Conniving Bastard

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Steve wanted Ken’s job, and it would be easy enough to discredit him.  Steve has always been self-absorbed, and he is only out for his own interests.  He is such an unscrupulous guy that he would stick a knife in your back if he thought it was in his best interest and he would not think twice about twisting it once it is in.  Steve was driven by ambition, but he lacked the talent and the necessary work ethic to achieve anything on his own merit.  Steve felt threatened by Ken’s competence, intelligence, and leadership skills, so he tried to harm Ken’s reputation to level the playing field.  Envy along with the fear of being surpassed or replaced often leads to sabotage, which is detrimental as this is the deliberate act of weakening or destroying another person’s efforts, property, or ruining their chances of success.  When individuals perceive others as possessing something they desire, such as a corner office with a plaque on the door instead of a cubicle with a nameplate, the resulting envy can transform into destructive action.  Steve believed that Ken’s success diminished his possibilities and that self-centered, arrogant attitude made him a manipulative scheming person that tried to deceive others for his own advantage.

Some people will never be pleased as they are dissatisfied with their jobs and their lives, as they have unrealistic expectations, because they focus on what is missing rather than what is present.  Steve expected his career to provide total personal fulfillment and permanent contentment rather than viewing it as just being one part of his life.  Chronic dissatisfaction made Steve want to chase the next goal or possession, expecting it to fix things.  Steve had a better job before he took this one, but his company downsized and he took this position, which he felt was beneath him and working here made him feel like he was in a cage.  The one thing Steve had going for him was that he was a patient man and he was going to make a deliberate and concerted effort to spread false information, distribute malicious rumors, and basically do anything to make Ken look like a horrible person.  Individuals with less authority often target those in higher positions, to lessen their credibility, derail or devalue their work to purposely make their job harder.  Steve took every opportunity to hide vital information from Ken, so he would be left stumbling and unable to do his job.

Steve’s campaign began quietly starting out with small stuff like a misplaced file here, and a delayed email there, nothing that could be traced back to him, but enough to make Ken look careless.  Steve was a master of character assassination, and he was willing to do sinister acts to destroy Ken’s credibility by twisting his words, so they meant something entirely different from what he actually said.  He made it his mission to secretly spread unverified stories and gossip, while constantly launching harsh personal attacks to distract from facts and make Ken look untrustworthy.  It was a slow erosion, accidentally mishandling tasks that needed to be done, which caused Ken to miss important deadlines, making him appear disorganized.  Ken asked Steve to help him with the department budget presentation that he had to make to upper management, and Steve altered data on it to make the department look more inefficient than it was.  The board began questioning Ken’s grasp on the department’s budget projections.  Since Steve worked on the report, he was asked to attend the meeting, where he pointed out the mistake, and framed it as an oversight by Ken.  Steve had won, but as he looked at the empty office that Ken occupied, he realized the victory felt hollow, as he had the job he wanted, but he knew he didn’t deserve it.  Steve thought about that Biblical quote, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his soul in the process.”

Written for Fandango’s Story Starter #267.

Surveillance Camera

This minimalist, atmospheric photograph shows a camera that is angled significantly downward rather than straight out toward a horizon.  This setup is typically used to monitor a specific doorway, loading dock, alley pathway, or parking spot directly alongside the building.  It is positioned relatively low on the wall, mounted right above a utility junction box, which suggests its purpose is localized security maybe used for capturing faces of people approaching the wall or preventing tampering with the utility equipment rather than being for wide-area surveillance.  Nothing appears to be happening in this photo, besides a power line running horizontally across a teal-green brick wall to an electrical box where a video camera is mounted, making it difficult for me to develop a story.  Cameras are patient devices and they don’t mind staring at nothing for hours or days.  The camera will remain waiting and watching with its lens fixed to see that one moment frozen in time where something finally happens and the stillness gives way to action.

