Thanks to a donation from Anthony & Shirley Barrette, you can now read the rest of "Essential for Human Survival."  Cassandra and Groundhog enjoy some crafts and cuddles.

Tags: crafts, cyberfunded creativity, family skills, fantasy, fishbowl, life lessons, poetry, reading, safety, weblit, writing
Current Mood: busy

After writing the post about coping with grief, I got to thinking about how Terramagne-America handles this sort of thing. As with many social aspects, they do it better. One thing I had spotted in passing earlier was the use of followup calls after bereavement, and questionnaires to identify people who would welcome such contact. That sounded really useful, so I found one and wrote it down. This is typical of handouts available at funeral parlors, hospitals, counseling centers, and other places where people may interact with death and mourning. It can also be used for self-assessment; although that approach doesn't provide the same level of support, it can still illuminate what is happening in your grief process.

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Tags: community, family skills, how to, life lessons, safety
Current Mood: busy

Here is the freebie for the crowdfunding Creative Jam, prompted by alexseanchai. It also fills the "curiosity" square in my 5-1-16 card for the Solo Celebration Bingo fest.


"Goldilocks and the Three Planets"


Once upon a time,
there was a little girl
with short blonde curls
who wanted to explore space.

So Goldilocks got into her spaceship,
and she traveled a long, long way
in search of planets to explore.

The first planet she found was too hot!
It snuggled up right next to its sun,
and even the rocks melted.

The next planet she found was too cold!
It was far, far away from its sun,
and even the air was frozen.

So Goldilocks went home to her library.
She turned on her computer and
took out her books and studied.
She read all about stars and planets
and something called physics.

Then next time Goldilocks
went exploring in her spaceship,
she looked for suns with planets that
were not too close and not too far.

These were much better planets.
Some were a little warm, or a little cold,
so she kept looking for more middle ones.

Soon Goldilocks found a planet that was just right!
It was not too hot or too cold, too big or too small,
and it had soft soil for growing yummy things.

Goldilocks got out of her starship
and put up a habitat dome and
began to plant a garden.

She was very happy in
her new home, and people
began to say that such planets
were in "The Goldilocks Zone."

And she's still there!

Eventually the aliens came home,
but that's another story.

* * *

Notes:

"Goldilocks and the Three Bears" is a fairytale about boundaries and moderation.  Read a version online, or enjoy a video.

"The Goldilocks Zone" is the area of space around a star where planets are likely to have liquid water on the surface, and therefore may be habitable for life as we know it.  (Life not as we know it may prefer other environments.)

Tags: creative jam, cyberfunded creativity, gender studies, life lessons, poem, poetry, reading, science fiction, space exploration, weblit, writing
Current Mood: busy

Thanks to a donation from technoshaman, there are 22 new verses in "To Know After Absence."  Shiv explores his new apartment over Blues Moon, and Boss White helps him figure out what he needs from the storage building.

Tags: cyberfunded creativity, family skills, fantasy, fishbowl, life lessons, poetry, reading, weblit, writing
Current Mood: busy

This is an advance announcement for the Tuesday, June 6, 2017 Poetry Fishbowl. This time the theme will be "Poke ALL the bigots in the eye." I'll be soliciting ideas for bigots, victims, upstanders, the misunderstood, outcasts, nemeses, bullies, abusers, oppressors, slavers, psycho bosses, troubled relationships, supervillains, superheroes, activists, poking a bigot in the eye, fleeing in terror, picking on people, resisting oppression, facing your demons, feeding the right wolf, protesting, lunch counters, bars, schools, government buildings, the Oval Office, dark alleys, oceans, liminal zones, mad science labs, The Tower, battlegrounds, graveyards, other places of power, internalized oppression, bigotry, racism, other isms that should be wasms, manifestos, identity literature, picket signs, unusual vulnerabilities, radical transformation, the unspeakable, the inescapable, the indestructable, the nature of humanity (or lack thereof), hubris, and poetic forms in particular.

I have a linkback poem, "We Will Fade into You" (11 verses, standalone). 

If you're interested, mark the date on your calendar, and please hold actual prompts until the "Poetry Fishbowl Open" post next week.  (If you're not available that day, or you live in a time zone that makes it hard to reach me, you can leave advance prompts.  I am now.)  Meanwhile, if you want to help with promotion, please feel free to link back here or repost this on your blog. 

