Paolo & Francesca from Dante’s Inferno: depictions of the lovers reading a dirty book and falling victim to temptation, shortly before being murdered and subsequently finding themselves damned for, you know. Kissing.
If you want to see them writhing together, borne aloft on the winds of Hell, forever intertwined, well, that’s another Google image search.
Lost Fairy Tales by Tom Gauld.
I feel that this accurately represents the current state of affairs. Mr. Gauld is one of my favorites, and I think he’s very deftly filled the gap in illustrative absurdity that Edward Gorey left behind him.
Hello, gang.
It’s a rough time for us here in the Northern hemisphere of developed world; we’re all accustomed to a smoother time than this, aren’t we? The economic woes and the wars and the darkness and the general feeling of societal dis-ease and distrust.
If you are a person (like many of us) who already deals with depression or other mental distress, or who has experienced specific pain and turbulence of late, no doubt those effects have only been underlined. I myself have been swamped with grief and miasmic anxiety this past month.
In the last month, two members of my family have committed suicide (one indirectly, by way of longterm self-neglect and substance abuse; one very intentionally, after a long struggle with suicidal depression). Two other acquaintances, people with active roles in their communities and a creative outlook on life, have also recently killed themselves.
Please, my dears.
If you’re struggling, if you are in pain, if the normal palliatives of family and friends and work and all those things we’re supposed to do to “cheer up” have failed you: please, please please, please, seek help.
Whether that is calling a crisis line, seeking professional help (even if you’re uninsured and broke, it does exist), scheduling a check-in routine with somebody you trust, revamping an old medication, lightbox, or exercise regimen, talking to a spiritual adviser, going running with a friend, anything that counts as telling another person what is going on and asking for help in taking action: please do it.
The world does need you. Please do whatever it takes to keep you present and whole.
Find a social worker near you.
Call the national suicide prevention hotline to talk to somebody near you.
Search for health clinics near you, including free and low-cost.
GLBT-friendly therapists, spiritual support, and other resources.
