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EAP: The Magazine Archive

“Is It Okay If I’m Only Human?!”

November 1, 2024 by Exangel

by David D. Horowitz.

“I just learned my beloved aunt has brain cancer and only three months to live!”

“I just learned my son in tenth grade has a serious cocaine habit. How come I didn’t know about this earlier?!”

“I lost ten hours per week at my job, and now—now!—I learn that I need knee surgery, and I’ve already maxed out this year’s health insurance coverage. And this is on top of my mortgage and car payments and my daughter’s braces! I’m sick of bills!”

“Don’t say anything. Nothing. The pressure, the stress, the demands of academic life: I can’t take it anymore. Is it okay if I can’t produce juried masterpieces every minute?! Is it okay if I’m only human?!”

“My son tells me two bullies at school have threatened to beat him up next time they see him. He’s scared. I’m scared, and I’m angry. School? It’s more like a holding cell at a juvenile detention center, and I can barely afford food and rent, much less tuition at some fancy private school. We’ll deal with this—somehow. I’m just so distressed….”

Distress comes in all degrees and types. There is no one surefire way to help another endure it. How well and long have you known the person? How much do you know about the person’s job, interests, family, sexuality, faith, and possible addictions? How much money does the person have? Could they afford a therapist or doctor, if necessary? Does the distressed person own and use guns? Are they prone to depression? There is much to consider before trying to help.

And yet, some strategies tend to work better than others. Listen to the person in the moment. Let the person talk—or stay silent if that seems wiser. Hold the person’s hand, or not, depending on what seems most helpful. Adjust to circumstances, and be gentle, especially if distress descends into outright depression. A little humor might help. A little humor might not help. A physical pleasure like ice cream or a stroll around a park on a warm afternoon might help reinvigorate. Or, simply sit with them on a couch for hours. Stay in the moment with the distressed person, and let the person know you’re there to help in whatever way seems best.

And, sometimes, the storm and the clouds pass, and the horizon brightens. Solutions might work; the distress might dissipate. Don’t lose hope, even if the person you try to help has lost hope:

“My wife just got a raise and can handle our car payments, and we’ll stay near home for this year’s family vacation. That’ll save a lot of money. I’m still stressed—but less so.”

“I spoke to the school principal, and he is aware of the situation. The two students who threatened my son have been warned about causing any violence, and I am to call the principal directly if I learn of any new threat. Okay. It’s not perfect, but that’s better. And I’ll find a way to home school or transfer my son or do whatever it takes to make sure he’s safe at school. We’ll deal with it. There’s hope.”

Ah, the magic words: “There’s hope.” It might be a cliché—but for good reason. Sure, hope alone might not cure brain cancer or everyone’s distress, but it can help us through a lot of suffering. A twig might twist and turn and be all gnarly and barky—but it might still yield delicious fruit.

never mind they were wolves.

November 1, 2024 by Exangel

by Chris Farago. I was with, teaching them to darn their own skin in case of a mishap among the pliant furs. one of them told me no we’re fine, dial back the fanaticism to a three— we’ll edit our lore and make you an honorary wolf if you just shut the fuck about disaster […]

Why Everyone Hates Moral Philosophers.

November 1, 2024 by Exangel

by Bruce E.R. Thompson. I assume you have already watched The Good Place. I further assume you already know it to be one of the most well-acted, well-written, and philosophically profound shows ever created for a television streaming service. So, I assume you are familiar with Chidi Anagonye, the quintessential moral philosopher. By a “moral […]

Advice.

November 1, 2024 by Exangel

by Marissa Bell Toffoli. Easy to give, hard to take. I’m collecting wise words like buttons in a jar. Shook up– how they rattle before settling in. Pick one, test the weight of it in your hand. Try another, try them all. Hem and haw, and sew a new design. Plan for things to go […]

How The Hell Am I Going To Do This.

November 1, 2024 by Exangel

by Jim Meirose. I = I = TM I have no idea how I’m going to do this; how’s the how ‘f how I’m going to do this; to do this; the how of ‘he how the hell I am going to do this. I have no idea how, idea, no idea how, I am […]

Advice to the Distressed.

November 1, 2024 by Exangel

by Barry Vitcov. Filled with the allure of double rainbows, my dreams are often in technicolor; sometimes fanciful with bright lights aglow, other times a transparent watercolor. Your dreams are nightmares filled with fear and dread, the kind that wake you in the chill of night and cause you to shake yourself from your bed […]

Heisenberg’s datasets.

November 1, 2024 by Exangel

by Laura Carter. In quantum mechanics, we cannot know both the position and the momentum of a particle as accurately as we want. “The more precisely the position is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known, and conversely.” This doesn’t usually matter for people. A person is made up of a lot of particles. […]

when the stars align chaos reigns.

