Maranda Russell's Blog, page 93

New YouTube Video – “Behind the Scenes of My Foster Care Book”

This week’s video is a “behind the scenes” look into my popular book about foster care entitled “From Both Sides”. In this vlog I discuss the inspiration behind the book and share a few short excerpts.

I hope you will check it out! Feel free to comment and let me know what you think. You can also suggest future topics if there is something you would like to see me talk about.

New YouTube Videos – “Is Everyone an Agnostic?” and “Behind the Scenes of My Foster Care Book”

This week I have two vlog YouTube videos to share again.

The first is about an interesting theory I heard recently stating that perhaps everyone is really an agnostic to some degree when it comes to religion. This idea made me think about all the implications if that were true.

The second video is a “behind the scenes” look into my popular book about foster care entitled “From Both Sides”. In this vlog I discuss the inspiration behind the book and share a few short excerpts.

I hope you will check out both videos! Feel free to comment on either video and let me know what you think. You can also suggest future topics if there is something you would like to see me talk about.

Political Posturing and Endless Arguing Do No Good

As I watch the massive amount of political posturing and relentless fighting come across my Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages daily, I get sick of all the mudslinging, unfair attacks and hateful commentary that accomplish absolutely nothing. I’m not saying that it is wrong to have political ideas and feelings or to stand up for what you believe, but when both sides become so rigid that they won’t work together at all, everyone suffers in a multitude of ways.

When I see all the pointless arguing and hateful vendettas waged by certain politicians and their followers on both sides, I often think of a poem I wrote a while ago and included in my last book “Searching for the Truth“. I would like to share it here in hopes that people begin to keep the bigger picture in mind and not get bogged down with every ridiculous detail or distracted by every political tantrum.

Labels

The labels we give ourselves –

Democrat, Republican,

conservative, liberal –

why do we let these

names

fool us

into believing

that’s all we are?

The truth is

we need each other

like it

or not.

Left to ourselves

and those of our kind,

we lose balance

and perspective.

We forget

that there’s a whole world

outside

of our own narrow view.

A world of trouble,

a world of tragedy.

A world that

desperately

needs our help.

A world

that doesn’t benefit at all

from another pointless debate.

Two New YouTube Videos – Asperger’s Stereotypes and Dealing with the Suicide of a Loved One

Normally I try to only share one of my YouTube video blogs here a week, but today I wanted to share two of them because I feel that both subjects are very important.

The first video deals with a couple common stereotypes related to Asperger’s Syndrome and why those stereotypes annoy me personally.

The other video is a personal look at dealing with the aftermath of a loved one’s death by suicide. This subject has been going through my mind a lot lately due to the upcoming 3rd anniversary of my sister’s death.

I hope you find these videos interesting and useful. If you haven’t already subscribed to me on YouTube, please consider doing so that way you won’t miss any of the videos I make!

New YouTube Video – “Behind the Scenes of My Newest Book Release – “Searching for the Truth”

In my latest YouTube vlog, I gave some personal information about what inspired my most recent book release, “Searching for the Truth: Poems & Prose Inspired by Our Inner Worlds”. I also read aloud a couple of the shorter poems from the book and explained why they meant so much to me. I hope you will check it out!

Favorite Song Lyrics – Nirvana Edition

I’ve been wanting to write a few blog posts about my favorite bits of song lyrics by various bands and musicians for some time. Since I have been on a Nirvana kick lately (my aspie obsessiveness kicking in), I figured I would start with them.

To me, song lyrics are a form of poetry we all encounter on a daily basis whether we realize it or not. I feel that the words to a song matter just as much as the music. A truly great song speaks to the mind and heart and leaves the listener pondering the meaning behind the words even after the song ends. So here are a few of my favorite Nirvana lyric excerpts (all of which make me feel deliciously angsty and young once again):

Hey!

Wait!

I’ve got a new complaint

Forever in debt to your priceless advice

– Heart Shaped Box

Oh yeah, I guess it makes me smile

I found it hard, it’s hard to find

Oh well, whatever, nevermind.

– Smells Like Teen Spirit

He’s the one

Who likes all our pretty songs

And he likes to sing along

And he likes to shoot his gun

But he knows not what it means

Don’t know what it means

– In Bloom

What else should I be

All apologies

What else could I say

Everyone is gay

What else could I write

I don’t have the right

What else should I be

All apologies

– All Apologies

Lastly, an honorable mention – the title of their song “Jesus Doesn’t Want Me For A Sunbeam” always makes me laugh and I love watching the live unplugged performance. Seeing a grunge band playing the accordion is just awesome :)

New YouTube Video – “My Asperger’s Syndrome Vlog – Are Aspies Arrogant Know-It-Alls?”

