Meadow Leight-Bell
Bio
Meadow Leight-Bell has a BA in English from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She writes from Lawrence, Kansas, with her trusty shepkita, Crash.
Cover Photo by Free Steph on Unsplash
Twitter: @twitz_end
Stories (12/0)
Instability is inevitable
Suffering is a common word within Buddhism. To the Buddhist, to suffer means to endure instability and uncertainty. Buddhists learn to accept that nothing ever remains the same. Since most of us can admit there is no shortage of uncertainty going around in our lives during these pandemic times, it could be helpful and even useful to consider Buddhism. The Middle Way, or Buddhism, is not about an omniscient god or gods. It is about the teaching of a natural yet extraordinary man.
By Meadow Leight-Bell3 years ago in Futurism
Lunch with a pornographer
At the height of the housing crisis, we short sold our Tennessee home. My husband's career with a well-known drive-in restaurant chain was tanking, so he took his buy-out from them and went to work for another fast-food giant in a different capacity. The new job took us to Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. There, my husband, Brett, managed five twenty-four-hour burger joints.
By Meadow Leight-Bell3 years ago in Filthy
Insubordination
"Don't ever turn the dryer timer counterclockwise," the repairman told me. He will have to get a part and come back in a couple of days. Meanwhile, I will be without a working dryer. Admittedly, I must have known not to turn electronic dials backward. My dad is an electrician, after all. But, somewhere along the way, I fell into the habit of taking a short cut.
By Meadow Leight-Bell4 years ago in Journal
Bluet
Late in my first semester of college, my roommate, Hannah, announced she would go home that upcoming weekend. By this time, the men in my life irritated her last nerve, and her obsessive-compulsive need for cleanliness and habit of leaving passive-aggressive sticky notes around the apartment drove me batty. She couldn't study if I clicked my ink pen while reading in the next room, and she had to put the wall clocks facedown to stop their ticking when she was trying to concentrate. We decided to make it through the rest of the school year together and then find more compatible roommates.
By Meadow Leight-Bell4 years ago in Humans
Bluet
Presley's Back I walked back to my place across the parking lot to see if Hannah and Rowan were around even though neither of them had tried to call me at Nick's like I'd asked them to when he and I left the campus party together. It was so late that I was sure they must be back home. When I reached our building, I saw that Matt's door was cracked open. Through it, I heard Hannah, Rowan, Mona, Lola, and a bunch of guys, including Presley, who asked, "Where did you say Bluet was?" Hannah told him, "Oh, she's with her new beau across the parking lot. There's no way she's coming home tonight." I pushed the door open and asked Hannah for her keys. I then asked her and Rowan, "Why didn't y'all call me?"
By Meadow Leight-Bell4 years ago in Humans
So Goes the End of Everything
Earth is succumbing to famine due to blight and drought resulting from climate change, the depletion of resources, and overpopulation. A global pandemic is wiping out less-developed nations. In the United States, the vulnerable poor, working poor, and lower middle class, especially the elderly, are dying from a lack of access to affordable, quality healthcare. Amidst all of this, political conservatives, convinced they are living in the end-times, are stunned when members of a cult that worships the late author, Kurt Vonnegut, vanish without a trace.
By Meadow Leight-Bell4 years ago in Futurism
Nick
The women’s soccer team threw an end-of-semester bash in December of 1990, and someone invited those of us in the Scholars Program. When my roommate, Hannah, and I stepped into the party with our Scholars friends Rowan and Josh, I immediately spotted Robby across the crowded common area. Our eyes met, and I observed a familiar, petite soccer chick on his arm. He had been dating her when I met him back in late August. Clearly, he had chosen to spend his last night in town with her instead of me. I had wondered why I hadn’t heard from him yet that day. Crushed, I turned to leave the party when Nick touched my shoulder.
By Meadow Leight-Bell4 years ago in Humans
Ennui
Ennui, curiosity, and a yearning for inspiration to write compelled me to investigate a dark web site for cheating spouses. There, I stumbled upon private messages from user redchevelle71. In Franklin, Tennessee, redchevelle71 seemed safely distant enough from Mobile for correspondence via email.
By Meadow Leight-Bell4 years ago in Humans
Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind: Contact Has Begun
Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind: Contact Has Begun is a new documentary available on digital platforms as of April 7, 2020 through 1091 Media. Written and directed by Michael Mazzola (On Dragon’s Wings 2012, Unacknowledged 2017), the documentary is presented by retired American physician Steven Macon Greer, founder of the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI) and the Disclosure Project, which seeks allegedly classified UFO information. In the film, Dr. Greer invites anyone willing, from any of the many walks of life, to experience transcendent states of consciousness in union with intelligent alien lifeforms. The documentary further indicates it is up to individuals to join the great journey our civilization is embarking on to become interstellar.
By Meadow Leight-Bell4 years ago in Futurism
CE-5
I'm a ufologist—I study reports, any kind of footage, physical evidence, and any possible phenomena, like crop circles and abductions, possibly related to unidentified flying objects, or UFOs. Those in academia consider ufology a pseudoscience, even a joke. However, the right discovery by someone like me could one day change all of that. A ufologist could someday solve one or maybe even all the mysteries of the universe. Meanwhile, I can use unconventional methods because science rejects what I do, anyway. In some ways, the rejection frees ufologists to be more open-minded.
By Meadow Leight-Bell4 years ago in Futurism