

I’m a list maker. I know it’s not glamorous but I make lists for all sorts of things, from short-term plans to long-term life goals. Most of these are pitched towards the future: what I want to achieve, what I want to read, what I want to see. None of them look back at the […]

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10 things that make me proud – and one that does not

I’m a list maker. I know it’s not glamorous but I make lists for all sorts of things, from short-term plans to long-term life goals. Most of these are pitched towards the future: what I want to achieve, what I want to read, what I want to see. None of them look back at the […]

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I had a happy childhood. Then puberty changed everything

Earlier this week, I was listening to a podcast when the host asked his guest: ‘Did you have a happy childhood?’ The guest sighed – a bone-weary sound that was itself an answer.  The question – so banal and yet so jarringly intimate – made me think of my own childhood. In its early stages, […]

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I suffered period poverty. Here’s what it was like

Poverty is a strange thing. As a child, I thought of Oliver Twist or the sooty cheeks of a chimney sweep whenever I happened to hear it. I pictured clothes held together with patches and not having enough to eat. It’s certainly not a word I associated with me – ‘poor’ perhaps, but certainly not […]

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I suffered period poverty. Here’s what it was like

Poverty is a strange thing. As a child, I thought of Oliver Twist or the sooty cheeks of a chimney sweep whenever I happened to hear it. I pictured clothes held together with patches and not having enough to eat. It’s certainly not a word I associated with me – ‘poor’ perhaps, but certainly not […]

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On the joy of mediocrity

Making the case for not going pro “Nobody achieves anything great by being happy and cozy,” says climber Alex Honnold in Free Solo, the Oscar-winning documentary charting his free solo ascent of El Capitan, considered the most extraordinary achievement in the sport – ever.   His words struck me because even though I’m happy and […]

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I’m exhausted by my (and your) opinions

I learned of the Christchurch mass shooting last month as soon as I woke up on the morning of 15th March. I was still in bed, my head still on my pillow. I reached for my phone and saw that my sister had forwarded a video to our WhatsApp group chat. I pressed play, but […]

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Why I don’t sound working class (even though I am)

Years ago, I was watching the film Quantum of Solace in a charmless London cinema. As MI6 agent Strawberry Fields greeted James Bond on screen, I leaned over to my boyfriend and said, “Bless her, she’s trying really hard with the accent.” Later, he asked what I meant by this. I shrugged. “It’s obvious the […]

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