Illegibly K.M. West

Category: Just OK.

  • Temples & Stained Glass

    Temples & Stained Glass

    On this, the first day of Advent, I keep thinking about this season as one of preparation while also for some reason returning to the phrase, ‘our bodies are a temple.’ When I think of temples, I think of stained glass, of ritual prayer. I think of protective walls and pews in which to rest.…

  • Pulse.

    Pulse.

    There’s a phone ringing somewhere in the room, followed by another, and another. The constant chirping and buzzing, the occasional song chosen by the owner to represent their own or the caller’s personality, all just noise amidst the chaos. Echos of “Where are you,” “Are you okay,” and “Please, just call me back,” vibrate through…

  • We Could Be Heros

    We Could Be Heros

    “Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or…

  • [Each] Otherness

    [Each] Otherness

    In my last post, I talked a little about feeling on the outside. In the following days, I was met with some wonderful responses from others who also experience this issue, which is a fun, surprisingly inclusive twist on an emotion that is, by definition, alienating. This sense of connectedness–or the fact that when someone shares something deeply…

  • Time for a Change

    Time for a Change

    I started this blog almost 4 years ago when I found out I would be moving to Oklahoma for work. I titled it “Just OKaleigh” as a play on how Oklahoma is “Just OK,” and listed the tagline as “Tracking my transition from Texas to OOOklahoma.” But it’s been 3 years since I settled into…

  • Thunderous.

    Thunderous.

    Do you ever stumble across something relatively ordinary that, for whatever reason, has a serious impact on you? It’s hard not to feel silly attributing meaning to random articles on the internet, but I suppose meaning is the overall intent of their creators. A recent photo series featured on HuffPost Women had this effect on…

  • Intentions.

    Intentions.

    I mentor a 10 year old girl through a volunteer program here in town during the school year, and I realized today that school will be starting up soon enough. So, naturally, I was thinking about the age-old wisdom I plan to bestow upon this soon-to-be 5th grader in the upcoming year. Now, my mentee…

  • My body is a wonderland. Or something.

    My body is a wonderland. Or something.

    I am a healthy 24 year old woman. I have an amazing body. I am 5’4 and sit just under 150lbs. I’m curvy. I have cellulite. I have an hourglass figure, in that my shoulders are almost as wide as my hips. I have small, 27.5 inch waist that slowly billows out to a bodacious 41 inch…

  • On Marrying Young.

    On Marrying Young.

    So this year is wrapping up and it’s time for the annual existential review of my life. Yet another big year for me, obviously, on account of the fact that Daniel and I got married. Young. We got married young. We are definitely not alone in this as I can’t even begin to count on both…

  • Slowly, then Suddenly.

    Slowly, then Suddenly.

    My goodness. Sorry for the double-a-day post, but I just took a moment to re-read a few of my older posts (on account of the large year I’ve been having) and came across something I wrote in April of last year entitled, “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.” In it, I referenced Hemingway’s…