Security cameras assist law enforcement in solving crimes by providing reliable, objective evidence of what took place.  Visible surveillance cameras act as a psychological deterrent that encourages people to follow rules and remain honest by raising the perceived risk of getting caught.  When individuals believe they are being watched, they naturally alter their conduct to align with social norms and avoid penalties.  Potential wrongdoers weigh the risks, and visible lenses shift that mental math toward inaction, reducing opportunistic crimes like theft and vandalism. Even the illusion of monitoring like installing an inactive security device can temporarily change behavior and prompt more honest actions.

Most people do not enjoy being watched by surveillance cameras, though reactions range from mild normalization to active anxiety and discomfort. Many individuals will experience stress or self-consciousness when they know that they are being monitored, feeling it restricts their ability to relax or act naturally.  Some people accept or appreciate visible cameras in specific public areas (like parking garages or transit stations) because they believe the devices deter crime and offer reassurance that they are safe. Research indicates that people often grow accustomed to routine monitoring in public spaces over time, reducing their immediate conscious awareness of the cameras.  Studies suggest that constant surveillance can subtly influence unconscious brain processes, sometimes altering behavior, cognition, or concentration levels.  Constant observation can create an atmosphere of suspicion, causing a Big Brother atmosphere where people who are not doing anything wrong will change how they act and speak.  Pervasive monitoring builds chronic anxiety, tension, and a diminished sense of personal privacy and individual liberty.

Written for Melissa’s Flash Fiction Challenge #397.

The Castle Gate Robbery

Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch were a famous group of train and bank robbers in the American Old West led by Robert LeRoy Parker, known as Butch Cassidy.  Robert left his family home in Circleville, Utah during his early teens and went to work on a dairy farm, where he formed a close relationship with a cowboy and known cattle rustler who called himself Mike Cassidy (an alias for John Tolliver “J.T.” McClammy).  Later, Parker worked on several ranches and was briefly employed by a butcher in Rock Springs, Wyoming, where he acquired the nickname “Butch.”  Later, he borrowed his friend’s last name and began going by the name Butch Cassidy.  In 1894, Cassidy was arrested in Lander, Wyoming, for stealing horses. He was sentenced to two years in the Wyoming State Prison in Laramie, but he was released after 18 months.  Upon his full release in 1896, Cassidy resumed his life as a criminal.

Butch Cassidy formed the Wild Bunch by gathering a loose network of outlaw friends and criminal associates following his release from prison.  After serving time, Cassidy returned to a life of crime more organized than before.  He reunited with his close friend William Ellsworth “Elzy” Lay and pulled together a shifting group of experienced bank and train robbers.  Cassidy recruited prominent figures like Harry Longabaugh (the Sundance Kid), Harvey “Kid Curry” Logan, Ben “Tall Texan” Kilpatrick, Will “News” Carver, and George “Flat Nose” Curry.  Originally evolving out of the looser “Hole-in-the-Wall Gang” in Wyoming, the core group adopted the moniker “Wild Bunch” after the notorious Doolin–Dalton gang, who were also known by that name.  Cassidy utilized remote, natural fortresses connected by the Outlaw Trail like the Hole-in-the-Wall (Wyoming), Brown’s Hole (Colorado/Utah), and Robbers’ Roost (Utah) where the outlaws could rest and plan without interference.  The gang often shared heist money with poor frontier locals and traded with ranchers for fresh horses, building a network of community protection that kept them safe from any posses that might be chasing after them.

On April 21, 1897, Butch Cassidy and Elzy Lay stole roughly $7,000 to $8,000 in gold and silver during the daylight payroll robbery at Castle Gate a historic coal-mining company town and railroad station in Carbon County, Utah.  Cassidy and Lay waited outside of the main building of the Pleasant Valley Coal Company beneath the stairs that led up into a higher entrance of the building.  The outlaws soon confronted Paymaster E.L. Carpenter and another employee, ordering the workers to “Drop them sacks and hold up your hands.”  Once the money had been handed over, they cut telegraph lines during their flight to delay the local posse.  They fled toward Robbers’ Roost, a remote canyon stronghold in southeastern Utah.  The stolen payroll was never recovered, spawning enduring local legends that the gold remains hidden in the rugged canyons near Robbers’ Roost.

