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Showing posts with the label Are You EVER Going to be Thin? (and other stories)

Autumn: The Empty Yawning Chasm

The fact that logic cannot satisfy us awakens an almost insatiable hunger for the irrational. ~A. N. Wilson Meet my appetite: The voracious monster and – The Empty Yawning Chasm. If left unchecked, The Chasm will create havoc. Much of my life has been spent staving it off, and woe-be-onto-me should I ignore its first signs. The Chasm retains a tight leash on me, reminding me of the numerous impulses within to grab the first thing at hand, usually a fatty crunchy carb or fast food, typically fried in grease. (An aside: Last week, while on my walk, I slipped, almost landing on my ass, on a smelly grease stain deposited by Chick-fil-A in the alleyway behind its property – think about that as you take your next bite of its classic chicken sandwich. How that stuff must grease up one’s colon like a colonoscopy prep – we oldsters think a lot about such connections.) I have been told that humans living in First World Countries have never experienced gut-wrenching hunger...

Are You EVER Going to be Thin (and other stories)

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Are You EVER Going to be Thin? (and other stories) ______________________________________ Are You EVER Going to be Thin? (and other stories) chronicles artist Samantha Mallory’s battle with weight, family, molestation, love, marriage, sexuality, the Catholic church, traumatic cultural events, and death. A family reunion awakens the voices of Samantha’s relatives, dead and alive. “Time, An Other,” the opening story, describes Samantha’s first memory; other stories move forward and backward and forward in time. “In the Name of God” places Samantha’s daughter and granddaughter in New York City during 9/11; “Psychedelic Bingo” moves forward to 2035; “Time, Suspended,” the last story (set in 1990), reveals a family secret. “Are You EVER Going to be Thin?”: the title story, interweaves childhood letters from an aunt with a grandmother’s dire warnings. “Cut,” a bonus story added to the Kindle version, delves into Samantha’s fascination and fear of fire and her willingness to...