Eileen Davis
Bio
Wannabe linguist. Wannabe novelist. Blogger. Poet. Avid reader. Boy mom. Have bipolar 2. Experience bisexual attraction. Love America. Love China. English language BA from BYU.
Stories (53/0)
Three Ways to Brighten this Holiday Season
In December 2020, some dubbed the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the night sky as the “Christmas star” this holiday season. During 2020, we sought meaning from celestial events just as the ancients did. We want the heavens to provide answers for us today. As we seek answers from the heavens, we can also seek answers within to brighten this holiday season. We just need to be more creative during the pandemic.
By Eileen Davisabout a year ago in Lifehack
How the Grinch Stole Thanksgiving
Music Schpiel I really think the Grinch stole Thanksgiving and replaced it with Halloween hoopla and early Christmas decorating. Of course, I may be a grinch because I am annoyed with the blaring Christmas music on the radio. It starts November 1 and goes until New Year's. I can't find pop, soft rock, or rock-n-roll on any station. Only the rowdy "Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer" and "Here Comes Santa Claus". Probably the music, in general, turns me off, which is why I prefer only five weeks. We miss out on grateful songs like "For the Beauty of the Earth" or "Thankful" by Kelly Clarkson. Then maybe we can move into the more mellow spirituals, like Amy Grant's 1992 Christmas album, mixed with the rowdy songs after Black Friday.
By Eileen Davisabout a year ago in Motivation
A Discussion on Gender Terminology and Language Change
Representative Emanuel Cleaver II opened the 117th Congress session with a controversial end to his prayer: “amen and a woman.” Cleaver meant it as a pun to illustrate the current high number of female members of Congress. His intent seemed good, though his timing seemed sacrilegious and inappropriate to some.
By Eileen Davisabout a year ago in The Swamp
Fowl Language
Dew droplets on the highest branches shimmered in the rising sun, which soon evaporated into swirls of steam. As the western wind swept up the sand, the steam and wind circled in lazy funnels, disturbing nesting macaws and parrots. One pair of scarlet macaws, Indigo and Crimson, batted their eyelids against the sand.
By Eileen Davisabout a year ago in Fiction
Floating Lanterns over the Great Salt Lake
As brine flies picked blue-green algae from Jenna’s toes, she floated on the Great Salt Lake. She kicked away the algae and it slid from her toes. The movement propelled her backward into a flock of seagulls, who cawed and flew away, except one seagull still pecking for brine flies.
By Eileen Davisabout a year ago in Fiction
Some PTSD Sufferers Experience the Anniversary Effect
Several family members and my friends have served during the War on Terror. I've seen them return with severe PTSD to mild PTSD. The severity seemed linked to how much combat they experienced. I never thought of regular citizens having PTSD too until the #metoo movement when sexual assault survivors spoke about their trauma. I didn't think that I had trauma too, but I realized I had adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), which most of us probably have.
By Eileen Davisabout a year ago in Psyche
Hackneyed Phrases: Common Sense and Professionalism
Humans are a funny species. As far as we know, we are the only species that construct abstract ideas. With this abstraction, some words and ideas become very subjective. We can’t concretely picture them or hold them. We just ruminate over the impossible.
By Eileen Davisabout a year ago in Humans
Anger as a Secondary Emotion to Fear
For our family night in 2020, my husband, boys, and I were ordering snow cones on Main Street when my youngest son darted into the street. Time froze. I could only yell, “Damn you, kid.” My husband rushed into the street and grabbed our son. Our son squirmed in my husband’s arms for the next half-hour while we ate our snow cones.
By Eileen Davisabout a year ago in Humans
Glass Shards
When I was 10 years old, I stepped on a broken beer bottle at a local reservoir. I bled from the semi-circle wound in my foot. My mom took me to the clinic where the doctor put in stitches. Someone’s addiction to alcohol (and littering) caused my injury. But there was also a way to heal that injury.
By Eileen Davisabout a year ago in Poets
Voting Responsibly Improves Our Nation
The 2020 Presidential election yielded so much chaos partially because the last 21 years of elections are often split almost 50/50. Only local elections take place this year, but those are the elections that affect us the most. The US Congress and Senate races start next year. We can have a greater say by voting in our state primaries too.
By Eileen Davisabout a year ago in The Swamp
Eliza Doolittle Walks Like an Egyptian to Ring the Ghostbusters
Who doesn't love costumes, candy (except candy corn), trick-or-treating, and silly parties for Halloween? No one thinks you're weird when you dress like a superhero, ghost, or princess and then threaten pranks to con neighbors out of candy. Halloween is so awesome; we can twist with glee to songs like these:
By Eileen Davisabout a year ago in Beat
