__picture it & write

Tags

anxiety, children, creativity, death, games, girl, photography, poetry, relationship, writing

I urge people to join in, comment with your paragraph of fiction to accompany the image. It doesn’t have to follow my story or reflect the same themes. It can be a poem or in a different language (provide a translation please ). Anyone who wants to join in, is welcome. This photograph has been reblogged under Ermisenda on tumblr.

Thank you Otheus for your photograph suggestion. I know you provided the image many weeks ago but now that the Blind Sight blog tour is over, we can return back to normal. Every fortnight we hope to host a photograph suggested by contributors. So, keep those photograph recommendations coming. Submit your favourite images (with credit) for next week’s Picture it & write!

Untitled By i'm a witch

As a child I never understood the fascination of the game, hide and seek. The pressure of having to find a good hiding spot always made me anxious. What if my hiding spot wasn’t good enough? I would have to be the searcher, a position no one wanted. If my hiding spot was too good, would the other children forget about me and leave? I tried to put my own thoughts away as I played the game with the child I was babysitting.

Maria was a good player and I had been searching for ten minutes without success. An automatic thought was triggered: What if she sneaked out? I started to panic. I ran into the living room. She wasn’t there. I ran into the dining room. She wasn’t there. I ran up the stairs. My heart stopped. Her legs could be seen beneath the curtain, splayed. I threw back the curtain forcefully. Her eyes were open, haunting.

- Ermisenda Alvarez

Everyone is welcome to use the button, just link them back to the Picture it & write category or Ermiliablog! Share your love for Picture it & write on your blog with the image below. Be proud, and stylish !

__children addressing adults by their first name

Tags

adults, children, family, life, names, writing

On Facebook an article popped up and it talked about how children shouldn’t address adults by their first name but by Mr./Mrs. Last Name. Part of their reasoning was that it put a barrier between children and adults. That adults were more mature and they deserved that kind of respect. It provided that ‘mystery’ to adults and it was part of that rite of passage to becoming older. I quickly… if not a bit rudely replied to the comment. This was my hasty reply:

I disagree. We’re not equal? I’ve met many children who are more mature than their parents. Just because you’re older doesn’t mean you passed any rite of passage. Respect for being old? Everyone should earn their respect and not because they aged. Addressing adults by their last names is just cold and formal. That’s not what I’d do for family or friends. It’s an excuse for adults to feel important and to distant themselves from children. If the children use your first name out of warmth and love what kind of adult will correct that? It’s ridiculous.

I do have to admit, I think that children who address other parents with Mr or Mrs are being polite but once they are friends and not merely strangers, why should they keep such formalities? Growing up amongst my parent’s friends they never asked me to call them Mr or Mrs something. What about those women who are not Mrs? The whole Mrs/Miss issue is another one of my pet peeves. I don’t understand why women have to be classified yet men are always Mr… not that it’s their fault.

What do you think about children calling adults by their first names? Is it bratty/rude? Should they speak to adults using Mr/Mrs/Miss/Dr/Prof. etc? I think it’s an excuse for adults to feel special and superior. People are always talking about how adulthood is this and that and ‘superior’ because they’re old. But I think a lot of adults need to stop acting like children are inferior. Do you agree with me? Sorry, do you agree with me, Mr/Mrs/Miss Reader?

- Ermisenda Alvarez

 

__sex’n'violence in movies

Tags

children, games, life, movies, parenting, quote, sex, technology, violence, writing

If you suck on a tit the movie gets an R rating.  If you hack the tit off with an axe it will be PG.  ~Jack Nicholson

When I first encountered this quote I thought it was hilarious. I had a good chuckle. *Insert good chuckle*. But then I pondered it on a little longer, and a little longer. Why is that quote surprisingly funny (and slightly exaggerated or is it?) and true?

Personalized Incentives: You mean not everyone thinks like me?

Tags

children, college, Gilmore Girls, incentive, kids, point of view, POV

Most children or teens have at one point thought the world revolved around them.  Even more do not understand that there are two sides to every story, that not everyone thinks like them.

For example, in an episode of the Gilmore Girls, Rory and Lane discuss the difficult decision of what Rory should get her boyfriend Dean for a gift.  Rory has bought a complex book by a Russian author (if I remember right).  She explains she thinks it’s romantic.  Lane compares the book to Dean giving Rory a Czechoslovakian football.  She references a time that she gave her mother perfume for Christmas.  To Lane, it meant, “here mom, you work hard; you deserve something nice.”  To Lane’s mom is said, “here mom, here is some smelly sex juice, the kind I lure boys with,” and resulted in Lane being sent to Korean Bible camp.

The same thing can be said for incentives.  Many teens cannot wait to get their driver’s license.  I had to be bribed.  But it is what my parents used to bribe me that is truly unique.  If I did not get my license, I could not go to community college until after I graduated high school.

You read that right.  I went to night classes at the community college for dual credit and my parents could no longer drive me.  So, a week before I turned 18, I got my driver’s licence.

What unique incentives have people used on you?  Did it work?

__summer haze

Tags

africa, aid, children, death, doctor, poverty, short story, writing

Updated 11/10/11

Summer Haze
a short story by Ermisenda Alvarez

I didn’t weep. You can’t. From the moment they throw you into the deep end of this business you can’t be that impressionable. From early you either strengthen your defences or wallow in cascading waterfalls of tears while nursing your experiences. I wasn’t going to become one of those people and I wasn’t going to weep then because you can’t.

Even with numerous friends and nearly all of my family members wishing me not to go forward with my decision I still did. I remember growing up and enjoying the summer haze with my family at our fortnightly gatherings. They would remind me, “you’re a smart one aren’t you?” followed by, “what are you thinking of becoming when your older?” Before I was able to ever answer I would hear the same word repeated by everyone around me, firm nods followed, “Doctor.”