E.M.’s RWP~#276 Agastopia- Ear Today, Gone Tomorrow

On 09/22/202209/23/2022 By Susan St.PierreIn Writing Prompts6 Comments

Today’s Random Word is: agastopia

Auricle, formerly known as Jane, had a ‘thing’ for ears. Nothing kinky but absolutely a bizarre fascination that turned into a full-blown idolization by the time she was 20 years old.
Her most recent tribute to her favorite body part was her name change.
Auricle’s obsession had developed slowly throughout her life but really ramped up in her late teens. She began eating only chicken and fish as protein sources because, of course, they didn’t have visible ears and she refused to eat beef, pork, or heaven forbid, rabbit because displacing precious ears just to consume something was the most barbaric thing she could imagine!
Finally, Auricle’s agastopia became something more dangerous than weird when she started stuffing cotton into her own ears and wrapping them in layers of insulated flannel fashioned into form fitting caps during a bitter winter cold spell. The worry over ugly black frostbite on her ‘beloveds’ actually kept her up nights.
Yesterday, it was 5 degrees after a 2-foot snowstorm the night before and Auricle had her first biyearly ear exam with a specialist that was kindly arranged by her newest therapist. All the roads were still nearly impassible, and Auricle knew she’d have to walk the two blocks to such an important appointment. She bundled up her ‘darling’ appendages as tightly as she ever had and climbed a snowbank stepping out into the narrow street…

…The distraught snowplow operator could be heard screaming, “But I blew my horn, and she didn’t move!” as the morgue vehicle removed her body from the bloody scene.

———
I had never heard of agastopia until now. Thanks for the fun, informative, and ultimately sad prompt.

https://emkingston.wordpress.com/2022/09/22/e-m-s-rwp-276-agastopia/

FOWC with Fandango- vicariously- Look at me!

On 02/09/202202/09/2022 By Susan St.PierreIn Writing Prompts11 Comments

Now is the time that the generation who has been brought up in the “Look at me!” culture, are becoming ‘adults’. They understandably continue seeking attention (both positive and negative). These are IMO immature ‘grown-ups’ who (as you may have heard) label their annoying real-life responsibilities as “adulting”. They’ll play the role (IF THEY HAVE TO!) but only while they are doing the unpleasant chores to sustain themselves.
This stunted growth into would-be mature adulthood has many correlations to ‘modern parenting’ techniques, but this perfect storm has many variables.
Social media is the drug of choice of many “attention junkies” offering frequent ‘like’, ‘sympathy’ or ‘comment’ fixes.

But, to complete the ‘wardrobe’ of these individuals, they must have, or adopt, a victim status. The more, the better. Intersectionality is the lottery that offers the better ‘attention getting’ rewards by the number of (superficial) disadvantages one can claim. [To heck with character, generosity, work ethic, and talent.]

The growth of the Gender Dysphoria condition by 20,000 % in recent years is only one of the unfortunate byproducts of young parents delaying responsible maturity.
There’s another mental illness called Munchausen Syndrome that may be playing its own role specifically in promoting ‘transgenderism’ in children. Munchhausen Syndrome has long been recognized as the intense longing for attention by assimilating physical illness. There’s no cure but mental health professionals treat it and monitor it for the patient’s own welfare.
Parenting is hard enough but add damaged, self-centered, people having kids and tragic results are almost inevitable.
The parent who obsessively craves attention can add another victim status ‘star’, on her intersectionality chart, if her child becomes transgender. Coaxing and confusing young children, by suggesting that gender is fluid, is an easily achieved goal. Kids, after all, rely on their parents’ translation of the world. Once 3-year-old Johnny is told he’s a possible Jenny because he loves to dance and twirl to Disney’s Frozen, it’s a ‘free for all’. There are dresses to buy and make-up to apply!
In the end, Mommy hasn’t taken on symptoms of her own but (in her Munchhausen mind) can get a brand-new cascade of attention and sympathy living out this latest trendy ‘victimhood’ vicariously through the mental abuse of her child. Well… we’ll all look at her now!
But some of us with expressions of disgust. I don’t even think she’ll mind, though.
It’s the “Look at me!” that matters.

https://fivedotoh.com/2022/02/09/fowc-with-fandango-vicariously/

Photo Challenge #363- The Power of Prayer

On 04/27/202104/27/2021 By Susan St.PierreIn Writing Prompts3 Comments

Use this image as inspiration for a poem or short story.

