cv

He needed me to keep him warm and loved and solidly tethered to Earth. He needed his work to keep him sane. I couldn't help with that part. I could only look on and feel troubled that our life was burdened by worry at a time when we should be so happy.

With my tattoos, I get to say, these are choices I make for my body, with full-throated consent. This is how I mark myself. This is how I take my body back.

I think the figures of the strange and stranger have something to offer in this work.  I mean, think about it: Rape is sensationalized as an act of violence perpetuated in spectacularly violent ways by a strange man against a vulnerable woman. The rapist is always figured as a stranger, though we know that a large percentage of rape and sexualized violence is done by people we know. By an early age I had learned to fear the man following me in his car; but no one taught me that I might have to fear people I knew.

i need an anti-hero.

ISTJ: *offering hand in support* If there's one thing I've learned in life, it's that when you get knocked down, you have to get back up again.