Dani Banani
Bio
I write through the passion I have for how much the world around me inspires me, and I create so the world inside me can be manifested.
Mom of 4, Birth Mom of 1, LGBTQIA+, I <3 Love.
Stories (106)
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The Meaning of Beauty
Lights, camera, PANIC! Okay, maybe I shouldn't have been feeling the panic, but this audition meant everything to me. After what felt like a million rejections, I finally got one I felt confident about, and I planned to give it my all. I spent all morning watching movies, looking for inspiration as I prepared for my glorious debut as an audition potential. Bette Midler in Beaches is transcendent if I do say so myself. I hoped my voice would command attention like hers (minus the singing.)
By Dani Banani5 years ago in Humans
Ring the King
Every state has its stereotypes and reputations, and Indiana is no different in that regard. As a native Hoosier, I can attest to a lot of the reputation being accurate as there are definitely plenty of cornfields, a shockingly low cost of living, and a fondness for enormous pork tenderloin sandwiches. Besides all of that, there is one Indiana restaurant franchise that started as a single local eatery that tends to send any Indiana resident into a little tizzy over the idea of that restaurant being dinner for the evening. Even though I am now living in another state, the Hoosier blood bleeds as red as the phenomenal pizza sauce you can find on pizzas made by Pizza King, which happens to be the best pizza place in the entire Midwest.
By Dani Banani5 years ago in Feast
Complicated Grief
The most shocking part of being a birth mom is the experience of what feels like actual death occurring when you place your newborn baby with his new parents (see Choosing Pain as Love for the full account of this personal experience.) I was warned that the feeling would occur, but I didn’t entirely believe it was possible until I went through it myself. What has been consistent since then has been an unexpected and unfortunate result of how I cope: any death that holds some level of relevance to me crushes me in a new and very intense way. Compared to how I used to deal with death and the general idea of it, the experience of grieving my child while he is still alive created a new level of grief in other situations.
By Dani Banani5 years ago in Confessions
Dear Liz
Dear Liz, Do you remember when we first started talking on Facebook Messenger? I barely replied, I went silent for a week at a time, and all I did was cry and complain about losing my former best friend. I remember how patient you were, how much you let me vent to you, and how understanding you were. I honestly thought, at that point, that I would never dedicate myself to a "best friend" ever again after how painful losing that friend was for me. I felt like I was certainly not doing well enough as a casual friend to you, but you never made me feel that way. My communication was spotty, at best. My dedication as minimal, if there was any at all.
By Dani Banani5 years ago in Humans
The Moral Dilemma of Wanda Maximoff's Grief
The insanely popular show WandaVision on Disney+ raised a whole new collection of questions and interests regarding Wanda being revealed as the chaos magic witch (also known as the Scarlet Witch) who was prophesied in the Darkhold . Everyone is interested in everything about the future of Wanda Maximoff now that she has become aware of her abilities and seeks to explore their range even further. We know she will play a huge role in the upcoming Doctor Strange sequel as well. However, what interests me is the ethical/moral dilemma of her grief and the surrounding repercussions of her magic creating a complex yet satisfying grieving journey for viewers. Was Wanda's Hex an act of evil? Was her avoidance of correcting the issue once being made aware of it inherently evil, or strong denial in grief? Was WandaVision careless in utilizing this plot for Wanda's grief?
By Dani Banani5 years ago in Geeks
The Weekend Identity
My heels clicked loudly against the marble floor of the upscale club as I wandered and weaved through couples and groups of people socializing, flirting, touching, and dancing slowly with one another. This wasn't your typical club; this was the club for sexual sinners, for men and women who like to share, and I was there alone. My favorite thing to do after a long week of pleading cases for clients in front of a judge was slip away for the masquerade themes, the ones that allowed me to conceal my identity while I satisfied the sexual beast inside of me. She was a fierce one, difficult to satiate, and the themes that gave me the chance to let loose in open privacy were my only escapes from my dull career. I didn't have time, nor interest, in dating, so I came here for sex.
By Dani Banani5 years ago in Filthy
Does Every Couple Have a "That's Us" Couple?. Top Story - April 2021.
Does every couple have a couple they look at and say, "Oh yeah, that's just like us!"? If you read that question and immediately thought of a famous (or not) couple that you compare to you and your partner, I guess that helps get me closer to an answer about how many people do that!
By Dani Banani5 years ago in Humans
Pueblo Pepper Fame
Colorful Colorado attracts tourists for beautiful, flavorful, and breathtaking reasons. There are endless adventures and happiness to be found around the mountain range, and when I moved here, I found the pleasure of this atmosphere being my day-to-day life one that I never expected to feel. To say it has been glorious would be an understatement.
By Dani Banani5 years ago in Feast
5 Hacks for Long Distance Love
If you’ve ever dated online or had a partner who travels frequently, you know how challenging the time apart can feel for both parties. The urgent desire to reunite lingers daily, no matter how often texts and pictures are exchanged to ease the pain of distance. Everyone involved in a relationship that forces them to deal with separation understands the need to be emotionally strong, but nothing replaces the feeling of your partner right beside you. So, what do you do to feel more “together” without being together?
By Dani Banani5 years ago in Humans
Pandemic Horror Gaming
How is anyone expected to have fun when they're isolated?! Me, personally? I like gaming, so I turned to that as a source of amusement, and utilized the game pass on our XBox One to see if there were any hidden gems. We (my partner and I) talked about each game that had an appealing concept and debated over whether I would like this one or that one, until I came across a game well-known as a movie title that made me pause and say, "Oooh, what about this one?"
By Dani Banani5 years ago in Gamers
Five Gentle Approaches to a Spicier Sex Life
Sex is my favorite thing to talk about, and anyone who is friends with me knows how comfortable I am with the subject. From jokes about me being a sex therapist to analyzing sexual personalities, it’s something I cover in a lot of conversations because I make it known that I’m the person you can do that with. I’ve had my fair share of experiences and experiments with achieving the most satisfactory sex life possible, so I typically have a viewpoint to share about a wide variety of subjects. It’s given me the opportunity to not only understand my own experiences, but to understand how my experiences carry over to different sexual personalities.
By Dani Banani5 years ago in Filthy
