humanity
For better or for worse, relationships reveal the core of the human condition.
Battered Woman
There's a chill outside. This is the time of year that the snow-birds begin migrating back to their northern homes. When we're enjoying 9 solid hours of "Valley of the Sun" sunlight and the temperature stays within the 69-76 degree fahrenheit range. Also the time of year that spring love begins to sprout. Valentine's Day gift ideas flood the media waves and street corners. As beautiful as this time of year is, I'm overwhelmed with a mixture of emotions and memories. In my 37 years on this planet, this is hands down the worst Valentine's Day ever.
By Crystalline Phoenix5 years ago in Humans
Out of dark times
About to finish high school our parents took us out of school, my father was going towards bankruptcy. We knew about his profession since we were kids but we really didn’t get involved, we innocently enjoyed the benefits of his hard work. There were several large debts, more than a couple of sues, and a daunting tax debt that puts my mother’s freedom at risk. I was 16 or so, it took me some time to acknowledge the magnitude of the situation (my father wasn’t very clear about what was happening). So I learned my father’s trade of Tool and Die Making, a beautiful trade. We start working just the two of us, a bit later my brother joins and then my mother, we pay all debts after 4 or 5 years. My father is a natural teacher but he was also an alcoholic, which made everything even harder. We came out of it slow and steady and with a lot of scars. I learned a huge amount of things from that time, I became resilient and resourceful, I found things about me I didn't know I could do or feel, one thing became clear and true to me since then, you get to know people more intimately when working together. In this case, there was no paycheck waiting for us, only debts and scarcity, so you see clearly; the stamina, the ideas, the solutions, the proactiveness, the tiredness, the sadness, the frustration, the fear, the commitment, the loyalty. There were no masks, nice words won’t fix things, there is no one to steal ideas from, you won’t get away with it if you mess up. You just get real, and you answer to yourself about what you’re capable of, your values come to surface inevitably, your quality as a person or professional ethics, wherever you want to call it, is evident. So besides learning the trade, this time left me with other tools, at the time I wasn’t sure the use I will have for them, time will tell.
By Catalina Diaz5 years ago in Humans
Life After 2020
Life after 2020 It started like every other year. We all celebrated the new year, as always. We made our resolutions, lists of things we wanted to do or stop doing, imagined our dreams coming true, we had big plans, as always. But shortly after the excitement wore off, we were hit with a big dose of reality. We humans are not on the top of the food chain after all.
By Connie Sahlin5 years ago in Humans
Ears Leading
Mona hated her roommates. When there was milk for coffee, it got left out or slopped. Both roomies insisted on continuous cable news, overruling Mona when she reached for the remote. Sometimes, when she was in bed and they were still up—they were always up—she caught her name woven into sarcastic laughter. But what Mona hated most about the invaders—personified pressures as real as school bullies—was the regularity in which she had to squeeze between the two of them, Freddy Financial and Angela Anger, on the roller coaster that wound around the neighborhood and through the strip mall that housed a No Frills grocery, a charity outlet, and an assortment of independents including a vet clinic specializing in cats.
By Marie Anne5 years ago in Humans
Mastering Homelessness:
Today, I’d love to draw your attention to something that is near and dear to my heart. It’s a globally known struggle that each one of us, no matter how blessed or well-of we may consider ourselves to be… we all are only a few misfortunes away from… Homelessness. In an environment where people are scrapping for cash, scrapping for opportunities, scrapping for health, scrapping for basic nutrition and shelter, there is very little room for alignment with a capitalist society without the introduction and discussion of the juxtaposition of wealth and poverty and questioning the morality of such a system. The most obviously effective way I could think to demonstrate this idea is through what I’m currently experiencing right now as a resident of North Carolina. There are newly constructed luxury apartment homes in the North Davidson district of Charlotte, NC that offer residents access to music studios, game rooms, co-working spaces, wellness centers, yoga studios, and pet grooming facilities. Three blocks away exists an entire community of people who likely do not own pets, or yoga mats, or need access to music studios. In these three blocks live an entire community of people whose fancy apartments may be a camping tent with ventilation in the summer. How is it that we can drive in our fancy cars, live in our fancy apartments, and drink our fancy cocktails all while ignoring the growth of homelessness right before our eyes?
By A.G. Allums5 years ago in Humans
Of Pedicures & Shoes
On the curb of the strip mall, Emma holds her placard high above her head, in front of Femme Fashion. She looks up to make sure the black-marker words face the store front. Sure enough, she sees it says 1 in 3 women sexually assaulted. The Redhead, who organized the protest, stands to her right. In the crowd of a dozen women, a protester shouts “Misogynists!” and “Rape Apologists!”
By Monique Sabrina5 years ago in Humans
I Die proud
AbiYah sat on the train looking through the window as she often did on her way to work but found herself fighting back tears and tried hard to hide it under her usual smile. She would look at the houses zipping by and would imagine stories about the people who lived in them based colors, architecture and landscape. Her mother taught her how to use her imagination to create stories from observing anything. Back then, this was her main activity on the train rides to and from the city with her parents. Oh, how far she had come? Her journey as a refugee in search of safety over the past six years still seem so surreal.
By TanYah Global5 years ago in Humans
Out Of The Shadows
The sound of the letter box startled me. The clattering of some envelopes on to the hard floor. I didn’t move. None of them would be for me anyway. A load of junk to a load of unknown names. People whose lives had also existed here at some point, just as mine was now. Existing.
By Beth Croft5 years ago in Humans
Cloak and Dagger
His days are marked by the length of his beard. It hangs four inches below his chin and it is full and bushy. I watch him come into the coffee shop and order a triple chocolate mocha latte, after which, he takes a seat at a table near the window.
By Hyacinth Andersen5 years ago in Humans