On November 7, 1908, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were supposedly killed in the small mining town of San Vicente, Bolivia, but no one identified them when they were buried, and there are no photographs of their bodies.  In the movie Butch Casidy and the Sundance Kid ended their lives in a sensational manner being caught in a hail of bullets from a shootout with the Bolivian army, but some accounts have them escaping to Mexico City before continuing on to the United States.

The image above shows a person holding a duffel bag standing next to a rustic log cabin with the Teton Range in the background, which is a 40-mile-long mountain range in northwestern Wyoming, located just south of Yellowstone National Park and rising sharply above the Jackson Hole valley and there are stories about Butch Cassidy going to the Teton Range.  While his most famous outlaw hideouts were located further east and south in Wyoming (like the Hole-in-the-Wall and Brown’s Park originally called Brown’s Hole), historical accounts place him right next to the peaks later in life.  According to letters and historical research preserved by local organizations like the Jackson Hole Historical Society & Museum, Cassidy survived his legendary 1908 shootout in Bolivia and eventually slipped back into the United States.  In 1929, traveling under an alias, he reportedly drove a Model A Ford over Teton Pass and straight into Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  During this trip, he stayed at the ranch of his old Wild Bunch associate, Bert Charter who previously provided fresh get-away horses at predetermined locations to help the gang outrun a local posse.  Riding fresh mounts, the gang could easily outdistance a posse who had to depend on just one string of horses.  This ranch sat directly east of the snow-covered peaks, and Cassidy spent his visit looking right at the iconic Teton Range.  My guess is this is where he hid the money from the Castle Gate robbery and it was not in the rugged canyons near Robbers’ Roost.  Local lore suggests the purpose of this post-career road trip was to track down a cache of gold the gang had buried decades earlier.

In 1897, the official price of gold in the United States was legally fixed at $20.67 per troy ounce.  By dividing this $7,500 by $20.67 means that the thieves would have stolen 362.84 troy ounces of pure gold.  Going with the spot price of gold trading today being around $4,160.40 per ounce and multiplying those ounces by today’s price brings the total commodity value to $1,509,579.  The person holding a duffel bag standing next to a rustic log cabin is looking for the missing gold and silver that Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch stashed away from the Castle Gate Robbery.

Written for Sadje at Keep It Alive What Do You See #361.

A Look That Said Let’s Go

‘Feel Like a Stranger’ was released on the Grateful Dead’s 1980 eleventh studio album Go to Heaven, and it was written by Bob Weir and John Perry Barlow.  This was the band’ first album without keyboardist Keith Godchaux and vocalist Donna Godchaux who were both replaced by Brent Mydland.  Bob Weir and John Barlow were both born in October of 1947, just a couple of weeks apart.  John Perry Barlow was born on October 3, 1947, and he died on February 7, 2018, at the age of 70.  John is best known as a poet, rancher, and long-time lyricist for the Grateful Dead.  He also co-founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation (The leading nonprofit defending digital privacy, free speech, and innovation) and he wrote the manifesto “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace”, a paper on the incompatibility of current governments with the rapidly growing Internet, which asserted that traditional nation-states had no moral right or sovereignty to rule over the digital world.  Bob Weir was born on October 16, 1947, died on January 10, 2026, at the age of 78.  Bob was a founding member, rhythm guitarist, and singer for the Grateful Dead.  He formed a prolific, decades-long songwriting partnership with Barlow after meeting him in high school.

