Daily Archive for February 1st, 2012

Black History Month – West African Folk Tales

Published on February 1, 2012 in Abuse and For the Record. 0 Comments Tags: Black History, community, video.

Ah yes, here we are on the first day of Black History Month. I thought I might do something special this year and post a few articles I found interesting. The articles will vary, some serious, some not so serious. I’ll do regular therapy postings and toss in a few BHM entries. To start us off I want to share a few Librivox recordings of West African Folk Tales by William H. Barker. Reader credits appear at the bottom of this post.

Alright, about these particular folktales….In these tales you’ll find one main character which is a Anansi. Anansi is a false god who plays tricks on people for his own selfish gain. He lies, cheats and steals in order to make himself prosperous. This he does to the detriment of all around him, including his sons, wife and fellow villagers. Anansi sometimes appears in the stories as a spider or a person and sometimes a combination of the two. One thing you can count on with Anansi is that he is an abusive, neglectful, self-centered, “me first” kind of god. You’ll also notice that his selfish tricks always fail but not without consequences to himself and others.

Continue reading ‘Black History Month – West African Folk Tales’

Black for Dummies

Published on February 1, 2012 in Abuse, Anger, Art Therapy, Emotional abuse, Emotions, Female Sadist, Letters Home, Secrets and Confessions and Trust. 0 Comments Tags: Black History.

This entry is a follow up to the pink dryer entry . This handwritten entry goes into detail about how difficult it was to feel as if I belonged anywhere or was seen as anything but an object of derision.

The very first art piece shows a three headed child with the caption, “You can be anyone except who you really are.” This art therapy piece will make more sense if the pages are read concerning being black and how I was told to be an example for others. The example I was to set was insane and rather stupid thus the title, Black for Dummies.

My therapist and I spent a good amount of time talking how during this writing I stumbled upon the understanding that my sister should not be seen as weak for how she handled the abuse. Continue reading ‘Black for Dummies’

Pink dryer and a house under my foot

Published on February 1, 2012 in Abuse, Anger, Art Therapy, Emotional abuse, Emotions, Female Sadist and Letters Home. 0 Comments Tags: Creative Writing.

This handwritten journal entry came about when I discovered why I’d been so triggered lately. About a year ago I got dreadlocks, then I discovered its not as easy a hair style at I thought it would be. I have to twist and re-twist as well as sit under my GE tabletop dryer to speed the take of the lock. Doing this reminded me of all the times my mother took me to the hair dresser. I wish I could say it was a pleasant memory but it wasn’t. In order to deal with the triggers I drew a picture of me sitting under the dryer. I did this WHILE I was under the dryer which means I was drawing myself drying my hair.