ONE MORE SLEEP until Ride for Refuge!
I’m walking in support of the Cedar Centre, which helps children, youth, and adults recover from the impact that interpersonal childhood trauma has had on their lives. See my previous post for my…
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Five days until Ride for Refuge!
It's now FIVE days away from Ride for Refuge, in support of the Cedar Centre, which helps children, youth, and adults recover from the impact that interpersonal childhood trauma has had on their lives. See my previous post for…
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It's Back! I'm doing Ride for Refuge in support of Cedar Centre October 4
Every good fundraising request starts with a good story - here is mine!
Dear Friend,
This fall, I'm taking part in the Ride for Refuge. raising money for a charity that's close to my heart, the Cedar Centre…
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Elbows Up: Karpman Triangles and Canada Geese
This started as a BlueSky rant, then grew to a Facebook rant, and now – as I get more and more irate with the idiocy of certain... well... USian idiots (plus a few Canadians who seem to have drunk from the same KoolAid – yet another U.S. product that is really, really bad for the human race) – I'm migrating it over to RantCentral (with a few new additions), so people can read it without supporting the Zuckerface.
It is also going to be NSFW, so buckle up. And if any USian fucking makes a quip about how Canadians are supposed to be polite (as one did on the aforementioned BlueSky rant), I will make a Canada Goose look like a pleasant dinner companion – today is not the day to dance around the Karpman Triangle with me, because I ain't dancing.
(USian friends of mine, I know this does not describe you, I know how hard you've been working in real life – your strength and integrity is exactly why we became friends in the first place. This rant is for the non-friends I see posting. You are loved. And welcome to a guest room any time. The degree of safety of said guest room depends on whether or not your country is invading ours that day, so please do your best with that, okay?)
Happy New Year! You don't have to see me naked!!!
Yes, that is an actual text I sent to my neighbourfriend earlier this evening. And may I be the first – and hopefully, only – to wish the same to all of you! I hope you're ringing in the new year in the way you most want, and that 2025 is much kinder to us all than its predecessor.
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The Behemoth of Birthday Breakdowns – or, A Tale of Two Funerals (but neither of them mine)
***ALL the trigger warnings on this one, people. ALLLLLLLL the trigger warnings!!!!!***
(seriously, I'm pressing “send” in the fetal position, and I've had several days to edit and process – take extra care of your own nervous system here)
Ah, another trip around the sun (plus a few days – needed to take a while with this one), and here we are at the not-so-annual Birthday Breakdown, as started way back in 2011 (which seems so far away, on so many levels). A recap of the year, what I learned, and what I hope to learn in the coming year.
So grab a snack and tasty beverage and make sure you've got a comfy seat (and maybe a support team in place), because this year's a doozie, friends. Filled with grief – for those who've departed, for those I've clung to, for the last (I think?) of my magical thinking, for the sacrifices I made on behalf of that magical thinking, for the happily ever after fantasies that were part of that magical thinking – and Fucking Learning Opportunity™ after Fucking Learning Opportunity™. (Though I believe I was fully paying attention this time – tune in next year...)
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A great man has left this world
Anyone who's known me through childhood, and anyone who's followed my writings will know of my Uncle Tim who, along with his late wife, my Aunt Sherry, were my godparents, and took care of me when my parents could not.
…
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Jokes and Throats
EDITED to put the safety info at the top.
If domestic violence or abuse touches your life in any way, please visit https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/health-promotion/stop-family-violence/services.html for a list of Canada-wide resources.
For Canadian emergency shelters and resources, please visit https://sheltersafe.ca
Many other…
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Solidarity with Fellow Survivors of Silencing
TW: CSA, child-shaming
Today (Sunday, July 7, 2024), the article finally came out in the Toronto Star that had been disrupting my sleep the last couple of weeks.
Headline: “In the home of Alice Munro, a dark secret lurked. Now, her children want the world to know”
Subheader: “Alice Munro’s husband sexually assaulted her youngest daughter. For nearly five decades, a conspiracy of silence haunted the family, and at times, tore them apart.”
The full article is available at https://www.thestar.com/news/in-the-home-of-alice-munro-a-dark-secret-lurked-now-her-children-want-the/article_69a63202-34cd-11ef-83f4-9b4275c26d84.html
EDIT - I missed the first-person piece Andrea provided to the Star as well – it's at https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/my-stepfather-sexually-abused-me-when-i-was-a-child-my-mother-alice-munro-chose/article_8415ba7c-3ae0-11ef-83f5-2369a808ea37.html
For those who don't have a subscription, Andrea spoke about her story a while ago in her blog post at https://thegatehouse.org/andrea-to-heal-is-truth-peace/
I hope she and her siblings are finding this truth-telling to be as healing as they wished – it's still a long road ahead, but speaking the truth is a huge first step, and I wish them much love and solidarity.
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The not-quite-yet-still-belated-somebody-else's Birthday Breakdown
Hey all,
I've given myself some leeway on my own birthday breakdown, because it's been quite a year to process – many losses, many lessons, and I don't like barfing my guts into the public until I've had a bit…
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