30 Days of Haiga 2017: Day 18: Autumn Approach

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Words and text manipulation:
The Real Cie

30 Days of Haiga 2017: Day 17: Signature

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Copyright: vicdd / 123RF Stock Photo
Words and Text Manipulation by The Real Cie
For Gem with all my love

30 Days of Haiga 2017: Day 16: Crushed to Dust

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Verse by Gem Moondreamer and The Real Cie

Text manipulation by The Real Cie

30 Days of Haiga 2017: Day 15: The Harvest

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Copyright: waltkopp / 123RF Stock Photo
Verse by Cie, Gem, and Opal
Text manipulation by The Real Cie

30 Days of Haiga: Day 14: Lament for My Flag

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Copyright: milena1234 / 123RF Stock Photo

Fighter planes image (upper left corner) source NPR News

Racist graffiti image source: Olean Times Herald

Misogynist quote source: Donald Trump

Notes:

I like to think the piece speaks for itself, but I will include a little personal history. 

When I was a young child in my early school years, I was very proud when it came time to say the Pledge of Allegiance. I sprang to my large and far from dainty feet, puffed out my scrawny chest, put my hand over my stalwart young heart, and spoke those hallowed words in my biggest voice. 

I was born in 1965. I didn't go to Kindergarten. Many years later I had a nightmare that Ronald Reagan ordered me to go back to school starting with Kindergarten. Initially, I attempted to comply, but then I realized that there was no legally binding reason for me to do this and I said "I quit," and walked out of the classroom to the sound of Mr. Reagan's voice berating me as a loser.

From first through third grade, the Viet Nam war was still taking place. I believed that the United States would eventually see that the war was a bad idea and would end it, so I said the Pledge proudly because I believed that my fine country would eventually do the right thing because we were the Good Guys.

During the next several years, the country was healing from the aftereffects of the Viet Nam War. I believed that we were headed in the right direction, and I thought that Jimmy Carter was a fine president and would continue to take us that way.

The Reagan era began when I was fifteen years old and I came to believe that we were all doomed to either eat flaming death in a nuclear holocaust or freeze to death in the nuclear winter which would follow. The Pledge of Allegiance lost its former wondrous appeal to me, but I still said it because I felt it was my duty as a patriot to try and believe in my country.

As my son says, the United States is still one of the best countries to live in, but we have a lot of problems. The election of Donald Trump brought a plethora of pathology boiling to the surface. 

We are not post-racist or post-misogynist and we are severely intolerant of anyone who isn't a God-fearing American "Christian." I put Christian in quotes because I don't think the behavior of those who subscribe to the ideals of American religious fundamentalists is Christ-like in any way. There is a frightening new wave of nationalism, and free speech is under fire. There is normalization of bigotry and intolerance.

This is not the America that young me believed in when she put her hand over her heart to proudly say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning at school and even at home in her bedroom on Saturday and Sunday because she thought it was the right thing to do.

This America brings tears to the eyes of middle-aged, working class me as I write these words. I despair for the loss of innocence in the heart of the child I once was and fear for the future of who I have become, for those I love, and for my fellow citizens of this world.

~The Real Cie~

As real as it gets

30 Days of Haiga 2017: Day 13: Forgotten Song

Model: Malcolm Young

Photographer: Unknown

Text Manipulation: The Real Cie

30 Days of Haiga 2017: Day 12: No Escape

The background is a photograph of a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Text manipulation was created by The Real Cie using Photoshop. 

This image was inspired by the plot of Team Netherworld's WIP novel, Fetch. The story hasn't been progressing very much of late, so the image is also a reminder not to give up, to allow ourselves to continue to be caught up in the pull of this magical tale, to be drawn back in and let it take us for a ride.

~Cie~

30 Days of Haiga 2017: Day 11: End of Story

Background Image Copyright: tomertu / 123RF Stock Photo

Text manipulation by The Real Cie

Notes:

Without going into too much detail, which would detract from the viewing of the image, I have had a difficult year. I have changed jobs six times and eventually ended up changing careers entirely. 

There are aspects of my current job which I really appreciate, but it is not an easy job and I do not make as much money as I did in my previous profession, which there are several reasons I can't go back to, the biggest one being changes in my diabetes which lead to fatigue and weakness if I don't pace myself.

I feel like I have lost the things that made me who I am: my imagination and my ability to enter other worlds astrally and psychically. My heart is heavy and I feel broken. I feel that I am constantly being punished and that there is no need for external hells when all the hell I need is here in the loss of that which made me who I am.

Cross-posted to:

Crazy Creatives Cheerleading Camp

Dark Hearts Love Too

Dream About Me Sweet Brother

Encyclopedia Netherworld

Esoteric Escape

Fetch

Netherworld Writer's Guild

One Love

Starry Demons

Strands of Eternity

30 Days of Haiga 2017: Day 10: Grandmother

Background image:

Copyright: halfpoint / 123RF Stock Photo

Verse and text manipulation by The Real Cie

Note:

While some might interpret this Haiga as a lament, it is merely a statement of fact.

30 Days of Haiga 2017: Day 9: Chrysanthemum

Background image Copyright: artant / 123RF Stock Photo

Text manipulation by The Real Cie 

Verse by The Real Cie and Opal Zushaquon

Cross-posted to:
poetryofthenetherworld.blogspot.com
starrydemons.tumblr.com

30 Days of Haiga 2017: Day 8: Little Lost Loves

Photoshop manipulation by The Real Cie

Click to enlarge

Notes:

Lafayette was born July 17, 2009, according to the Adams County Animal Shelter, which is where I adopted him from in March of 2010. He was eight months old when I adopted him and had spent all but one month of his life in a kennel at the shelter. 