In my newest vlog about Asperger’s Syndrome I tackled an accusation I have often heard about people with high-functioning autism. I explain what I feel may cause some of the negative perceptions and ruffled feathers. By the way, if you want to see all of my YouTube videos as they are posted, please subscribe to me on YouTube because I don’t share every YouTube video I make here on my main blog.

New YouTube video – “My Reaction to Isis Burning Man Alive Video – is torture ever ok?”

After watching the video of Isis burning a Jordanian pilot alive, I just felt that I had to say something about it because it touched my heart so deeply. I decided to do a YouTube video hoping maybe it would help me get across how I felt about it appropriately.

New YouTube video, “My Asperger’s Syndrome Vlog – Jobs, Careers & Workplace Issues”

Last week I received a request from one of my vlog viewers who wanted me to make a video about my work history, how Asperger’s affected my jobs and any advice I had to give on the subject. So that is what I did :) Hope you enjoy! If you do, please “like” the video on YouTube and consider sharing it!

Thank you “Fifty Shades of Grey” for making my life look great

So today I decided to go see the Fifty Shades of Grey movie. It is bargain Tuesday at our local theater, with half price admission and food discounts so I figured it would be the best time to give the movie a try. I didn’t want to drag my husband to the movie because he hated the Twilight series for having no plot…and the Fifty Shades series makes Twilight look downright complex. I skimmed through the first two books of the Fifty Shades series and made it about halfway through the last book, so I did have an idea of what I would be in for with the movie.

First off, let me say that some of the others who showed up for the movie kind of surprised me. As I expected, there were groups of women, a few couples and quite a few single women like me there (this is the first time I’ve gone to a theater all by myself and that was actually kind of liberating in a way). What surprised me were the few single men (because this is billed as such a “chick flick”) and the 70 & 80 year-old women who came, one of whom (an adorable little old lady) sat right beside me. For a moment I felt like I was seeing the movie with my grandmother and that kind of threw me off balance a bit!

Anyhow, as I watched the movie, it was pretty much what I expected, a somewhat tamed down version of the book. Although I do understand why many women don’t like this series and think it encourages stalking, unrealistic expectations and domestic abuse, I don’t feel quite that strongly about it because there is consent. Anastasia may seem stupid in many ways and definitely makes some questionable decisions, but she is a consenting adult. She has quite a few chances to walk away and doesn’t do so. I know she seems innocent (maybe too much so for living in today’s world) but she does know what she is getting into, especially once she is given that contract to study.

As for Mr. Grey, I can see some of why the character is appealing to some women. He is rich, good-looking, can be sweet at times and represents a sexual fantasy fairly common to both sexes (that of being dominated or dominating someone else). Those aren’t the things that bother me. He is undoubtedly somewhat stalkery and controlling…but again, Anastasia’s character chooses to allow that to have him in her life. What truly bothers me about Mr. Grey’s character is how he is so messed up from his own abusive history that he wants to actually hurt women. He wants to cause pain. To me, there is nothing sexy about that. I know that there are those who like the BDSM lifestyle and enjoy a certain amount of pain…but I doubt that most true BDSM practitioners would want to cause pain to someone who clearly does not enjoy it or go beyond their partner’s pain threshold. I can see why the BDSM community hates this portrayal of their sexual fetishes.

As the movie neared its end I was surprised to see women in the audience around me crying. I sat there and wondered why they were crying. Were they frustrated and annoyed like me because Anastasia wouldn’t just say the safe word or yell stop? Were some victims of abuse in the past and this triggered that as they saw Anastasia cry miserably in pain? Were they simply feeling sad that Grey’s character was so messed up emotionally? Did they feel for Anastasia’s character, who clearly felt humiliated and heartbroken because the man she loved carried so much pain that he had to make others feel that pain? After the credits started, I heard cries of “is that it?” and “what the heck?” from others in the theater. Guess they hadn’t read the books.

As I got in my car and drove home, the main feeling I had was that I am so THANKFUL to have a husband who is not emotionally or mentally messed up like that. I’m glad that my husband has never once wanted to hurt or humiliate me. In fact, if anything, he would do anything in his power to prevent me pain or to take it away when I am suffering. So thank you Mr. Grey. You made my husband look even more wonderful and made me deeply thankful for what I have. You made me realize how strong I am because I never would have put up with your crap in the first place (had I been Anastasia that would have been one short book!). In the end, I guess fantasies are ok and maybe fun to indulge in to an extent, but nothing beats a good reality!