November 1, 2024 by Exangel

by JW James. even with your eyes wide open you will take the wrong road this is the road of blizzards and fandom your eyes are bloodshot you sing anthems tonight that seem endless this is the wrong road at the right time you lose car keys and fall in love this is the uncheckered […]

Countervailing Forces.

November 1, 2024 by Exangel

by Sean Murphy. An email, an angry thought, a meditation, a prayer; ill-will directed toward those who thrive on the perpetuated misery of those accommodating it. A severed friendship, letters to the editor, a withholding of affection, a refusal to smile mutely while the usual suspects recite talking points from pundits. Do you ponder that […]

Before you know it you’re pretty much dead.

November 1, 2024 by Exangel

by Gale Acuff. and in the Afterlife, Heaven or Hell or a third place if there is one and if there isn’t then that doesn’t seem very fair or democratic but what do I know, I’m only ten years old, Eternity gets left to the grownups, I guess, but one day I’ll be one, a […]

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In This Issue.

  • Who Was Dorothy?
  • Those Evil Spirits.
  • The Screaming Baboon.
  • Her.
  • A Tale of Persistence.
  • A Conversation with Steve Hugh Westenra.
  • Person Number Twelve.
  • Dream Shapes.
  • Cannon Beach.
  • The Muse.
  • Spring.
  • The Greatness that was Greece.
  • 1966, NYC; nothing like it.
  • Sun Shower.
  • The Withering Weight of Being Perceived.
  • Broken Clock.
  • Confession.
  • Francis Coppola’s Apocalypse.
  • Sometimes you die, I mean that people do.
  • True (from “My Life with Dogs”).
  • Fragmentary musings on birds and bees.
  • 12 Baking Essentials to Always Have in Your Poetry.
  • Broad Street.
  • A Death in Alexandria.
  • My Forked Tongue.
  • Swan Lake.
  • Long Division.
  • Singing against the muses.
  • Aphorisms from “What Remains to Be Said”.

In The News.

That cult classic pirate/sci fi mash up GREENBEARD, by Richard James Bentley, is now a rollicking audiobook, available from Audible.com. Narrated and acted by Colby Elliott of Last Word Audio, you’ll be overwhelmed by the riches and hilarity within.

“Captain Sylvestre de Greybagges is your typical seventeenth-century Cambridge-educated lawyer turned Caribbean pirate, as comfortable debating the virtues of William Shakespeare, Isaac Newton, and compound interest as he is wielding a cutlass, needling archrival Henry Morgan, and parsing rum-soaked gossip for his next target. When a pepper monger’s loose tongue lets out a rumor about a fleet loaded with silver, the Captain sets sail only to find himself in a close encounter of a very different kind.

After escaping with his sanity barely intact and his beard transformed an alarming bright green, Greybagges rallies The Ark de Triomphe crew for a revenge-fueled, thrill-a-minute adventure to the ends of the earth and beyond.

This frolicsome tale of skullduggery, jiggery-pokery, and chicanery upon Ye High Seas is brimming with hilarious puns, masterful historical allusions, and nonstop literary hijinks. Including sly references to Thomas Pynchon, Treasure Island, 1940s cinema, and notable historical figures, this mélange of delights will captivate readers with its rollicking adventure, rich descriptions of food and fashion, and learned asides into scientific, philosophical, and colonial history.”

THE SUPERGIRLS is back, revised and updated!

supergirls-take-1

In The News.

Newport Public Library hosted a three part Zoom series on Visionary Fiction, led by Tod.  

And we love them for it, too.

The first discussion was a lively blast. You can watch it here. The second, Looking Back to Look Forward can be seen here.

The third was the best of all. Visions of the Future, with a cast of characters including poets, audiobook artists, historians, Starhawk, and Mary Shelley. Among others. Link is here.

In the News.

SNOTTY SAVES THE DAY is now an audiobook, narrated by Last Word Audio’s mellifluous Colby Elliott. It launched May 10th, but for a limited time, you can listen for free with an Audible trial membership. So what are you waiting for? Start listening to the wonders of how Arcadia was born from the worst section of the worst neighborhood in the worst empire of all the worlds since the universe began.

In The News.

If you love audio books, don’t miss the new release of REPORT TO MEGALOPOLIS, by Tod Davies, narrated by Colby Elliott of Last Word Audio. The tortured Aspern Grayling tries to rise above the truth of his own story, fighting with reality every step of the way, and Colby’s voice is the perfect match for our modern day Dr. Frankenstein.

In The News.

Mike Madrid dishes on Miss Fury to the BBC . . .

Tod on the Importance of Visionary Fiction

Check out this video of “Beyond Utopia: The Importance of Fantasy,” Tod’s recent talk at the tenth World-Ecology Research Network Conference, June 2019, in San Francisco. She covers everything from Wind in the Willows to the work of Kim Stanley Robinson, with a look at The History of Arcadia along the way. As usual, she’s going on about how visionary fiction has an important place in the formation of a world we want and need to have.

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