Tag: mental illness

My Non-Television Mother and Me: The Interview

Richard DeFino

Read Part 1 here.  Part 2 of a 3 part series In an attempt to understand my mother a little better, I asked her a couple of questions that remained unanswered to myself. My mother has come so far in life, but she appears to be stuck. I want to Read more

Richard DeFino

Ricky De Fino grew up in New York City and currently resides in Buffalo NY. When he isn’t writing about his anxiety and his crazy Bronx upbringing, he enjoys watching countless hours of television with his wife Andrea, cat Bebe and dog Zeke. Two years sober, good coffee and veganism keeps him sane. His work can be found in Two Cities Review, tNY Press, Purple Pig Lit, Dialougal and Cycatrix Press.

My Non-Television Mother and Me

Richard DeFino

Part 1 My mother is not a mother to me like a television mother. She’s more like a friend, a friend of a friend even. She’s the friend whose phone number you always lose on “accident.” When I was young, I used to idolize the kids on TV, especially the Read more

Richard DeFino

Ricky De Fino grew up in New York City and currently resides in Buffalo NY. When he isn’t writing about his anxiety and his crazy Bronx upbringing, he enjoys watching countless hours of television with his wife Andrea, cat Bebe and dog Zeke. Two years sober, good coffee and veganism keeps him sane. His work can be found in Two Cities Review, tNY Press, Purple Pig Lit, Dialougal and Cycatrix Press.

A Soldier Died Today

Dori Owen

Only the dead have seen the end of war. ―Plato Today I found out that a close friend’s nephew had died when I received an email with the details of the funeral mass. I was a bit curious. We have been friends since childhood. We grew up together on the Read more

Dori Owen

Dori Owen is a storyteller, writing from small town Arizona, after living a few decades in California as an LA Wild Child, with a brief stop in Reno. She settled into grownup life as a project manager, collecting an MBA and a few husbands along the way. She is a shown artist and her favorite pastime is upcycling old furniture and decor she finds from thrift stores. She lives with the cat who came to visit but stayed. The love of her life is her grown son who lives in Portland, Oregon. Her essays and poems have been published in RAW&UNFILTERED VOL I, StigmaFighters Vol 2, and Love Notes From Humanity. Her blogs have been featured on The Lithium Chronicles, Open Thought Vortex, Sudden Denouement, and The Mighty.

47 Trips Around the Sun

Julie Anderson

One of the signs of passing youth is the birth of a sense of fellowship with other human beings as we take our place among them. -Virginia Woolf On January 16th, I will be celebrating another trip around the sun. I never dreamed I would pass over onto the other Read more

Julie Anderson

Julie Anderson is the Creator and Publisher of Feminine Collective. Julie was inspired to create this safe place for women to share their secrets, desires, triumphs and pain as the antithesis of what mainstream media offers women today. In her column Pursuit of Perfection, she explores the importance of rectifying the balance of inner and outer beauty through essays, poems and articles on self-esteem, shame, family, and self- acceptance.

Bi-Polar Love

Tabatha Stirling

We had a chaotic reverie. We united as a weary Autumn storm pissing on rusty love. The times you filmed me drooling my savior complex. The times you watched me peeling gum off the night sky. You indulged your mania and stuckmagnetsonthefridgeand pluckedicyoystermeatand tooklibertieswithbaths. You howled about your illness I Read more

Tabatha Stirling

I recently signed with Unbound, the literary crowdfunding publisher, for my book about maid abuse in Singapore called "Blood On The Banana Leaf." Funding stands at a revved up 40 percent so if you felt like pledging for some really excellent rewards and my unfettered love, please visit this link: https://unbound.com/books/blood-on-the-banana-leaf When I’m not writing or baking cupcakes, I am thinking about writing, reading, studying for my MLitt in Creative Writing at Glasgow University, designing book covers, gaming or watching dark, blood-splattered dramas like the Walking Dead, Ray Donavon, and Sons of Anarchy. I am totally prepared for a zombie apocalypse!

I Will Not Be That Woman

Tabatha Stirling

Not today. Even when the river rolls so cool and deep and I could wade and wade ’til sleep. Not today. When I have the tablets in a drawer in a box winking chalkily at me. Not today. When the church tower soars and it’s bells toll out a seductive Read more

Tabatha Stirling

I recently signed with Unbound, the literary crowdfunding publisher, for my book about maid abuse in Singapore called "Blood On The Banana Leaf." Funding stands at a revved up 40 percent so if you felt like pledging for some really excellent rewards and my unfettered love, please visit this link: https://unbound.com/books/blood-on-the-banana-leaf When I’m not writing or baking cupcakes, I am thinking about writing, reading, studying for my MLitt in Creative Writing at Glasgow University, designing book covers, gaming or watching dark, blood-splattered dramas like the Walking Dead, Ray Donavon, and Sons of Anarchy. I am totally prepared for a zombie apocalypse!

My Dissociation Disorder

Richard DeFino

This isn’t happening. This isn’t real. I’m not here. (Cue heaving breathing) This feeling is horrifying, every morning it’s a dance with the Devil. But I suppose I will have to adapt. I am becoming unwilling complacent not knowing if I exist. I’m waiting for mortality to prove itself to Read more

Richard DeFino

Ricky De Fino grew up in New York City and currently resides in Buffalo NY. When he isn’t writing about his anxiety and his crazy Bronx upbringing, he enjoys watching countless hours of television with his wife Andrea, cat Bebe and dog Zeke. Two years sober, good coffee and veganism keeps him sane. His work can be found in Two Cities Review, tNY Press, Purple Pig Lit, Dialougal and Cycatrix Press.

How the Dead want to be Remembered

Icess Fernandez

When you remember me, picture me smiling. A grin of a thousand laughs Like sunshine on a Saturday. Remember how my laughter bounced off the walls and filled a room. How you already knew me, when my laughter reached your eardrums. Remember me as I was. With the same sweetness Read more

Icess Fernandez

Icess Fernandez Rojas is a journalist, blogger, teacher, and writer based in Houston. She earned my BA in Communications from the University of Houston and my MFA from Goddard College. She’s been published in USA Today, NBCNews.com, HuffingtonPost and the Guardian. She’s had fiction anthologized in Soul’s Road: A Fiction Collection and published in literary journals including Minerva Rising and The Fem Lit Magazine. Icess is also a VONA/Voices of Our Nation Foundation alum.