I read ‘Feel Like a Stranger’ explores the feeling of being on stage or in a familiar crowd yet suddenly feeling like an outsider in the chaos and thrill of a Dead show, but I think there is a lot more to this song, as it seem like there is a sexual tension building up between the singer or possibly a person at the concert and a woman in the audience.  The lyrics point to these two strangers meeting at a concert while they are both enjoying this exciting, relaxed environment, they are trying to connect or hook up with each other.  They both like the same music and they want to socialize as they are standing or sitting or dancing right next to each other.  This song became a beloved, danceable staple of the band’s live shows that frequently served as a powerful show-opener to allow for extended jamming.  When this song opened up a concert, Deadheads knew they could count on things getting strange.  The Grateful Dead had a very different sound with Brendt Midland, which the newer fans thought were their best years, and others didn’t enjoy the heavier synthesizer sounds, but some older Deadheads initially had a hard time adjusting to Keith Godchaux taking over keyboard from Ron “Pigpen” McKernan.  The Grateful Dead went through distinct musical eras, and these shifts frequently coincided with a change in their keyboard players.  Because the keyboard role was vital to their improvisational sound, bringing in a new musician radically altered the band’s dynamics and style.

Bob Weir and John Perry Barlow met in the mid-1960s as teenagers while attending the Fountain Valley School, a co-educational college preparatory high school that was located in in Colorado Springs, Colorado that catered for “difficult” children as a day school and a boarding school.  Weir attended from 1962 to 1963, but he was asked to leave after one year due to his “unrestrained exuberance”.  Barlow did graduate in 1965, and he went on to earn a degree in comparative religion from Wesleyan University in 1969.  Weir returned to the campus for his 50th class reunion in May 2015, and the school officially awarded him an honorary diploma to commemorate the occasion.  The two bonded quickly and became lifelong best friends.  Bob Weir was expelled or asked to leave almost every school he attended before he went to Fountain Valley School.  His struggles were primarily due to undiagnosed dyslexia and a rebellious, mischievous streak.  In 1971, Weir brought Barlow on to write lyrics for the band, resulting in a legendary 18-year songwriting partnership that produced iconic songs like ‘Black-Throated Wind’, ‘Cassidy’, ‘Estimated Prophet’, ‘Looks Like Rain’, and ‘The Music Never Stopped’.

‘Feel Like a Stranger’ has some interesting lyrics and this song was inspired after Bob Weir visited a Marin County singles bar featuring a house band led by a pre-fame Huey Lewis.  Bob Weir felt like a stranger having this slightly alienated feeling of locking eyes with someone across a crowded room, anticipating a chaotic night, and navigating the strange boundary between connection and unfamiliarity.  Weir was literally looking at a stranger across the room, while also feeling like a stranger being disconnected, alienated, and deeply paranoid.  The lyrics evoke the thrill of the chase with a sense of consequence, where sneaking away with this person “feels just like running a red light”, bringing an immediate sense of anxiety and danger.  Grateful Dead concerts earned a reputation as places where “it’s gonna get stranger” because of the unpredictable, psychedelic subculture surrounding the band.  Weir and Barlow argued over the lyrics in this song because Weir felt Barlow was adding overly intellectual concepts to a straightforward rock tune.  Weir wanted the song to be a gritty, early-1980s meditation on casual sex, but this songwriting session grew incredibly tense and Barlow snapped and said, “If there’s one literate man left in America, I’m writing for him.”  Weir was offended, so he bolted and locked himself in a bathroom refusing to back down.  Barlow chased him and literally kicked his way through the bathroom door, leading to a brief scuffle that broke out in the hallway, but they did eventually resolve their issues.

Inside you’re burning
I can see clear through
Your eyes tell more than you mean them to

Lit up and flashing
Like the reds and blues
Out there on the neon avenue

But I feel like a stranger
Feel like a stranger

Well the music’s thundering
We’re restless and hot
You keep firing glances across the room

And I can’t stop wondering
Just what you got
Get the feeling I’m gonna find out real soon

Still I feel like a stranger
Feel like a stranger
Well you know it’s gonna get stranger
So let’s get on with the show

Yes and the wheel
Gets smoking round midnight
You shoot me a look that said let’s go

Yes and it feels
Just like running a red light
There ain’t no point in looking behind us, no

But I feel like a stranger
Feel like a stranger
You know it keeps getting stranger and stranger
If it’s love then how would I know?

