Not that kind of person
October 27, 2014
I’m not that kind of person. I would never do that. Growing up, we were warned incessantly with the click of a tongue and side-cast eyes, if you judge it, you’re gonna walk it. Mama would quietly but emphatically remind us to be careful with our words. She knew well that humble pie had a lingering bitter ...
Read postExplanatory Interlude
August 1, 2014
Depression often comes with a variety of side effects, none of which are consistent across sufferers, or even across depressive bouts experienced by the same person. Depression might manifest this time with a large helping of anger and frustration, while next time it could come with a side of inconsolable crying, and the time after ...
Read postFlorida, Part One
July 2, 2014
Recently I went to South Florida. The trip was originally scheduled for a work conference, but in looking at flights, it was much cheaper to fly down a few days in advance of the conference. I thought it might be nice to spend a little time exploring the coast, so we booked a flight for ...
Read postdeathly desires and birthday wishes
June 5, 2014
My childhood was replete with moments where my mother lamented the fact that she was still alive. Hers was a life packed with significant pain early on, and by the time she left this world at the still-young age of fifty-seven, she was all but bursting at the seams with sorrow. She never tried to ...
Read postUncle Tom & Aunt Cathie
May 21, 2014
Spike. Spike. Spike. I love you. I love you. Spike, I love you. My Uncle Tom spoke the universal words of endearment quickly at first, then more slowly, enunciating each word, his mouth moving methodically beneath the mustache he had worn since before I was born. I… love… you. He was perched on the edge ...
Read postcriminally smooth
April 24, 2014
Sometime in the early-mid-nineties when I was about ten, my oldest sister and I were spending the summer with our dad and step-mom in a sleepy Midwestern town with a population of less than a thousand. They both worked all day, and our step-brother and step-sister were usually away at their dad’s house or at ...
Read postOrder, balance, and turning thirty
April 18, 2014
My last post was deliberately a deviation from all the reflection here. The past year has been seemingly one godawful thing after another. My sisters and I hoped that somehow the turn of the new year would bring with it less tragedy and trauma. We each held our breath, hoping, believing that maybe the universe ...
Read postVagina havingness
April 14, 2014
Vagina havingness is a condition that affects around half of the world’s population. It is a tricky predicament in that vaginas and their auxiliary parts are simultaneously delicate and tyrannical. Caring for that whole system is sort of like caring for a terrarium or a saltwater fish tank in that the meticulous attention required to keep ...
Read postHumor Tools
April 11, 2014
For many of us, humor is our survival kit, loaded with all the tools we need to stay alive and functional. We drag it around with us and pull out various items as necessary, mechanisms we use to avoid making everyone around us uncomfortable. Unadulterated sadness, anguish, and despair makes human squirmy and so we ...
Read postShould happens
January 30, 2014
Handfuls of mostly-formed posts sit unpublished, waiting for me to put finishing touches on them. Multiple times a day, I mentally poke myself with scathing shame for my seeming inability to keep up with All the Things, one of which is this website. The very outlet that was meant to offset my anxiety has become ...
Read postCongrats, you made it to the end! Once more with feeling.