Skip to main content

The Real Horror

I'm scheduled to write a blog post today on the literary history of the horror genre, but I just can't focus.

My country elected a monster.  Someone who is a bully, and ran his entire campaign on hate speech and fear mongering.

I based the villain in my novel on him.  And now he is our President.  And I want so much to scrap my project because I write fiction. Not Nonfiction.

I haven't slept. I've barely eaten. I've almost thrown up. I've cried. A lot.  And what makes it worse is that half of my family, maybe even more, voted for him.

I've always been politically divided from my family.  But most of the time during election season we just agree to not talk politics, and we continue to be a loving happy family. Because most of the time its policy that we disagree on.  And that's okay.  That's what makes us human.  I don't want people to agree with me all the time. I don't want to live in an echo chamber.

But not this time.  This time its personal.  This time, I blocked family on Facebook.  I argued.  I am having a hard time separating them from their vote, because the man they voted for doesn't give a shit about me.  Or POC, or Latinx people, or LGBTQ people, or people with disabilities.  They say he cares about working middle class, but what the hell does he know about them? Has he worked 60 hours at a job that he hates to support his family? Because that's the life I grew up in, and we sure as hell didn't have his beliefs.  We would never associate ourselves with people who yell "Hang the N***ger" and get cheers.  But our new president does.

I will never understand.  And I don't know if I can ever forgive. I hope so.  I hope this anger goes away.  Because I miss my loving happy family.

How did we go from the first African American President to one who was endorsed by the KKK?

How. On. Earth. Did. This. Happen?

I don't know when I'll post again, to be honest.

Until next time, stay well.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Inspiration: Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway

Sometimes you just have to reread something to remember why you love it. I was shelving books in the little library I work at, and I picked up a collection of short stories by Ernest Hemingway.  I haven't read Hemingway in a long long time and as I was holding the bookand remembering a short story that I had read in college when I was working towards my undergrad. I flipped through the book looking for the story: "Hills Like White Elephants" and found it.  I re-read it, and I realized why, after it had been 5ish years since I first read it, why I remembered it. It is just so damn good. I will do my best to not spoil it for you here, you have to read it for yourself. The premise is really simple: two people (a man and a woman) are talking at a Spanish train station while waiting for their train.  That's it.  But it is WHAT they are talking about that makes this story so powerful.  And not just what, but also how.  Again, I don't want to spoi...

Book Review: The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne

Okay there are so many places I want to take this post, and I'm not sure where I want to start, so I'll just start with cover art and a quick summary of the book: This story focuses on the adventures of 5 Americans on an uncharted island.  It starts during the American Civil War, where 5 northern prisoners of war decide to escape by hijacking an air balloon. After flying through a storm for several days, they finally land on some unknown island. They name it "Lincoln Island" as tribute to their president, Abraham Lincoln. The five are able to sustain themselves on the island, producing fire, pottery, bricks, nitroglycerin (!), iron, an electric telegraph (!) a cliff side home, and even a seaworthy ship. Throughout their time on the island, there seems to be a deus ex machina at work, delivering chests of goods and rescuing them when in danger. Eventually, they find out the secret of the island and the gifts. Captain Nemo.  Yes, that Captain Nemo from 20,000...

Writing Stats for August 15-21

This week was another good week! Here are the stats: Monday: +104 words (started Chapter 3) Tuesday: +138 words Wednesday: +171 words Thursday: No Writing Friday: +125 words Saturday: +131 words Sunday: +317 words Total Words Written This Week: 986 words Total Project Wordcount: 6070 This was a good week!  I got through chapter 2 which is kind of sluggish, which is something that future Brystan has to worry about. I started Chapter 3, which is gonna be a good one, but one that will push my writing skills.  I am NOT a speech writer, however, one of my characters has to give a very powerful speech.  I wrote the speech, but looking back, it is pretty sparse.  It's just the skeleton of what I want it to be.  But, once Act I is done (which according to my outline is the first 8 chapters) then I start edits, so I am looking forward to fleshing that out and adding the meat to the bones. Anyway.  New goals for t...