Yes and it’s gonna get stranger
Some things you just know

If this were love then how would I know
(Feel like a stranger)
(Feel like a stranger)
Feel like a stranger
(Feel like a stranger)
It’s gonna be a long hot crazy night
It’s gonna be a long long crazy crazy night
Yeah crazy night
Silky silky, crazy crazy night

Written for Song Lyric Sunday where the theme is to find a song that was written or performed by someone who was bo9rn in October.

Crisp Autumn Weather

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The film Smokey and the Bandit, and C.W. McCall’s hit song ‘Convoy’ made today’s date infamous with the line, “10-4 good buddy” which means “message received and understood, friend” for those of us that live in the US, but since the vast majority of the world uses the day-month-year calendar format, that makes this line relate to the tenth day of April instead of being October 4.  October is known for its gradual shift to cooler weather, but it is also loaded with many important historical events.  On Friday, October 13, 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered the arrest of hundreds of members of the Knights Templar, accusing them of heresy, financial corruption, and other crimes.  On October 12, 1492, Columbus thought he reached the Indies because he relied on existing, flawed historical measurements and misinterpreted the units to make the globe appear much smaller than it actually was when he arrived in the Bahamas and the Caribbean.  On October 19, 1781, British General Lord Cornwallis surrendered to American and French forces at Yorktown, Virginia, effectively ending the American Revolutionary War.  On October 21, 1805, the British Navy, led by Admiral Horatio Nelson, decisively defeated the combined French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar.  On October 28, 1886, the Statue of Liberty was officially dedicated in New York Harbor.  On October 24, 1929, the stock market crash began on “Black Thursday”, leading into the Great Depression.  On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the world’s first artificial satellite, starting the Space Age.  On October 14, 1962, U.S. spy planes discovered Soviet missile installations in Cuba, setting off the Cuban Missile Crisis and all the students had to hide under their desks.

Last week we had Power Dynamics and the Human Struggle for Equality and Justice where the theme was to find a song that relates to civil rights, oppression, protest, revolution or social change.  This week the theme is to find a song that was written or performed by someone who was born in the month of October.  Take some time to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this music challenge, and even better, read as many of them as you can as you will probably find many enjoyable songs and it is quite possible that you will learn a thing or two.  Share your music with others and post a video, try do some research and let everyone know something about the song that you post.  Tell everyone why you like the song, whether it was a hit, or what you think the song is about.  Show the lyrics, let’s all listen to our favorite songs and explore some new music.  Try to find a song that fits the theme, then write your post and create a pingback, or you can just place your link in the comments section.

Suggestions
• If the song you select does not meet the criteria, then please explain why you chose this song.
• It would be good if you could post the lyrics to the song of your choice, as this is helpful for the people that want to follow along with the music.  Warning: Bloggers make posts at their own risk, and since song lyrics are copyrighted, you may be asked to take them down from your post if you don’t have permission.  It is highly unlikely estates or artists will sue regular people (although it has happened) especially if the bloggers that do this are not making money from their site, but an artist or a publisher can ask you to remove the lyrics from your post.  I am not a lawyer and there are no rules for Song Lyric Sunday, as we are all here to have fun and hopefully get to listen to some good music.
• Please try to include the songwriter(s) – it’s a good idea to give credit where credit is due. It would also be a good idea to give credit to the singer and the band associated with your song.
• Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be, but please try not to include too many videos as that just makes it take longer for me to look at all of the other posts.
• Link to the YouTube video, or you can pull it into your post, so others can listen to the song.
• Read at least one other person’s blog, so we can all share new and fantastic music and create amazing new blogging friends in the process.
• Feel free to suggest future prompts.  Have fun and enjoy the music.