He was initially terrified and for the first week he lived with me, he hid under the printer table and slipped out at night to attack my hand while I was sleeping. He wasn't being aggressive, he was a big kitten who hadn't been properly socialized. The vet trimmed his claws and I taught him to play with soft paws. My arm and hand were no longer shredded after the first week.

I lost Lafayette on his sixth birthday, July 17, 2015. He was in chronic kidney failure which had been going on for some time but I wasn't aware of it until he started losing weight. I thought he might be having trouble eating because his feline stomatitis had returned and his remaining teeth would have to be removed. I wish that had been the case. It was one of the worst days of my life. I have never gotten over it.

Trinity was a dump-off. I'm not sure of her exact age, but she was less than a year old when she wandered up to my porch, crying, in the summer of 2006. I thought she was pregnant. Evidently, her asshole former owners did too as they left her behind when they moved. It turned out she was a cat who had false pregnancies when she went into heat. After she was spayed, the problem was solved. 

When I took her to the vet to be spayed, she was terrified and leaped up onto the window screen. After I brought her home, she was furious with me and gave me dirty looks for a week afterward. Normally she was a very affectionate cat. Luckily she eventually forgave me. 

I lost Trinity on November 9, 2016. She had brain and lung cancer. She was a big girl who suddenly lost a great deal of weight within the space of a month and she started staggering when she walked. Sometimes she would take deep, sighing breaths. Scans revealed that she had a lot of fluid in her lungs. My son and I knew that it would be for the best to let her go.

I don't think I will ever have any more cats after the ones I still have pass from this world. It's too heartbreaking. I plan to get rid of a lot of things and move to a much smaller place. I don't see a bright future for myself. If it weren't for my connection to my son and my obligation to my remaining cats, I would already have taken the exit option.

For the love of anything that might be holy, don't cheapen my pain by telling me to "seek counseling" or "get on meds." Having lived with the roller coaster of type 2 bipolar disorder since I hit puberty but not being properly diagnosed until I was nearly 40, having had a life that is far from a fairy tale dream, and having left youth and innocence in the dust many, many years ago, I most certainly know about the existence of those things. Lithium helps a little bit, nothing else really does. 

If you know of a counselor who has an open-minded, esoteric approach to things and whose services don't cost an arm and a leg, I might consider employing zir. Otherwise, I will just keep walking down this rocky road, wondering where my life is leading, rolling on to the bitter end until I can be reunited with my friends again.

~Cie~

30 Days of Haiga 2017: Day 7: My Muse

Photoshop manipulation by The Real Cie

30 Days of Haiga 2017: Day 6: The Hurricanes of '17

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Notes:

The photographer of the original image is unknown. I did a Google image search to attempt to find the person who should be credited. The image is actually of three Pacific hurricanes in 2005. It was found in the Wikimedia Commons but the original uploader could find no-one to credit either.
The text manipulation is mine.
The image was created for the 2017 30 Days of Haiga prompt, which can be found at 19planets.wordpress.com
This image is available as a print and can be purchased on my Deviant Art page. Any proceeds made from the sale of this image will be used to help the victims of the devastating hurricanes which occurred in 2017. No profit will be made from the sale of this image.
I have said before that the creation of these Haigas has a meditative quality. With this one, I was initially inspired to want to throw my computer out the window. I normally work with much smaller images and found this one frustrating to deal with at first.

30 Days of Haiga 2017: Day 5: Harvest Wheat

Original image copyright Konstanttin at 123rf.com

Text created by The Real Cie

Notes:

Although we are on day 9 of 30 Days of Haiga, I am only on Day 5. I might be able to create two on some days, but then again, I may be playing catch up in October for the days I missed. These have a certain meditative quality which is a counterpoint to my tremendously stressful life. I refuse to turn them into some sort of horrible homework. 

My problem with competitions such as NaNoWriMo (which, don't get me wrong, I fully support) is that for me it turns writing into Horrible Homework. My life tends to be one day after another of chores and work and never feeling like I can rest. I won't do that with my writing.

30 Days of Haiga 2017: Day 4: Harvests of Home

Copyright: ehaurylik / 123RF Stock Photo

Notes:

I used a free online program called Pixir to create this Haiga. It's a pretty nice program, although it lacks some of the nuances of Photoshop, which is installed on my home computer. I had a bit of frustration with the middle line of text. Still, access to this program should help me catch up on my Haigas during the days when I'm not able to be home.

I was born in Colorado. My family moved around a fair bit while my father was getting his doctorate. We returned here when I was ten and I've been here ever since. I used to have dreams of going to Hollywood. I know, trite and predictable. My son says that Colorado is the only place he wants to live.

30 Days of Haiga 2017: Day 3: Naming the Dog

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Notes:

The prompt was naming the dog

This was the first thing that came to mind

How could I resist creating something that was so much fun?

Fun and creating are two things that have been in short supply this year.

30 Days of Haiga 2017: Day 2: Classical to Rock

Photoshop Creation by The Real Cie

Cross-Posted to:
Dark Hearts Love Too
Starry Demons

30 Days of Haiga 2017: Day 1: For Lafayette

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Click to join the 30 Days of Haiga challenge