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Tags: activism, cyberfunded creativity, fishbowl, life lessons, poetry, reading, safety, weblit, writing
Current Mood: busy

This is an advance announcement for the Tuesday, June 6, 2017 Poetry Fishbowl. This time the theme will be "Poke ALL the bigots in the eye." I'll be soliciting ideas for bigots, victims, upstanders, ordinary people, the women that men don't see, QUILTBAG folks, people of color, the misunderstood, outcasts, nemeses, bullies, abusers, oppressors, slavers, psycho bosses, troubled relationships, supervillains, superheroes, activists, poking a bigot in the eye, fleeing in terror, picking on people, resisting oppression, speaking truth to power, upsetting applecarts, facing your demons, feeding the right wolf, punching up, protesting, lunch counters, bars, reservations, slums, schools, playgrounds, counseling offices, government buildings, the Oval Office, dark alleys, oceans, liminal zones, mad science labs, The Tower, battlegrounds, graveyards, other places of power, internalized oppression, bigotry, racism, other isms that should be wasms, manifestos, identity literature, picket signs, disruptions, unusual vulnerabilities, minority languages, history written by the losers, radical transformation, the unspeakable, the inescapable, the indestructible, the nature of humanity (or lack thereof), hubris, and poetic forms in particular.

I have a linkback poem, "We Will Fade into You" (11 verses, standalone). 

If you're interested, mark the date on your calendar, and please hold actual prompts until the "Poetry Fishbowl Open" post next week.  (If you're not available that day, or you live in a time zone that makes it hard to reach me, you can leave advance prompts.  I am now.)  Meanwhile, if you want to help with promotion, please feel free to link back here or repost this on your blog. 
 

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Tags: activism, cyberfunded creativity, fishbowl, life lessons, poetry, reading, safety, weblit, writing
Current Mood: busy

This poem is spillover from the April 4, 2017 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired by a prompt from DW user Technoshaman.  It also fills the "white" square in my 4-1-17 card for the Month of Rainbows fest.  This poem belongs to the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

This microfunded poem is being posted one verse at a time, as donations come in to cover them.  The SALE rate is $.25/line, so $5 will reveal 20 new lines, and so forth. There is a permanent donation button on my profile page, or you can contact me for other arrangements. You can also ask me about the number of lines per verse, if you want to fund a certain number of verses.
So far sponsors include: zianuray, janetmiles, DW user Technoshaman, Shirley Barrette

FULLY FUNDED
372 lines, Buy It Now = $93
Amount donated = $46.50
Verses posted = 54 of 106
Amount remaining to fund fully = $46.50
Amount needed to fund next verse = $.75
Amount needed to fund the verse after that = $1

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Tags: cyberfunded creativity, family skills, fantasy, fishbowl, life lessons, poem, poetry, reading, weblit, writing
Current Mood: busy

This poem is spillover from the April 4, 2017 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from technoshaman. It also fills the "Cedar Chest" square in my 4-1-17 card for the Month of Rainbows fest. This poem has been sponsored by ng_moonmoth. It belongs to the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

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Tags: cyberfunded creativity, family skills, fantasy, fishbowl, life lessons, poem, poetry, reading, weblit, writing
Current Mood: busy

This poem is spillover from the May 2, 2017 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from kyleri. It also fills the "sleeplessness" square in my 4-3-17 card for the origfic_bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. It belongs to the Officer Pink thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

Warning: This poem contains some intense topics. Highlight to read the warnings, some of which are spoilers. Despite being in a much better situation now than he was recently, Nebuly is stressing out over the changes. There is insomnia, depression, awkward personal history, guilt, fatigue, and other angst. On the whole, though, Nebuly is making great progress and has awesome family-of-choice. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.

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Tags: cyberfunded creativity, family skills, fantasy, fishbowl, life lessons, poem, poetry, reading, weblit, writing
Current Mood: busy

Bad things can cause the brain to start looping, endlessly repeating the same thought or memory. This is fundamentally a failure of the sorting-filing function of the memory processes. When it gets stuck long term, that's post-traumatic stress. So the way to fix that problem is to get the memory filed properly. Some things that people have found useful include...

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Tags: how to, life lessons
Current Mood: busy

This poem is spillover from the April 4, 2017 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from lone_cat and ng_moonmoth. It also fills the "reunion" square in my 4-3-17 card for the origfic_bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. It belongs to the Antimatter & Stalwart Stan thread of the Polychrome Heroics series, and it follows the events of "Victory Conditions" several months later.