This week I will be writing about the Grateful Dead song ‘Feel Like a Stranger’, and next week, I will be writing about the song ‘Most Girls’ by Hailee Steinfeld.  The upcoming prompts will be:
October 11, 2026 – Song that mentions girls
October 18, 2026 – Song about fishing, a mariner, sailing, seafaring, or ships
October 25, 2026 – Song about the American West, or one that mentions cowboys, a sheriff, an outlaw, horses, cactus, or tumbleweeds
November 1, 2026 – Song written or performed by someone who was born in the month of November

Believe It or Not

1. What is a calibre?
This is when a person ends their diet and they are liberated from counting calories.

2. What is citrus?
These are immigrants that got their Green Cards and became citizens are us.

3. What is phlebotomy?
The study of leaches.

4. What is pumpernickel?
She wanted a dime, but I only gave her a nickel.

5. What is meant by nimbus?
This is a slow, foolish, or silly person.

6. What is a sea monkey?
Something that refuses to be flushed down a toilet.

7. What is an ambassador?
This is a guy with a really large butt that can no longer fit through a door.

8. What is a flywheel?
This is the rear wheel on a garbage truck.

9. What is a catacomb?
An inappropriate photo that was taken on the beach.

10. What is flamboyant?
This is a fried lamb that floats.

Written for Di’s Fibbing Friday.

Lady Titicaca

Image generated by Bing AI

While public opinion varies, society generally subjects sex workers to deep-seated stigma, moral judgment, and social marginalization rather than universal, active hatred.  In May 1984, the City of Vancouver filed a major injunction to ban sex workers from the West End, using community policing groups to publicize their names.  This event eventually became a catalyst for local activism.  In 2001, a group of sex workers marched through the streets of Venice holding bright red umbrellas, and this became the global symbol for sex workers’ rights, and annual “” trace their historical resistance back to this pivotal 1984 crackdown.  Millions of people regularly consume mainstream adult content like pornography, yet societal disrespect toward the actual workers remains high.  Society holds a double standard toward sex workers as they are discriminated against and prosecuted as criminals, while they remain in high demand for a massive, multi-billion-dollar industry for adult media.

Red Umbrella Marches are annual events in many cities around the world, though they do not take place on a single, unified global date.  Alice was looking forward to this year’s Red Umbrella March, to show her defiance against what she deemed as unfair and unconstitutional prostitution laws, and a violation of her personal liberty.  Alice picked out a red parasol that matched her red boa and bustier, and she knew most of the 100 people that were going to march in this protest.  Alice always hated her birthday because it marks a visible passage of time, but it also represented the day when her childhood sexual abuse began.  No one believed her when she told her story about what happened and she feels that this past abuse did limit her career options and increase her vulnerability to entering the sex trade, as she was called a slut and she figured that since she could not shake her reputation, she might as well make money from it.  Alice usually took her birthday off to be away from everyone, but this year’s Red Umbrella March was on her birthday and that was important to her.

Her childhood abuse came from her teacher who kept her after school because she was chewing gum in class.  Alice never dreamed that she would be betrayed by an authority figure while they were completely alone together after hours.  He told her that she had to organize the supply closet for her punishment, and while she was doing this, he started sharing personal details about his own life, his financial problems, and his loneliness.  She wanted to finish her punishment and go so she could be with her friends, but he was watching everything she did standing right behind her, lingering longer than necessary, and leaning over her shoulder.  He crossed the line when he gave her a pat on the back and left his hand lingering on her shoulder, as that made her feel uncomfortable.  The classroom was entirely too quiet, save for the ticking clock and the heavy silence between them.  She grabbed a textbook in the supply closet and told him to step back and not stand so close to her.  He stepped closer to her and asked her what was wrong, which was a big mistake.  Instinct took over, and she turned around and hurled a heavy book straight at his face.  The solid corner of the spine caught him squarely across the mouth with a sharp, sickening crack.  Her teacher stumbled backward, gripping his jaw as the book thudded heavily onto the linoleum floor.  Blood was gushing out of his mouth and his bloody tooth landed next to Allice, so she picked it up and ran out of the class.

