Josey Pickering
Bio
Autistic, non-binary, queer horror nerd with a lot to say.
Stories (251/0)
The Problem with Poor Things
I feel just as Emma Stone does now when someone reduces Poor Things to merely a movie about sex and nudity. She’s often angered by these accusations, even angered by Jimmy Kimmel’s comments on the film during the Oscars. It’s honestly made me wonder… are people not observant enough for Poor Things? Or is it that hard for them to see life from a perspective that is not their own? A blissful ignorance that makes them loathe what they don’t understand.
By Josey Pickering3 days ago in Geeks
- Runner-Up in Love Unraveled Challenge
A Neurodivergent Love StoryRunner-Up in Love Unraveled Challenge
Television and film were the lenses I saw the world though. Being autistic, and not diagnosed until the end of high school, I missed a lot of social cues. Things didn’t stick, but somehow, watching these fictional relationships on screens stuck with me. I was was deeply fixated on movies and TV. I watched Meredith Grey fight for McDreamy, Buffy fight for Angel (and then Spike). Morticia and Gomez Addams got to be morbid and madly in love. I tried so hard to do what any couples in movies and shows did. I often ignored the worst behaviors in my first significant others for hope I’d get the happy ending and cliche 80’s song playoff into the credits sort of thing. When I’d take my mask off and show that I wasn’t just some amalgamation of fictional characters but actually autistic, disaster would strike. I’ve had exes bully me for stimming, the way I moved my hands or needed a baby blanket to fall asleep. I was expected to change myself to be this stereotypical partner and yet they did not put in half the effort I was. I wanted to be like Frankenstein, begging someone to make a match for me. Being autistic made me feel like a monster sometimes anyway, like something to stare at. At least that’s how the rest of the world made me feel. I wanted a love in neon lights and billboards but felt it wasn’t going to ever be mine. A Hollywood dream love seemed so far fetched for someone like me. I kept dreaming. Kept writing up dream scenarios of someone who could love me like Chandler loved Monica.
By Josey Pickeringabout a month ago in Humans
- Top Story - February 2024
Tapioca Snow
In Los Angeles, we rarely see snow. Decades go by before a snowflake remains and winters only reach a desert cool that chills your bones but never reaches snowfall. Not the cold needed for that soft layer of flurries like a fresh shaven snow cone. I longed for those winters, not because it fit the perfect picture of an icy paradise. Under those layers of snow, perhaps I could discover lost memories of my father. The times before we moved to the sandy beaches where we built snow forts instead of snow castles. There were memories of him I had long forgotten, buried & frozen in snow.
By Josey Pickering2 months ago in Fiction
The Polaroid
I was born in a flash of light. From darkness I formed a memory, frozen in time. A moment so loved it needed to be kept and shared. I was treasured and loved, just like the moment I kept. That beloved memory was infused within me and I had to protect it. I was pinned to a cork board, looked upon day after day. It didn’t hurt at all, not any different than a pierced ear for a human. That cork board held so many hopes and dreams, and places pinned on a small map that held longed for adventures.
By Josey Pickering2 months ago in Fiction
2024 for Autistic Acceptance.
Being autistic is fundamental to who I am. It’s part of why I don’t use terminology like person with autism, because it’s not a part of me that can be pulled from me. Not even just mentally, but physically as well. My body doesn’t move like everyone else, and my brain isn’t wired like them either. I’m clumsy, walk like a duck and often move in an almost Frankenstein’s monster sort of way. Taking autism from me would make me a completely different person entirely. So why wouldn’t it be rooted in my works? Even in my fictional stories, I like to imagine at least one of my characters being neurodivergent. Write what you know, is what I’ve heard time and time again. I like to combine what I know along with the unknown, things strange and unusual. My experiences combined with the supernatural or even just daily life. I want to continue to embroider bits of my autistic identity into each written work I create.
By Josey Pickering3 months ago in Writers