S Nicole Lane

Jeane Cohen has been painting since she was young. “In my twenties I lived in a lot of places and met a lot of people, trying to figure out how the world works,” she says. “Now I have found that I can ask these questions [about the world] through painting, because it is an extremely responsive medium for learning and because [it] is unforgiving. It will rat you out when you become disinterested or guarded.” She explains that it took her a while to fully embrace painting in a way that reflects...

I jumped into a new relationship without healing from a past one. My situation felt fragile.
by S. Nicole Lane
Credit: Arina // Adobe
I was 24 when it hit me smack in the face, quite literally.
Blue eyes and blue tears were not how I imagined my post-graduation, big city life. Battling an emotionally and physically abusive relationship wasn't in the equation. Nevertheless, there I was. Stuck in a labyrinth of anxiety, fear and loss.
After some time, I somehow found the strength to leave my ex...

Intimacy after an incision isn't out of the question, it just takes work.
Desiree Lindsey, 28, kept getting sick during her period. The Las Vegas fashion entrepreneur's nausea had become so crippling at work that she was unable to hold down food and would spend most of the time in the bathroom.
"It got to the point where I'd have pillows, step stools, my laptop and chargers with me in the bathroom, just in case," she said.
In addition to abdominal cramping, intense pain during sex can occur w...

Painful sex isn't the end of intimacy—you just need a new approach.
While deep and passionate thrusting is often sublime during penetrative sex, that kind of movement can create a massive hurdle for anyone who suffers from endometriosis. Endometriosis is a disease where tissue that's supposed to grow inside the uterus actually grows outside of it and attacks the reproductive organs; when a partner accidentally hits or brushes against that tissue, it can cause enough discomfort to ruin the eve...

Our society has destigmatized many things over the years, but period sex is still not one of them. Fear, disgust and dirtiness are associated with menstruation and have been, both historically and culturally, since Biblical times. In the 19th century, women were told to avoid dancing, shopping and attending parties while on their period. While norms have changed a lot since then, menstruation is somehow still considered taboo. Maybe that's part of the appeal of period sex and why it feels hot...

In the last few years, it seems like every ’90s video store has been transformed into the neighborhood CBD shop. The laundry list of products containing CBD—AKA cannabidiol, a natural non-psychoactive compound found in cannabis sativa plants (yes, the same marijuana and hemp plants THC is derived from)—has grown to include face masks, tampons, coffee, bath salts, gummy bears and more.
CBD can help manage pain, inflammation and discomfort without the high associated with THC, or tetrahydrocann...

Often called an “invisible disease,” endometriosis attacks unseen areas of the body and is often brushed off as menstrual pain. Patients don’t always look sick but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t. While this type of illness poses challenges for partnerships, especially in terms of intimacy, it doesn’t mean your relationship will dissolve.
Endometriosis impacts 1 in 10 people during their reproductive years and affects roughly 176 million individuals worldwide. The painful and chronic condi...

Itching, soreness, burning, unusual discharge—these are all common, uncomfy signs that something’s up with your vagina. But even when you know something is off, sometimes it’s still hard to pinpoint exactly WTF is going on down there. Is it a yeast infection? Or bacterial vaginosis? And whatever it is, why is it happening, and how can you make it stop ASAP?
We may have all experienced one—or both—of these conditions at some point in our lives. But don’t worry—it’s normal to have a pH imbalanc...

“Be kind to yourself. MS can be frightening and overwhelming. Know you’re not alone and there’s a beautiful community of MSers online ready to help.”
After three years of debilitating symptoms like depression, cognitive impairment, and vision loss, Anna,* 24, was finally diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
Like Anna, approximately 2.3 million people are living with MS worldwide and 1 million of those people live in the U.S. The chronic disease is unpredictable, attacking the nervous syste...

The main treatment for a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is antiretroviral therapy (ART), which stops the virus from multiplying in the body. It reduces the amount of HIV in the blood, which can help the infected individual stay healthy and avoid passing the virus on to others. People on ART usually take a combination of medications.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved 222 antiretroviral (ARV) medications to treat...

I read Theorem in the bathtub. My feet were propped up as I made sure I didn't get the bottom of the pages wet (a bad habit I have). The book opens with an image of a red cube and an off-white cylinder. "At 13, I fell in love with the tidy solution of geometry," reads the text. Theorem is not what you may expect from a book of poems. The long text is a push-pull relationship between writer and artist. The reader is immediately thrown into the conversation between two artists, separated by dis...

My God, I love a fleshy piece of artwork. When artists make works that are burgeoning and mysterious, I'm immediately drawn to them like white on rice. So, I'll go ahead and say I'm a little biased when it comes to Susan Smith Trees's work.
The Chicago-based artist has been making work for 35 years. Her show "Roots" opened this month at the Evanston Art Center's (EAC) second floor atrium gallery. In the gallery, Trees's expandable foam wall reliefs hang delicately and pronounced. They appear ...

There is still no cure for HIV after decades' worth of research. However, we now have treatments to help people who have been infected minimize the impact the virus has on their lives, as well as preventive medications that lowers the risk of HIV transmission. There are 48 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs to treat HIV today.
Your doctor will decide which drug you should take depend on your viral load, T cell count, what strain of HIV you have, how severe your infection i...

It takes time after the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) enters your body before a test can detect it, and this period of time is known as the HIV window period. If you take a test during your window period, the HIV test may show up as negative even if you have been infected with HIV.1 You can still pass the virus on to someone else during this time. It's therefore important to know how long this window is to ensure that you get accurate test results and take precautions to protect yourself...