My Mom And Dad Were Divorced When I Was One. Dad Actually Managed To S

My Mom and Dad were divorced when I was one. Dad actually managed to sexually abuse me before the divorce. Karen and Janet, my two older sisters and I went to Dad's on Sundays where we had breakfast. We listened only to classical music, which we hated probably because it was Dad. We did not like him too much, he was " different." I had no idea until after he was murdered that he was gay. Well, looking back he was flamboyant, wearing scarves and brooches. He was a gourmet cook and prided himself in the feasts he made for us. My favorite was the crepes drenched in butter and cinnamon sugar. He kept house meticulously, which mirrored his career, a famous art restorer. I never told him I loved him. We had an emotionally distant co-existence. One thing I have held dear like the person in Living through Personal Crisis by Dr. Ann Kaiser Stearns who saved all the clothes of their loved one is a small crystal Easter egg that he gave to me one Easter. It is a symbol of his love, and my valuing it. Mostly, he showed his love through things and outings to plays and musical recitals. Those times were sometimes fun sometimes tedious. But today, I have come to enjoy these types of cultural events. They have helped to shape who I am today. How do you grieve someone you hardly knew, but who is supposed to mean so much I have postponed the grief some what through alcohol and drug use and avoidance. He did mean something to me because when we came home from school, in seventh grade, that day in January, I was shocked when Mom declared, "you're father is dead." What do you mean?! What happened?! What do you mean he's dead?! Then the tears started to come and the "oh my God's-" the utter shock. They told me it was a burglary but that is not what happened. The truth was withheld from me. He was actually taking advantage of two young male prostitutes. Risky behavior, that's for sure. What do you mean male?! What do you mean prostitutes?! I was humiliated! It was years later that I got this news. The whole scene was embarrassing. I thought everyone knew from the newspaper but the whole story was not in the newspaper due to plea bargaining. Back to the seventh grade when this occurred, I was supposed to give a speech dressed as Pocohontas in social studies. Needless to say I missed that one, and subsequently almost failed out of McDonogh that semester. People really don't give enough time for grieving in this society. I needed more time. You would not believe how many times I heard " I'm sorry " from acquaintances at school. It was too much. It did not help me at all to feel better. No one knew how to listen or even wanted to listen. One girl did ask me how many times he was stabbed. That was really ignorant. I would not have known what to say if someone had listened. But I'm sorry is really useless in helping a person in mourning. Not having any close friends during this time caused me to push my anger down. This began years or depression and suicidal thoughts. An awful lot can happen when one does not deal with pain and loss. My best friend, Ramsey and I did not even talk about the loss of my Dad. However I did find one coping mechanism to further lengthen my grief. It was alcohol. My first drink was with Ramsey at her grandmother's house. It was sweet white wine from my Dad's wine seller. I had no empathic friends at this time in my life, to route for me and help me to talk about my feelings. In middle school, who really has that anyway? It seems that no one I knew talked about problems, nor supported each other except the cheerleaders! The importance of empathic friends in my life today is priceless. I would not do without the recognition of growth, warmth and affection, the reminders of strengths, and the respect of my courage and sense of determination along with

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If you have heard about or talked about the upcoming season of Survivor, couldn’t quite figure out who the Outcast on The Mole, or wondered if a contestant would stray towards infidelity on Temptation Island, then you have been infected. This infection is the latest fixation on reality television. Whether a person tunes into the shows or not, it enters into many conversation, everyday. Reality television is presented in visual culture, with non-scripted. This may as well be network’s newest break: Reality Television is not expensive and totally addictive. Reality television is a genre of television programming in which the fortunes of "real life" people as opposed to actors, or fictional characters. Although there have always been television programs that would satisfy this definition it is within the last two years that reality television has achieved its greatest success in hits such as the Survivor series, Temptation Island, Big Brother, Fear Factor and so on. There are several reasons that reality television has become popular today. The three that I will focus on are the concepts of money, instant fame, and entertainment. The first means for reality television being popular today is money. Today’s shows offer huge sums of money to people who do not necessarily possess the career skills that would make them a productive enough member of society to collect such wealth through honest work. Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, for example, offered up to a million dollars to people answering a set of questions. The questions, however, differed from related shows in that they were usually trivia oriented. Also, the audience was involved, as well as calling a friend and so on, which added to the drama aspect. The lighting, music, and editing all were contrived to produce the maximum possible suspense surrounding rather innocent pop culture subjects one might find in any game suited for children. The promise of money and the jui... Free Essays on Reality Meets America Free Essays on Reality Meets America If you have heard about or talked about the upcoming season of Survivor, couldn’t quite figure out who the Outcast on The Mole, or wondered if a contestant would stray towards infidelity on Temptation Island, then you have been infected. This infection is the latest fixation on reality television. Whether a person tunes into the shows or not, it enters into many conversation, everyday. Reality television is presented in visual culture, with non-scripted. This may as well be network’s newest break: Reality Television is not expensive and totally addictive. Reality television is a genre of television programming in which the fortunes of "real life" people as opposed to actors, or fictional characters. Although there have always been television programs that would satisfy this definition it is within the last two years that reality television has achieved its greatest success in hits such as the Survivor series, Temptation Island, Big Brother, Fear Factor and so on. There are several reasons that reality television has become popular today. The three that I will focus on are the concepts of money, instant fame, and entertainment. The first means for reality television being popular today is money. Today’s shows offer huge sums of money to people who do not necessarily possess the career skills that would make them a productive enough member of society to collect such wealth through honest work. Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, for example, offered up to a million dollars to people answering a set of questions. The questions, however, differed from related shows in that they were usually trivia oriented. Also, the audience was involved, as well as calling a friend and so on, which added to the drama aspect. The lighting, music, and editing all were contrived to produce the maximum possible suspense surrounding rather innocent pop culture subjects one might find in any game suited for children. The promise of money and the jui...