Hate’s Unfortunate Effects on Society
Lately, my thoughts have been gravitating with persistent alarm to the culture of hate that continues to blossom further and further in America. This terrible mindset steadily creeps along, extending at a rapid pace from the margins of society into the mainstream. Since right-wing extremists have gained control of the House of Representatives, multiple facets…
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It’s All on us: The Voters
At the beginning of this year, I wrote about my determination to be hopeful for the future despite all of the troubling realities that we face as a nation. Much has transpired throughout the intervening weeks that cause me to feel great concern, though I refuse to lose hope. Yet a certain political party’s quest…
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Hope Shining Through the Darkness
Now that 2022 has concluded, a year of immense political complexities and hateful strife looming from the last presidential administration, I feel the need to look forward with a sense of hope. It’s an eager desire for long-term positvity to blossom in our world, surpassing the corruption and intolerance, after so much offensive division. This…
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We Deserve So Much Better
I admit it. On a consistent, quite unwavering basis, I’m a worrier. Even when no immediate threat appears to be hovering nearby, I tend to feel a constant swirl of dread nevertheless. This unfortunate inclination has a great deal to do with my general anxiety. Fearfulness is a dark reality that I must always confront,…
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Decency Quietly Rising From the Abyss
Over the last few angst-ridden years, with stories of hate-driven violence, political hostility, and conspiracy-theory madness, my outrage had slowly numbed to a frustrated acceptance. During this chaotic time, it became quite clear to me that no amount of reason could stop this pervading lunacy from its infectious hold. But in witnessing the recent mid-term…
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How Teaching Has Given My Life a Meaningful Direction
From a young age, the thought of ever becoming a teacher would’ve stirred up horrendous images of torture in my mind. Nothing could have convinced me that engaging students might actually give my own life more meaning. Back then, I’d rebelled against the hopeful, yet unspoken expectations to work hard in my classes, to focus…
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Devising My Personal Legacy
The older that I become, the more reflective I am about where I fit into the world and the potential imprint I could feasibly leave behind. While I realize this intricate process involves confronting my own mortality, I also believe it’s more complicated than an acceptance of the inevitable. Indeed, such an effort seeks to…
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Always an Avid Learner
Recently, I earned a PhD in English. This vigorous, quite enriching process involved a commitment well beyond any other effort I’ve ever experienced in my life. From the constant studying and extensive reading to the writing of in-depth, analytical essays and dedicated teaching of composition courses as a graduate assistant, I lived and breathed my…
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A Grateful Nod to Empathy
As a writer, I tend to examine topics that deeply matter to me in exhaustive detail, often considering multiple vantage points. To some people, that course amounts to overthinking and I’ve been accused of this action on numerous occasions throughout my life. But such an allegation overlooks the fact that this need to delve into…
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Finding Happiness in Dark Times
Like the heroines who populate my stories, I tend to fixate on certain issues that frighten me. By exploring grim scenarios in my fiction and examining these real-time topics within my blogs, I feel less terrified of the underlying implications. Somehow, I gain more control of the agitation that always operates at the back of…
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Traumatic Effects
Over these last few weeks, I’ve explored different aspects of my upcoming murder mystery Detached, with one particular theme primarily weaving through the layers of analysis. It’s a silent yet significant presence that reveals itself in different ways, invisibly anchoring the numerous elements that compose the story’s overall texture. This integral facet is trauma, which…
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Emotionally Alone
When I first began writing Detached, it fulfilled a therapeutic need for me. In fact, weaving this story together through its many worthwhile drafts, which, I believe, strengthened the overall story, helped me cope with my own sense of powerlessness. At that time, I’d just endured the most traumatic chapter of my life. It involved…
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How Violence Generates and Deepens Isolation
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been writing blogs to describe different aspects of my upcoming novel Detached in the context of today’s complicated and quite troubling world. With each passing day, I see more disturbing connections to explore, to dig into with greater depth. Although these various political associations build upon my past reflections…
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