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Tags: cyberfunded creativity, family skills, fantasy, fishbowl, gender studies, life lessons, poem, poetry, reading, weblit, writing
Current Mood: busy

This poem is spillover from the April 4, 2017 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from Anthony Barrette. It also fills the "Too Close" square in my 2-1-17 Love Songs card for the Valentines Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette.

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Tags: cyberfunded creativity, economics, environment, fishbowl, life lessons, nature, poem, poetry, politics, reading, safety, weblit, writing
Current Mood: busy

This poem came out of the April 4, 2017 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired by a prompt from Siliconshaman and conversations with various readers.  It also fills the "surrender" square in my 2-1-17 Platonic card for the Valentines Bingo fest.  This poem belongs to the Berettaflies thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.  Once it's complete, "The Willingness to Surrender Ideas" ($411) will become available.

This microfunded poem is being posted one verse at a time, as donations come in to cover them.  The rate is $.50/line, so $5 will reveal 10 new lines, and so forth. There is a permanent donation button on my profile page, or you can contact me for other arrangements. You can also ask me about the number of lines per verse, if you want to fund a certain number of verses.
So far sponsors include: daisiesrockalot

684 lines, Buy It Now = $342
Amount donated = $34
Verses posted = 19 of 179
Amount remaining to fund fully = $308
Amount needed to fund next verse = $.50
Amount needed to fund the verse after that = $2.50

WARNING: This poem contains controversial topics. Highlight to read the warnings, some of which are spoilers.  Stylet turns himself in to Valor's Widow. This includes exposure to the elements, emotional shock, poor self-preservation, extreme self-blame, live berettaflies in a souped-up pet carrier, gentle handling of a supervillain, suspicion, hunger, impaired thought, reference to unintended genetic modification of puppies, Stylet crying, preliminary negotiations, surrendering proprietary information, and other angst. If these are touchy topics for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.

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Tags: #9, cyberfunded creativity, fantasy, fishbowl, life lessons, poem, poetry, reading, weblit, writing
Current Mood: busy

This poem came out of the April 4, 2017 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from alexseanchai, mama_kestrel, and kelkyag. It has been sponsored by redsixwing.

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Tags: crafts, cyberfunded creativity, ethnic studies, life lessons, poem, poetry, reading, spirituality, weblit, writing
Current Mood: busy

 dialecticdreamer has posted Part 1 of the story "The Consequences of Responsibility."  Heron and Edison go to visit the whales and their human friends.

Tags: cyberfunded creativity, family skills, fantasy, fiction, life lessons, reading, weblit
Current Mood: busy

Someone asked me about emotional first aid for adults, so here are some ideas about increasing access to that ...

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Tags: family skills, how to, life lessons, safety
Current Mood: busy

 Alex Conall has posted the poem "Tolerance" which examines different meanings of the word and how they overlap.  It's a brilliant explanation of why tolerance has limits.

Tags: creative jam, cyberfunded creativity, life lessons, networking, poetry, reading, weblit
Current Mood: busy

This poem is spillover from the March 7, 2017 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from chanter_greenie. It also fills the "loneliness" square in my 8-1-17 card for the Survival Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the Polychrome Heroics series.

Warning: This poem contains some touchy topics. Highlight to read the warnings, some of which are spoilers. It has misery, loneliness, low mood, abandonment issues, alienation from hometown, serious prejudice against soups, and other challenges. Also, the positive interactions and upstanding shown provide a little lift, but not an actual happy ending. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before moving onward.

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Tags: activism, cyberfunded creativity, family skills, fantasy, fishbowl, life lessons, poem, poetry, reading, safety, weblit, writing
Current Mood: busy

This poem is spillover from the March 7, 2017 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by janetmiles. It also fills the "fear" square in my 8-1-17 card for the Survival Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the Monster House series.

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Tags: cyberfunded creativity, family skills, fantasy, fishbowl, life lessons, poem, poetry, reading, safety, weblit, writing
Current Mood: busy

This poem is spillover from the March 7, 2017 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by Anthony Barrette.


"Balancing on a Cliff"


Making decisions is like
balancing on a cliff.

Is it courage or foolishness
to attempt something?

For every choice,
you must consider
both the risks
and the benefits.

It is the energy return
on energy invested that
determines whether a choice
is courageous or foolish,

or both.

Tags: cyberfunded creativity, fishbowl, life lessons, poem, poetry, reading, weblit, writing
Current Mood: busy