Jessica Hinkle’s store —Proud Mary— creates a new experience. It’s fun, thoughtful and sets the standard of what everyone’s shopping experience should look like regardless of your weight. Named after her grandmother —Mary Lare— Proud Mary offers a curated selection of vintage finds, a strict no diet talk rule and cute in-house designs that would make anyone think, “why aren’t there more stores like this?” In between laughing at our shared experiences as fat women, we discussed internalized fatphobia, the ridiculous rules of fashion, and the importance of fat friendships and community.

Tessa Violet is always doing her best. From her early days on YouTube to being full swing into her (yes) mom era, Tessa has grown into herself embracing delusion, having a lot of hope and —on her best days— knowing that failure is just a part of her journey. Her latest album, “My God!” is just another reminder of how powerful you can be despite heartbreak, and insecurity. In the middle of her living room floor, Tessa and I talk about writing, healing and why sharing her feelings doesn’t make her vulnerable.

Katie Douglas is a self-proclaimed Busy Lazy Person. But, in less than 15 minutes of listening to her speak, you’d discover she’s only right about the busy part. Katie is currently working on a project in the middle of the woods, with an excitement to work behind the cameras in the future. Katie (a true Libra) is as intentional and passionate during our phone call as she is in her Netflix series, Ginny and Georgia. Whether she’s taking her audience through the best parts of high school or helping them find comfort through the worst ones, one thing is for sure: Katie Douglas will always be honest.

Researching this Class Notes started with us asking, “What does being CaRbOn NeUtRaL ​​actually mean?” What we ended with was an office of writers (Eden and Gisselle) screaming, “When will the US acknowledge the climate crisis?” Seriously, how long are we going to keep pretending these wildfires, melting ice caps, and hurricanes are normal? The good news is we found some answers to some of our questions. The bad news is…we also found even more questions.

Class Notes is a recurring series exploring topics that we find hard to understand (purposefully or otherwise!). Started as Instagram infographics, Class Notes has shifted into a monthly Jr Hi the Magazine feature which you can read here.

Our reason for choosing this topic is, well, this series is written by two Californians — born and raised — who were never formally taught about Japanese “internment.” Internment in quotes because, while the actions of the United States government falls under the definition of internment (see glossary above), the years spent in these War Relocation Centers is far more akin to incarceration.