A/TYPICAL A/MERICAN
I’m in a class—training session—learning something new. Feels like being in grade school: I have a table-mate and the instructor corrected an assignment in red pen. Over the past three days—during breaks—my neighbor has told me, entirely unprompted:
—about losing 30 pounds in the past two months.
me: oh, congrats, how’d you do that?
—exercise, diet, and….ozembic
me: avoid trans fats; get off ozembic asap
—getting mentally institutionalized—lowers voice— 51 20’d by mother
me: what’s 51 20?
—on various meds
me: watch out for those ssri’s
—sees connections between things, like about the universe, perceives things differently
me: yeah, i do that too—it’s called awareness.
—mother packing things in a plastic bag & locking front door
me: ouch
—getting punched in the face but breaking ankle
me: (?)
—then being addicted to…
me: opioids?
—(shakes head and taps nose) but praying & getting over it
—barely able to type with right hand & hardly can turn neck due to nerve pain
me: sometimes those chronic pain issues are after-effects of trauma
—actually…i was sexually assaulted.
me: as a child?
—no, just after college. i was drugged. bunch of guys dragged me into a van.
me: try myofascial release. look up john f. barnes. you can do them with a foam roller.
Keep in mind this is a man, by the way. Looks around 35, body is wrecked. On tons of different meds. Came back from bouncing a ball during the break sweating buckets. Smeared joints with Ben Gay smelling like a senior citizen after very low-impact movement.
—said it felt strange telling me all this but that he felt a lot better after.
me: oh that’s good. do you usually share so much about yourself on just meeting?
—not usually.
me: you should be careful because some people could use that information to harm you.
IN ANY CASE CAN YOU IMAGINE OUR SOCIETY IF PEOPLE DID NOT GET SEXUALLY ASSAULTED DURING YOUTH OR EVER FOR THAT MATTER AND HAD HEALTHY DIETS AND IF AWARE PEOPLE WHO CAN READ THE UNIVERSE WERE NOT PUT ON MIND NUMBING DRUGS AND/OR SHUNNED BY FAMILY?
AND THE AMOUNT OF MEN WHO HAVE BEEN SEXUALLY ASSAULTED AND ARE DEALING WITH IT ALONE & IN SILENCE MUST BE APPALLINGLY ENORMOUS.
MY GOODNESS.
—written 3/12/25
—story published with permission of said table-mate
