J.J. Goodman: Writings, Musings and More

Okay, so, I appreciate positive thinking. I really do.   (But….)   But when I see my Facebook feed inundated with "be positive!" and "think positive!" and "don't be the damsel, be the dragon!" I want to barf big chunks of rainbow colored unicorns.   (Tell us how you really feel.)   Big. Chunks. Rainbow. Unicorns.   (Dude, that was rhetorical sarcasm.)   I know. But you also know that I have a tendency to be Captain Literal. Anyway, I get it. Be positive; think positive, positive things will happen, blah blah blah. Maybe I'm too cynical. Maybe I'm just too much a realist, but whatever the case I know for a fact that exhaling deeply isn't going to make all the ills of my day go away. The only thing accomplished by exhaling deeply is expelling a greater amount of gases from my lungs. And no amount of positive energy in the world is going to prevent that email/text phone call/political ignoranc

“There’s no such thing as a ‘dark passenger,’ you do understand that, right?” “What makes you so sure?” “Ok, first thing, Dexter isn’t real; it’s fantasy. Dexter’s dark passenger is a made up notion from a made up television program. It’s a story-telling vehicle. It’s fiction.” “All fiction is based in reality.” “Really? Even science fiction?” “Of course.” “What makes you say that?” “When it all boils down, all fiction is about people. Relationships. It doesn’t matter where it’s set, whether on earth or in space, romantic comedy, drama, space opera, it’s all the same; every single story deals with the same concept of good versus bad. Good versus evil. It may not be a battle between people, it can be a conflict with inner demons. The ‘Dark Side’ from Star Wars , Dexter’s ‘dark passenger,’ Mr. Hyde, you name it. There’s a dark side to everyone, and we each struggle with it every day.” “So what are you struggling with? Why do you think you have a dark p

So, I've been a little pensive lately.   (Oh sweet cripes, here we go….)   You be quiet. When I get pensive I often come up with some pretty entertaining stuff, and you read every word. It's kind of our thing.   (Touch é , pussycat. Carry on.)   As I was saying, I've been a little pensive lately, about a great many things. Some things confound me, some confuse me. Others astound and amuse me, while still others irritate and anger me. I suppose we all experience these sensations when we view the world around us, but few of us voice our feelings on the subject matter. I do, mainly because I can, and because I generally don't care if people think that my doing so on these pages makes me just another narcissistic, postulating blogger.   The greatest compliment I've received from a reader came in the form of a thank you, in which the reader thanked me for writing the words that the reader thought, but couldn't express. As long as th