The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: aggression

  • Age Hath Its Privileges

    Many years ago, I was standing with my niece and nephew in their Missouri kitchen. As we talked, I got the orange juice out of the refrigerator to pour myself a glass. Just then my brother-in-law walked in and snapped, “Who left the refrigerator door open???” The tension level in that room was palpable. My…

  • Aggression is the New Regression

    In the near future, when the leader of the free world is going to be someone who publicly declares “I’d like to punch him in the face,” and also condones waterboarding and other war crimes, can an uptick in violence be far behind? There is a thin veil between humanity and aggression. That veil is…

  • Whoa, Star Trek is Violent. Who Knew?

    So, I’ve been binge watching Star Trek: Enterprise on Hulu. It’s been a delightful dance down memory lane. A lot like visiting much-loved family after a long absence. Despite having the most irritating theme song of all the Star Trek series, it’s one of my favorites. You have to understand, I grew up with Star…

  • Have I Been Torturing My Dog?

    A friend of mine told me about this article on the Mother Nature Network about why dogs don’t like to be hugged. Basically, many of them see this as a form of aggression, and it makes them nervous. It does go on to say, though, that not all dogs are alike. But it gives you…

  • Tickling

    I don’t like to be tickled. That should be all I have to say on the subject. But unfortunately there’s this weird tickling dynamic out there. Some people actually think that there’s some get out of jail free card for tickling. It’s as if this form of space invasion is somehow more acceptable than any…

  • Bullies

    There’s nothing I hate more on this earth than a bully. And I happen to interact with one regularly. Her aggression really intimidated me at first. But over time when she realized I wasn’t going to budge about certain things, she then had to get increasingly nit-picky until now the things that she blows up…

  • Personal Space

    People want to touch my hair all the time. It’s freakishly thick, and at various times in my life it has been quite long. I wouldn’t mind so much if they asked first. But no. They just dive right in there. It feels like a violation. And one time when I was in 7th grade,…

  • Forcing the Issue

    As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog entry, I got a chance to see Bernie Sanders speak here in Seattle on Saturday night. It went really well. At 15,000 attendants, it was his largest crowd to date, and about 3 times larger than Hillary Clinton’s largest gathering. But earlier in the day, he attempted to speak…

  • The Crow from Hell

    I used to think crows were pretty cool. They are confident. They know what they want, and they get it. And they’re smart. Scientists have discovered that crows can recognize individual human faces. I could have told them that. I was once stalked by a crow. One day, after a long, particularly horrible graveyard shift…

  • Learning your Lessons

    Every one of us has certain lessons to learn throughout his or her life. Some lessons we are doomed to repeat over and over again. Other lessons impact us on such fundamental levels that it only takes one time to get the message. It doesn’t always feel very good when we get schooled, but like…