So I took another break. My new year’s resolution saw me posting weekly for 7 months solid, but it was not to last. It’s funny how setting specific intentions and expectations around hobbies can squash the pleasure out of your passions. Keen to stop doing that, tbh.
Anyway, I’m back – and taking a leaf out of an earlier iteration of me’s book. The following is from Qualified. Medicated. Elucidated:
“Despite numerous drafts on the back burner, none have quite made it live for quite some time. I would say must do better, but this is my playground, not homework. There are no deadlines, quotas or gradebooks. I’m not letting anyone down by not posting – at most I’m just barn-egging my free range-destined ideas. I do not condone this method in either sense: both chickens and thoughts ought to roam free if you ask me. Much of the following has been written over the last few months, and I’m sort of collaging it back together to fashion something funky fresh. (I think normal people just call this making edits, but when have I ever honestly been one of those?)“
All the blogs say that posting regularly is the key to growth and weekly seemed to be the most sustainable for a full-time teacher – a balance of frequent enough yet not all-consuming enough to burn me out. Yet the reason I came to love blogging in the first place was the clarity it gave me over my own mind, a creative space to word vomit and make silly jokes, and witnessing how my words could help other people. A smaller part of my ego craves *more* – feed me Seymour energy – but a larger part of me is gobsmacked that 328 of you have enough interest in my ponderings to subscribe to my blog.
ADHD and Me
So it turns out I also have this thing called ADHD. Surprise! Autism and ADHD together are often referred to as AuDHD in the neurodivergent community, and the co-morbidity between the two is crazy common. Some research suggests 40-70% of those with ASD also have ADHD [Source 1] [Source 2]. Even more bizarre is that as little as ten years ago it was thought that you couldn’t have both.
A Sapphic Mystery
I used to write for my university’s student magazine. All of these pieces are available on my blog via the “Publications” tab. However, what never phases to baffle me is the popularity of one particular article. It’s called Five Types of Lesbians and it was a satire piece I wrote for a pride themed issue back in 2018. (Click here for a screen-reader friendly version.) In a nutshell, I described some common sapphic tropes, shipped them together and brought them to the general public. Ya know, just doing my duty as a homo.
For example, just this year it has pulled 52 views so far, when no other CANTA articles have come close to that.
I can’t help but wonder if it’s the same few people, sheltered, confused and looking for answers. I picture a gentle homophobe, potentially even closeted themselves, studying this article as if it contains the very answers to their askings* about homosexuality of the womanly variety. What even is lesbian sex? I hear them whisper to the Google search page, huddled over their laptop, face lit by the glowing blue screen. But who is the man?
Please, for the love of god, don’t take these words as truth.
*finally making my way through Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking series and I cannot get over the genius of this word as a substitute for question
Thank You and Goodnight
Being in school holidays means lapses in routine – which I simultaneously crave and struggle to maintain. (Such fun.) At the moment, I’m cruising through a bumpy insomnia patch, but we’ll get there!
On that note… better wind down and get off dem blue screens.
bohemianhumanist.com 