Here are some songs that I'm listening to while giving Rose's manuscript a going-over. You may find that they also go nicely with some of the forthcoming posts on the Undead in the Netherworld blog. Yeah, I cheated and read ahead! That's a dirty little admin privilege. ;-)
You will find that the admins of the KHEL 666 and Undead in the Netherworld blogs are an eclectic lot. We're like Colorado weather. If you don't like one post, just wait a few minutes, and one you like will surely come along!
I have Rose, Cie, and Lily's permission to speak about this issue, so I am not breaking a confidence. I am also keeping things fairly superficial while expressing my feelings on the matter.
Rose is a fine writer. Lily is also a fine writer. Neither of them are very conventional in their approach.
Lily stopped writing because of personal attacks after she released her book, Eternal Death, Lost Beneath the Surface.
Rose revised the manuscript, but she found the process of writing a book for publication absolutely onerous. She also came under attack by some of the same individuals. She has said that she will not write another book.
I think it is a very sad and discouraging thing that this world often causes people to give up large parts of what makes them who they are. People believe that if they don't conform to a certain standard of beauty--both physically and personality-wise--that they should hide away. They come to believe this because if they do not conform to such standards, they tend to undergo bullying.
Counter to what many think, bullying does not end with school. It continues every day in magazines which tell girls and women that if they aren't less than a size 6, they are fat and ugly. To a lesser degree, young men get the idea that if they don't have washboard abs, no one will ever want them. As a counselor, I often work with people dealing with the backlash from these unhealthy messages. Eating disorders are a very common problem.
Fat and ugly are not the same thing, by the way. Yes, there are larger people who are attractive. I've never thought of myself as particularly attractive, but my fiance, a fellow who stands five foot nine and weighs 145 pounds, finds my six foot two, 325 pound red-haired self attractive, love handles and all. Who am I to argue with him?
On the personality end, people are told that if they don't conform to the 2.5 kids, white picket fence, heterosexual family unit where Mom and Dad work nine to five at an office, there is something wrong with them. And woe betide anyone who may be living with a mental illness. Anyone with a mental illness is made to feel so fatally flawed as to believe that they are not allowed to find happiness.
Sensitive people in this society are targeted for bullying. This is what happened to both Rose and Lily, both of whom are highly sensitive women with a history of mental illness. When they tried to break out and express themselves, they were shot down.
Cie Cheesemeister is much the same. She edits the posts that others create and she creates some of the graphics. Once a very prolific blogger, she rarely interacts any more.
Admissibly, I'm only a sometime participant in this little venture, but I hope that in some small way my support will help my more talented friends realize that their voices are worth sharing.
Just had to get that off my chest.
Never take away a person's hope. It may be all they have to live for.
Peace,
Adam
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