Paige Graffunder
Bio
Paige is a published author and a project professional in the Seattle area. They are focused on interpersonal interactions, poetry, and social commentary.
Find me on Medium.com
Find my books on Amazon.com and at Barnes and Noble.
Stories (108)
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If You Don't Mean It Forever
I am going to preface this the same way I always preface my writing of this type: I am not a relationship or communication specialist, I am simply a person who communicates, and has put a lot of work into my communication style. I am also an avid observer of human behavior, and I have collected a series of observations when communicating with people who have not put the work into modify their social condition and those who have.
By Paige Graffunder5 years ago in Humans
Whirlwind of Eager F*ck Ups
I don’t talk about polyamory very much, because I learned a long time ago that my relationships function a lot better when I keep them to myself. Not to say that I am hiding anything, more just that scrutiny from the public into my personal life is completely unnecessary and I have no obligation to anyone to engage in it. Of course, I care about visibility and normalization of polyam relationships, but what I do not want is every single monogamy-centric-hetero-cis-normative-busy-body-Dr.-Phil-watching-armchair-therapist asking me questions like, “Which one is your real partner?” Or even more cringe-worthy, “Your husband let’s you do that?” There is a myriad of awful horrible questions that people who have only ever been exposed to the idea that monogamy as the only way that a healthy relationship can flourish, feel the right to ask polyam people. Set aside the lie that one must be in a romantic relationship to be happy and live a fulfilling life in the first place, because it too. is bullshit. Romantics should be an addition to your fulfillment, not the road to it.
By Paige Graffunder5 years ago in Humans
Music is the Weapon for my Self-Destruction
I’m 33 years old. You would think that would be plenty of time on the planet to learn the difference between certain things. While I am certainly incredibly good at differentiating some things like, coffee from tea for example, when it comes to human behavior and separating the genuine from the tantamountly false, I am notoriously miserable at it. I think some of that has to do with my neurodivergence, but I think a lot of it relates to a thing that I hadn’t really examined until I spoke to a friend about it a few nights ago.
By Paige Graffunder5 years ago in Beat
Unfathomable Distance
Tomorrow, January 20th, 2021 will mark a year since the first COVID-19 case was identified in the United States. In my state of Washington, a patient was given a diagnosis of the disease that was then confirmed by the CDC. The patient had returned from Wuhan on the 15th. While the official announcement was not made until the following day, the confirmation that the individual did have COVID was made on the 20th. I feel like with the inauguration of Biden, and the expected rowdiness of the event that this will be a thing that we overlook.
By Paige Graffunder5 years ago in The Swamp
65 Days Of Holding Your Breath
The country has largely accepted a Biden victory for the U.S. election but that doesn't mean much. If the current administration doesn't transition power on accepted timelines things are bound to get much worse. I saw something from a friend that said something to the effect of, "If you have ever broken up with a narcissist, you know what's coming." I felt my shoulders physically slump when I read that, because I have done that, and I do know what is coming.
By Paige Graffunder5 years ago in The Swamp
Too Close For Comfort
The night before the election I was not optimistic. I remain in the same cloud of pessimism. After four years of watching that walking talking pile of rotting buboes, incite violence, get endorsed by every white supremacist group in the country, Strip away rights from queer communities, force sterilization on women whose children he ripped away, all while they are sitting assholes to elbows in a cage, and cause the deaths of over 230,000 Americans by downplaying a Virus with a global infection of over 45 million people.
By Paige Graffunder5 years ago in The Swamp
This Ain't An Election
I am not sure I have ever been more anxious than I am right now. It's November 2nd, tomorrow is the US election. Tomorrow begins the decision if America is deserving of its life, or if it gets dragged out back to be shot as a mercy. This is our Old Yeller moment, and I suspect that when the results are read, I will react the same way as I did upon my first reading of that book. Long bouts of inconsolable shrieking crying.
By Paige Graffunder5 years ago in The Swamp
