Ebb and Flow

Still getting back in touch with my sexuality at the moment. To catch everyone up to speed, I’ve been on birth control since 2010 to control pre-menstrual symptoms. I always had rough periods, even as a teenager. The kind which necessitate curling up with a heating pad and blanket on the couch and taking copious […]

Testing, 1… 2… 3…

My website isn’t currently cross-posting to Facebook like it should. I think I have fixed the problem, but want to double-check. Thank you for your patience. Here is a photo of my cat, Angel, for your trouble.

Cooking for One

I know that when I first started cooking for myself in college, it was usually something like boxed rice a roni or mac n cheese + frozen vegetable + canned beans or tuna or salmon most of the time. Needless to say, I’ve come a long way.

And yes, it’s true that there isn’t much in the way of compelling recipes for one and that making a recipe that feeds 6-8 feed only one instead is not worth the effort. But that doesn’t have to mean you’re relegated to take out, delivery, and wasted food.

I’ve been cooking for myself for almost ten years now, and I promise, it gets better. Like any other skill – practice makes perfect.

Depression and Inertia

Once I’m feeling overwhelmed, it starts to feel like nothing will ever change and my options for making a difference in my own life are limited. All I can think of are the reasons I can’t do things or why even if I tried it wouldn’t matter because of course I’m just a failure and incompetent at life.

In other words, my brain lies to me.

Stress also makes me feel tired and fatigued, which makes me able to do less because I lack the mental and/or physical energy.

Which only feeds the cycle more.

Because my brain can then say, “See? You can’t even do your laundry or keep up with the dishes or clean the cat box. How will you ever manage X, Y, or Z?”

Then, the stress and guilt from not being able to do even the simplest adult tasks piles onto my other stress and makes me feel even more that I ought to just stay in bed with the covers pulled over my head forever.

Money Troubles Swing Both Ways

Someone told me that when poor people actually manage to have money, they don’t know what to do with it and it becomes a source of stress. That’s kind of how I feel right now.

I have a couple hundred dollars in my bank account somehow, and I will get another couple hundred before the end of the month.

About half of that I will need to help cover rent and bills at the first of the month, but I’m so used to not having any money, or having just enough to buy gas and groceries that it’s still weird.

Leelah Alcorn and LGBTQ Teenage Suicide

Perhaps I’m cynical, but sometimes it feels like there’s a cycle. One or more LGBTQ teens kill themselves, the media has their heyday, people get up in arms for a few weeks, and then we all return to our lives. Until the news cycle catches wind of another heart wrenching story.

Nothing, however, ever really changes. Or the changes don’t ripple far enough to save troubled teens like Leelah. This article by Mintpress News compares the rash of deaths of transgender individuals to a genocide, highlighting its rampant and violent nature.

Every year we celebrate the Transgender Day of Remembrance, but does the list of names ever really get smaller? And that list doesn’t take into account the transgender individuals whose lives were lost due to violence against themselves, like Leelah’s.

Curriculum Vitae

Dana Sayre dana.sayre@gmail.com Education M.A. Performance Studies, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, May 2012 Thesis: “Queer Utopian Performance at Texas A&M University.” B.A. English, Suma Cum Laude, Fairmont State University, Fairmont, WV, May 2010 B.A. Theatre, Suma Cum Laude, Fairmont State University, Fairmont, WV, May 2009 Employment History BookWoman, Assistant to the Owner Feb 2014 […]