Josey Pickering
Bio
Autistic, non-binary, queer horror nerd with a lot to say.
Achievements (8)
Stories (331)
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I resign from ableism
I am Josey and I resign from ableism. It seems like a strange statement, but it’s a statement indeed. I resign from allowing ableism to slide by me, no matter how casual. I resign from allowing ableist thoughts to simmer in my mind. I resign from allowing ableist words to linger in my vocabulary. I resign from letting ableism exist in my life at any capacity, it has no room here.
By Josey Pickering8 months ago in Journal
Finding Pride . Honorable Mention in Pride Under Pressure Challenge. Top Story - May 2025.
Growing up, I didn’t see many LGBTQ people in media. The knowledge I had was limited to grade school insults and random things my older siblings told me. Like the time my sister chopped all of one of my Barbie’s hair off, called her butch and then had to explain lesbians to me. It always felt like I was watching something I wasn’t supposed to when a queer character did show up. I was still in grade school when Ellen came out on her sitcom and when Chris Paradis said “Oh Daddy! I’m a lesbian, a big one” in First Wives Club. Both moments intrigued me, and both moments opened up the entire LGBTQ universe for me. Soon enough, I had watched To Wong Foo, the Birdcage and even the sapphic classic Bound. Of course, I watched Gia religiously. I found solace in these characters, whether they were fictional or not. The things I was feeling deep inside were out and proud in these pieces of media, so why couldn’t I be? The more media I absorbed with LBGTIA+ faces, the less ashamed I began to feel. In junior high, I even had my first girlfriend, even if it was just puppy love for a few months. It felt so exciting to be true to myself, I could feel my pride in myself starting to grow and the phoenix in me rising.
By Josey Pickering8 months ago in Pride
When did it become cool to be cruel?
I’ve noticed a disturbing trend amongst people I follow on social media. More and more people are self proclaimed haters, proud to make fun of other people and bully them. I’ve seen posts that say things like bring back bullying, some of you should have been bullied, etc. Seeing people I once wished to connect with saying things that condone hurting others just makes me want to unfollow them immediately. Why is it so cool to be cruel now? Why is making fun of other people something to brag about?
By Josey Pickering9 months ago in Humans
Star Child
I will readily admit, I’ve never written a song before, I’ve made attempts in my youth but never finished anything. I’ve always found my niche in poetry. However, there was something in me that felt a pull to this challenge. Now I can saw that I HAVE written a song, something humming around in my little neurodivergent heart.
By Josey Pickering9 months ago in Beat
Neurodivergent Dogpile . Top Story - April 2025.
My mind is in what seems like constant warfare. I’m autistic, with obsessive compulsive disorder diagnosed. Highly suspected ADHD, living on a sundae of anxiety, depression and trauma. There’s no sprinkles though, there’s not really any cherries either, just the stems from so many “and the cherry on top…” scenarios. The sundae of my mind has kind of melted into a goop soup of mental illness and disorder. I also had to spend most of my life not realizing what flavors were even in my sundae. For a long time I thought that it was only one flavor, the autism spectrum of rainbow sherbet.
By Josey Pickering9 months ago in Psyche
The CerebraVita Protocol
Imagine an invention that extends life and redefines humanity, unveiling unforeseen consequences. In the year 2026, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., (President Donald Trump’s divisive Secretary of Health and Human Services a year into his tenure) unveiled a radical medical breakthrough. Touted as a cutting edge life-extension treatment, it would come to be known as the CerebraVita Protocol. It promised not just to prolong life but to enhance life itself. The treatment stemmed from a strange and unlikely source intimately familiar to Secretary Kennedy, a parasitic nematode, more commonly known as a brain worm. Toxocara cerebralis was the very brain worm Kennedy claimed he’d contracted and survived decades earlier. He turned his personal affliction (as well as punchline fodder for millions, from stand-up comedians to bitter liberals) into a crusade, funding research that in theory would weaponized the worm’s neuroregenerative properties. It was almost all that he was able to focus on, as measles and other formerly eradicated diseases continued to pop up on a regular basis due to both his neglect and budget cuts. The focus led to his ultimate victory, his white whale. The result was a bioengineered symbiont that repaired neural damage, enhanced cognition, and halted aging in the brain. It was humanity’s first step real toward immortality.
By Josey Pickering10 months ago in Longevity
Where the Socks Go
Thursdays were laundry day. Every Thursday after a short shift at work, Tatiana gathered up her laundry for the week and headed to the laundromat. She stopped at the bodega on the corner for some chips and a soda and would head to her regular place to wash her clothes. She rolled her little laundry cart into the building, snacks and soda set on top of the laundry bag. She pulled a roll of quarters from her fanny pack and started putting her two desperate loads in, lights and darks this week. Next week, she’d bring along her linens and towels. She had her routine down pat, and even the laundromat owners were used to her being there for a bit on thursdays. If for any reason she didn’t stop in, they’d check in with her then next time she was in like concerned family.
By Josey Pickering10 months ago in Humor
Comfort in Casserole . Runner-Up in A Taste of Home Challenge.
My wife is from the heart of the Midwest and one thing she is unapologetic for is her love of a good, hot, hearty casserole. She’s a northeastern Ohio gal, from the Cleveland area to be specific. As a Navy brat who grew up a little bit of everywhere, I also know the love of a good, tasty casserole. My Mom had four kids of her own to feed with varying schedules. A casserole dish was often quick, easy, and generally satisfied all four of us without complaints. Warm, creamy, sometimes cheesy, sometimes… a little strange, there’s just something uniquely special about a nice casserole. From their very origins in medieval France, casserole meals were meant to bring together a community or family over a recipe handed down through generations.
By Josey Pickering11 months ago in Feast
Beyond. Runner-Up in The Moment That Changed Everything Challenge.
Katey was extremely antsy and of course her parents made her put on a nice (and, of course, itchy) dress and comb her hair so she looked “presentable,” according to her mother. She didn’t understand why they were making such a colossally big deal out of the day. To her, it seemed, these sorts of things happened all the time—at least they did on television. The television made everything feel smaller, compact, easier to explore, and more accessible to people who couldn’t be trussed up and trotted out by their parents to see these things. Nothing seemed too far away when if could be explored on screen in her living room. However, thanks to the television, Katey didn’t understand how big and wide and wonderful the world truly was. She also couldn’t begin to fathom just how massive the universe beyond actually was. Naturally, she figured she could count all of the stars in the sky some day and that space travel was some sort of regular experience. Every now and then someone with a lot of money and even movie stars would end up among the stars. Cartoons made it seem easy, and she was a child who had so, so many questions and sometimes her parents took the mystical, magical (easy) sort of answer route.
By Josey Pickering12 months ago in The Swamp