It was so vividly real yet he was aware, in that dark corner of his psyche, it was a nightmare.
Jason’s Dad and older brother had each succumbed to their nightmares. Suicide was not going to be his rebuttal! This family curse was going end.

Jason decided to meet it head on. Each night before bed, he reminded himself that his stubbornness – once declared his biggest flaw by his ‘shrink’- would win the day.
The old mill clearly was a representation of his great-grandfather’s trade but there was never any water present. The drone of the dry wheel ‘eating up’ the Earth was deafening! Even within the dream, he held his head between clenched fists and screamed for it to STOP. Each time, as he fell into the abyss, he’d awaken hoarse and trembling.
Tonight… yes, tonight, he would not fall. He would not be afraid.

The sun made him squint as he walked the road to the mill. The big sky stretched to infinity in every direction… then he stopped. He felt an oddly familiar unease.
To his right, there was a solid mound and rooted long dead tree in the middle of the flatland. An anomalous formation for Kansas. Something told him to head for… RUN, to it!
He reached it as the earth shaking grind escalated and hung on to that tree with all his might while keeping his eyes trained on the Northern vista.
All he could think to do was pray like his mother had taught him as a child.
Then It began to rain and a river formed lifting him gently as he released his death grip.
He heard his mother’s voice just before he woke up.

‘For I will pour out water on the thirsty land
And streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring
And My blessing on your descendants;

The curse of his mental illness had been broken.

Source: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Rivers

Photo Challenge #363 | Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie (wordpress.com)

Defining Sanity and Humanity

On 03/31/201403/31/2014 By Susan St.PierreIn Book Reviews, In my humble opinion...Leave a comment

I’ve been away from my blog for some time. Knowing it exists, and that I would return, was always a comforting thought. I am pages from completing a fascinating, enlightening, true story and could wait, no longer, to share it.
I am grappling with the term “forever changed” by this book. Instead, I think it is more accurate, in my own case, to say “finally aware” or “forever defined”.
This is a firsthand story of a brain scientist’s stroke. There is a wealth of science about symptoms and perceptions, from the victim’s view. It is an essential part of the story and, really, not hard to learn and appreciate but the overall message and “insight” into the human psyche will “blow you away”!
We are a single being which operates, through our world, by using two separate, yet connected, brain hemispheres. The story exposes the purpose and function of those hemispheres in enlightening detail. The author’s conclusions about the necessity for both to function in unison in order to offer a life “rich” in a common conscientiousness are extraordinary, possibly, life changing.
As I read this book, I was thankful for my years with children for my primarily hopeful perspective about living “in the moment”. Jill Bolte Taylor hits the “nail on the head”, in my opinion, about how much of our own happiness is a matter of how we CHOSE to perceive the world. Embracing how ordinary events make us “feel” (emotionally and physiologically) just may be the biggest tool in the counteracting of everyday depression and sadness.
The author does not disregard the fact that our mental health is subject to chemical reactions beyond our control. The awareness that we CAN control much of it, though, (beyond brain damage and illness) offers a primer in a more fulfilling, happy, existence.
Incidentally, the carefree, forgiving, nature of man’s best friend seems to further explain why our Left Brains (containing speech and ego) can be our worst enemy if left to control too much of our time. On the other hand, who wants children, or dogs, making critical decisions?
As with everything we learn about life, balance is the best medicine.
I’ve barely scratched the surface of the wisdom between the covers of this book!