Marc Peraino
Bio
Short fiction and poetry author in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Stories (23/0)
Mastigia.
Fungi! Nebulo! Sceleris plenissimi! These are but a few Latin words that I feel best express the deep and ever-growing outrage that I, Iuno, Regina Deorum, feel for the current state of American politics and the plight of the American people. The Senate promises democracy while simultaneously disenfranchising the People by exchanging representation for money from corporations. Did I get that right? And while there are plenty of individual politicians I could read to filth, it is your bicameral system, this Democrat vs. Republican thing that you have, that I most detest. I have a special message for each party. And let me be clear from the very beginning: both of them reek like Roman toilets.
By Marc Peraino2 years ago in The Swamp
The Good Freaks
Dear Corporate Freaks of America, Are you high? I ask this in all sincerity and with the utmost respect because I simply can't wrap my head around what a shitshow the American workplace is today. After graduating from university, it didn't take long to see just how perverted corporations in America treat the workplace and their employees. I'd heard about the drudgery of minimum wage jobs, like fast-food service, and I always assumed those jobs sucked because of the work itself and the small paycheck, but I was wrong. These jobs suck because of you, Corporate America, and your belief in keeping workers at arm's length, treating them like potential threats to your security. What the hell?
By Marc Peraino2 years ago in Journal
There Is No Normal
The last few years have been like a snowball rolling down a mountainside. It started out slow, and gradually picked up speed and momentum, until it was flying down the mountain with a force I'd never felt before. This was my long-awaited moment of full and total re-integration, the culmination of years of painstaking emotional and mental work with the help of two different therapists, a psychiatrist, and my own dedicated self-work. A 14-year-long clinical depression, with a lifetime of anxiety, were coming to a close.
By Marc Peraino2 years ago in Psyche
Enough
It was when I finally said, "Enough." I was finishing my bachelor's degree and had just turned 29. After a nearly ten-year-long battle with mental health issues, I was, at last, getting on with my life, or so it seemed. I was eager to leave behind my struggles with mental illness and just live. And I'd made so much progress already. The fact that I was finishing my degree was evidence of that.
By Marc Peraino3 years ago in Motivation
Night of the Heathens
It was our senior year of high school with only a month to go before graduation. One of my closest friends at the time was a girl named Kay. We'd known each other since the fourth grade and had been friends ever since. We bonded over a similar wacky sense of humor, Super Mario games on SNES, and What Lies Beneath with Michelle Pfeiffer.
By Marc Peraino3 years ago in Confessions
Femme Fatale
"I want to live," said Florus. A moment of silence ensued as the entire class of 16-year-old boys stared at Florus from behind his seat in the front row. Florus' cheeks suddenly burned red and he felt hot beneath his collar. It was the truth though, and he didn't care that he might suffer for it. If God were to ask him what he wanted most, that's what he would say.
By Marc Peraino3 years ago in Fiction
Let's Vibe
If there's anything abundant in our American society today, I would have to say it's emotional and psychological hurt. I don't believe there's a person alive that hasn't experienced the pain that this world has to offer, but in America in particular, people are hurting. In recent months the entire world, and especially the United States, have seen immense pain and grief with the onslaught of covid-19. Lives have been upended and cases of mental health issues have skyrocketed. I've seen friends and family, people who I figured were impervious to things like anxiety, suddenly deal with mental health problems they've never experienced before. And I know what this means and what it feels like, because I've been there, and I want to tell others that healing, even from deep trauma, is real and attainable.
By Marc Peraino3 years ago in Psyche