Make it your own

This school year I've been running therapeutic art classes for severely emotionally disturbed kids grades 1st-8th and some of the projects we've done need to be shared. Recently I had them work on destroying a map of the city and making it their own by adding stickers or drawings or just trimming roads or neighborhoods off the map. This was a fun and super cheap project because I pick up the tourist maps that are all over the city for free and anything involving destruction=fun.

My version of San Francisco creates serious traffic delays.

Skills kids work on while engaging with this activity are:

• self expression
• fine motor skills
• self direction
• spacial reasoning
• perception 
• memory skills

Supplies that help to have on hand in addition to a map:

• markers
• stickers
• glue
• glitter
• magazines
• string
• scissors

The beauty of love

I am so deeply in love at times that I feel like my body is swimming effortlessly in a clear blue lake and without warning I can be plucked from the water and thrown into quicksand feeling helpless and angry.

Sometimes I smile because I am reminded of one of the many things I love about another person or place. I smile as if there is a camera crew filming and the director will add a simple yet touching monologue over the shot. 

My love for some people has had me hunting down Stitch dolls, digging through clearance racks for cute tops, sitting for hours next to a hospital bed, moving across the country, finding a way to cover up an ugly tissue box with another box over that box, and crying in bed.

Love isn't always happy or exciting, at least for me. Sometimes love is hard and depressing and stressful. I want the people that I love to thrive in life but I can't force them to do so.

My love is my own. There are a few people that I have loved for decades and then there are those that come into my life and only stay a few years. Both types are special and meaningful. Regret is not something I can associate with love.

Love is in the moment. Love is beautiful when other people can see it and feel your adoration for another being in the air.

Everyone has written about love and they were all right no matter what they said(assuming it referred to healthy relationships). Maybe next week I won't feel the same way about love as I do today. My mood is stable but feelings they do as they please.

The beauty of love is that it cannot be understood. 

Sex and Faith

I had a rough and violent childhood. My life was hard and challenging and often overwhelming in high school. When I needed help and support I looked for a community that could provide that. As a teenager my best option was a church. I've always believed in a higher power, and that view is ever evolving, so church was a viable option even though I don't believe in the general church rules for living. I managed to make it work, I found a great church that let me have space to grow and encouraged me to have a good future. I was an active member and truly enjoyed being there. My views on sex, politics and women's issues were at times obstacles to being close to some people but I was able to maintain many great friendships. I never really dated in the church because I knew what I was looking for wouldn't be there.

The church I went to was kind of awesome,  easily way better than the church Raptor Jesus preaches at.

My body is my own. My sex life is my own. I am happy to encourage and support anyone with their personal sexual choices. I believe sex should be a positive and happy experience in life and it should be on your terms. Enjoying sex is one of the great parts of being human.

I've been having sex since I was almost 18 and for the most part I loved it. Being ashamed about my sex life just wasn't an option to me. I was uncomfortable discussing it with others at first but college quickly lifted that problem out of my way. Sometimes the sex wasn't great, sometimes I wasn't entirely sober, sometimes I wasn't completely honest but mostly I have very happy warm fuzzy memories about sex.

True love waits years to appear. Sex is available right now!

As I got older my goal within my sex life became clear, I want to be a partner that you think of and have fond memories of. I don't want to be a trigger for someone else or a regret. I think I've been doing well on that front.

I believe that Jesus was a great man that made a lasting impact on the world. I try to be as Christ like as I can be in my daily life. I work with at-risk youth, I make sure to give food to the homeless nearly everyday, I show those around me that they have value in just being themselves. I don't aim to be a saint or a pastor or famous even. I just want to be good to others. 

My job has done the most to dampen my belief in God. When I'm working with a 9 year old girl that generally likes me but at that moment is trying to bite into my arm with all her being and her sense of self is shattered from a life of sexual abuse I can't see where God fits into this world.

Who needs a ladder when you have Timmy at the keyboard, I'm sure he'll do the right thing soon. 

At best God is a kid, his plans were not the best thought out or functional and he's lost interest much like a 12 year old that is constantly typing 'rosebud' to give their preferred Sims family a great life with no interest in the other people he has created.

Free Advice

If you happen to be a young white male that enjoys yelling advice out your car window while driving down the road I have some tips for you.

1) Be concise. You are driving and yelling, your words need to deliver your message before the young lady you are harassing advising is out of earshot.

2) Be aware of your surroundings. I don't just mean be aware of the other cars and stop signs, you need to pick your target when she is not mashed between a bunch of tourists and businessmen trying to catch their train. In that kind of situation you are just yelling not performing a drive by grope.

3) Be very aware of your surroundings. If you shout about your dick to a young lady and then are sitting at a stop light she might feel inclined to key your car and continue on her way.

4) Think twice. Perhaps you would be better off keeping your ignorant face hole shut.


Personally when I'm walking down the street I have things on my mind that have very little to do with what a random dude in a civic thinks of me but maybe I'm the strange one. I'll admit it is entirely possible that some people enjoy being told to perform oral sex acts by strangers but I do believe that is more of the minority of the population. I mean minority in the sense that less than bulk of people living would prefer that kind of treatment not minority meaning black or female or educated.

Seriously how difficult is it to drive along without yelling at pedestrians? Oh nevermind, I get it now. People are like bubble wrap and your sexual shouts are just popping the plastic. I'll leave you be. Look Spongebob is on!