There’s an incontrovertible truth about growing up autistic, especially as a woman who wasn’t diagnosed until the age of 50: We mask ourselves. From an early age, we learn to pretend to understand what’s going on around us. To prevent being left out, we fake understanding social cues, when in reality we can be deeply…
Okay. First off, this post was delayed by a nasty, three-day vestibular migraine. I apologize for not getting this out sooner. But, that obstacle plays into the very theme of this newsletter (or publication, or whatever you want to call it), because just like thick cloud cover or Starlink satellites streaking through the image of…
Here’s one of the things about long-standing chronic pain: it makes me feel a lot less smart than I used to be. Absorbing information takes longer, with more exposures and iterations required. When I’m reading dense material, I have to go over the same paragraph — sometimes even the same sentence or phrase — over…
I had planned a new Starbright piece today about Moon Joy and the spaceship Integrity. But I’m not sure how to write or post about joy and amazement when this doomsday clock is ticking down. Still, I feel compelled to try to capture, in my small way, the excitement and uplift that the ongoing Artemis…
When I was in grade school, my grandmother gave me a collection of worry dolls. They were tiny little things, maybe half the length of my pinky finger, and it felt like they were made of sticks and strips of cloth. But each was distinct from the others who shared a small box, and I…
I went out to Stub Stewart State Park on Saturday night for a Messier object marathon, something I’d never attempted before. That was the idea, anyway, until I realized there’s just no way for me to view/capture all 110 Messier objects in a single night with my little Dwarf 3. Even with a timed schedule,…
There are days when I just cannot. Sometimes, this is due solely, or mostly, to pathological demand avoidance (PDA), or what I like to call “just can’t even,” aka JCE. Even my therapist has taken to referring to JCE instead of PDA, which is a comforting delight. More often — especially lately — I am…
