#BeReal – JULIE ANDERSON

I am truly honored to have Julie Anderson as my #BeReal guest today.    FEARLESSLY VULNERABLE “To live exuberantly–to fully know and be fully known by another—we must be prepared to illuminate the dark spots in our most intimate relationships and in our selves.” –Arianna Huffington, On Becoming Fearless   When I was a little…

#BeReal – Rose B Fischer

The #BeReal guest today is Rose B Fischer.  Thank you Rose!     My father kicked me. Not often but often enough that my heart still hammers if I hear a man’s footsteps close behind me in the hallway. My mother called me disgusting and berated me because my father “couldn’t stand me.” She accused…

SENTENCED

Voodoo cursed And jury tried Condemned For her humanity Her lips sewn With wooden vines Cross stitched Haphazardly through Previous scars And healing scabs Keep those emotions Those hard feelings To yourself they said As they sentenced them Forever imprisoned Inside a fleshy tomb To rot and decay Inside her fucked up brain

#BeReal – KERRY KIJEWSKI

Please welcome Kerry Kijewski as she gets real about love.   Sometimes I think love, pain, shame, and embarrassment are so entwined, I can’t untangle them from one another. The strands of emotion and feeling are separable, if I really look at my past, in reflection, but in the moment I seem to make every…

#BeReal – AMANDA EIFERT

Please welcome my #BeReal Relationships guest today, Amanda Eifert.   It was along time before I had my first ‘real’ relationship. I went on Plenty Of a Fish, a dating site, because my friend had met her husband there. My now ex-boyfriend, was not like the other men I talked to on the site. He…

#BeReal – CRAIG SPENCE

Please welcome my #BeReal Relationships guest today, Craig Spence.   Reality is changing. Folks, I have a confession to make: For the last little while, meaning since about this time last year, I’ve neglected to mention a tiny piece of information. Not so much an out-and-out lie, more one of omission, but a lie still…

BONE DUST

I have a drawer full of stars A reminder of who we are All the bones we collected Have lost their meaning And are piling up useless All I have left of the world Is this drawer full of hopes Remnants of what came Memories of what’s gone Just left over bone dust And the…

THE EXTINCTION OF AUTHENTICITY

Life is hard. Just navigating all the necessary bullshit is frustrating enough. I can do without all the unnecessary stuff. Gossip, rumors, competition, backbiting, jealousy… Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to distinguish a person’s real intent just by looking at them? What happened to authenticity? Sometimes I feel like asking people to fill…