In A Box in My Bookshelf There Lives A Memory

When removed from its green cover with the fading yellow title sticker, the title is only legible on the binding, except to someone who’s looked at it as often as I have. I can make out two words among the jumble of dwarven runes along the edge: The Hobbit. It’s one of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classics, and a personal favorite, but not for the story. It is seventeen years old, and the book handled the most, yet the pages are not weatherworn or bent, its most battered component being a torn paper bookmark on page 104. When I leaf through its stiff, off-white pages, the first words I see are the handwritten ones before the title page: “Michael, Christmas 1993”. I’m well acquainted with the black print on each page, but when I read the words, I hear not the voices of Gandalf or Bilbo but the voice of my dad. Its slightly sticky picture pages have become a storage bin of memories. When removed from its green cover with the fading yellow title sticker, a little piece of my Dad escapes from its home in The Hobbit.

The Tyranny of Self-Loathing

When, in the course of human life, it becomes not only necessary but essential for all of humanity to renounce their ties to negativity and to assume among the powers of the mind that which grants them new confidence and a heightened self-esteem, a simple respect for their mental health demands that they explain the tyranny of mental self-mutilation and the events which impel them to separate from this way of life.

An Unchanging Foundation and the Landscape it Sits On

Twenty-two years ago, in a sophomore English class, two very different people met. One was a fifteen-year-old girl with the largest smile, the loudest laugh, and the most beautiful green eyes. The other was a young athletic boy on the swim team with a quirky grin, an infectious chuckle, and one half-brown, half-blue eye. Twenty-one years ago they shared their first date at a Sadie Hawkins Dance, and, on November 28, 2012, they will have been married twenty years. Katie Hatter and Michael Hatter were, and remain, two people with seemingly little in common. Yet despite their varied quirks, personalities, and pasts, my parents remain the unaltered foundation of a steadfast family.

A Guy's Guide to Surviving PMS

Recently, I found myself in a state of hormonal confusion, sobbing in bed because one of my favorite characters in a television show left (not died, just left) when a thought occurred to me. As a female teenager, I have often felt the intense and annoying symptoms of pre-menstrual syndrome, more commonly known as PMS. I am completely used to the arguments that get blown out of proportion, and the random breakdowns; therefore I know how to survive these same symptoms when the occasion calls for it. But how can a teenage boy, without prior experience to the wrath of PMS, endure his sister’s/girlfriend’s/female friend’s dangerous condition? Well, by following the five simple steps of observing, identifying, approaching, ignoring, and taking appropriate action, any teenage boy will soon excel in the art of surviving PMS.

Free Speech: Death by Denial or Life by Acceptance

“Better a thousand fold abuse of free speech than denial of free speech. The abuse dies in a day, but the denial slays the life of the people and entombs the hope of the race.” (Charles Bradlaugh).

Bradlaugh exemplified the traditional American philosophy of free speech with this quote. Since the Bill of Rights was drafted in 1791, Americans have enjoyed, depended upon, and demanded the rights outlined by the First Amendment, specifically the freedom of speech. Yet, the issue of abuse of freedom of speech has become a heavily debated topic, because of events such as the Westboro church protests at military funerals. The question now becomes: “Should Americans relinquish even a portion of our most cherished rights, in order to halt any amount of abuse of those rights?” The answer is a simple yet resounding “no”.  Denying any form of freedom of speech undermines the legal integrity of the law, sets a dangerous precedent for altering our most cherished ideals, silences the voices of minorities, lays doubt on the moral decency of humanity, and eliminates the simplest and most efficient solution to problematic speech.

What to Look For

How do you know when a relationship has failed?

I am by no means an expert on relationships. I am only in the middle of my first serious relationship, and it hasn't been particularly noteworthy. In fact, for the last few weeks, I have been trying to figure out whether that relationship is even worth holding onto, yet I don't even know what I'm supposed to consider. At least until today. On my way home from the movies with my boyfriend, I realized exactly what it was about our relationship that was causing me to doubt.

Randomosity Poems and Their Covers

 "A Daughter's Pain"

One of my creepier poems. A brutal murder leaves the victim's daughter to pick up the pieces - 20 years later.

http://www.wattpad.com/2027424-randomosity-a-collection-of-random-poems-a
http://figment.com/books/315696-A-Daughter-s-Pain

Individual Stories and their Covers

Flowers for Fighters 

            "This is 'Flowers for Fighters'" she explained. "I make floral paintings for police officers that have been injured while on duty, or killed in action. I send them to the officer while he's recovering, or I sell them and send the money to the family of the officer who has been killed."
            "Then what am I supposed to do?"
            She turned to me, her mouth hanging open in disbelief.
            "You were sent here to make flowers for fighters, right? Well grab one of those canvases and paint some flowers!"
            When she gets in trouble with the law, Lizzy doesn't expect much from her court mandated community service. But when she meets Jenna Hudsy and discovers exactly what her community service entails, she gets a summer experience that she'll never forget.

Special thanks to my sister Emily for the beautiful background for the cover.

http://www.wattpad.com/story/1029417-flowers-for-fighters
http://figment.com/books/248187-Flowers-for-Fighters

Short Shorts and Their Covers

Motherhood

Even goddesses are mothers.

http://www.wattpad.com/4572480-scars-and-other-short-shorts-motherhood
http://figment.com/books/330124-Motherhood

On Birthdays and Dreams

My mother just called to ask what I wanted to do for my birthday.

"It's your 18th birthday; you should care," is what she told me. But here's the thing; I don't care.