Alice kept the tooth in a small velvet box as physical evidence of the event.  Alice went by the working name of Lady Titicaca because she thought that had an exotic sound and Lake Titicaca is known as the birthplace of the world.  She was not so happy that caca was also known as excrement, but she remembered that the Aztecs had a deity called Tlazolteotl who was known as the goddess of excrement, and she was able to transform physical waste, moral sin, and decay into life-giving agricultural fertility and spiritual purification.  She was a sin eater absorbing human guilt, trauma, and bad deeds when people confessed, cleansing them and granting a fresh start, and in her line of work Lady Titicaca came across many people that needed a fresh start.  The Aztecs used human waste as an essential fertilizer for their crops, viewing rot and waste as the direct source of new life and food.  Alice was also fond of the Titicaca grebe, a flightless water-diving bird found in Peru and Bolivia as it is a very charming and endearing bird with sweet habits that many people find adorable.  The Titicaca grebe represented her inability to move past the lifestyle that she was trapped into, and it became a symbol of her own helplessness.  The Titicaca grebe is listed as an endangered species and it faces ongoing threats, just like she does in her work, so she has a lot of empathy for them.

These five things kept popping up in her dreams (a red umbrella, a missing tooth, 1984, a woman who hates birthdays and a bird that cannot fly) haunting her every night.  She knew that they had to be connected to something, but she had no clue what that was.  While she was marching in the parade, she noticed a man missing his front tooth who looked a lot like her molesting teacher from her past and she realized that these five things were all part of her life, and she solved the mystery of how and why they were all tied together.  Marching with her friends on her birthday helped her to uncover the secret that she was trying to discover.

Written for the Great Minds Think’s Friday Challenge, which is hosted by Rohini and Sarah and this week we were asked to make a story out of five different clues.

Barefoot and Pregnant

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, it was said that a woman’s place is in the home, doing chores, and having babies and it was imperative that they were not allowed to wear shoes so they could not run away from their man.  It seems shameful that this sexist, misogynist, discriminatory policy was instituted by men here on Earth to exert their male superiority and dominance because they felt they were entitled to tell women what to do, and this led to the patriarchal structure.  Human societies transitioned from egalitarian hunter-gatherer groups to agrarian communities around 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.  Settling down meant acquiring land and resources that required physical defense, often putting physically stronger males in control of security.  Property began being passed down the male line, which gradually reduced female autonomy and established patriarchal norms.  Men historically held greater economic and social power, creating structural advantages that normalized traditional roles of male dominance and female submissiveness.  Laws, religious traditions, and social expectations over centuries formalized these hierarchies, making male authority the default standard in many cultures.  A rigid division of labor relegated women to unpaid domestic and reproductive tasks such as child-rearing and maintaining the household, with men dominating public spheres, warfare, and paid labor, this economic dependence further solidified male authority.

Classical Greek philosopher Aristotle described women as inferior, providing ideological justification for male dominance.  Major world religions often positioned women as subordinate, reinforcing gender hierarchy.  Medieval and early modern interpretations continued to portray women as morally or intellectually weaker.  Cultural narratives tied women to domestic roles and men to public authority, making inequality appear natural.  During the rise of early agrarian societies, patriarchal systems were tied to property, inheritance, and control over women’s labor and reproduction, and they also restricted women’s rights in marriage, property, and citizenship.  The rise of private property drove men to control household production and lineage, and to ensure that land and assets passed strictly to male heirs, this required strict monitoring of female fidelity and sexuality.  Early farming communities did not instantly fence off individual plots of land, but agricultural surpluses naturally created private land ownership.  The Manishtushu Obelisk carved around 2270–2255 BC has an inscription about the king purchasing property.  Institutionalized patriarchy is evident in early legal structures like the Code of Hammurabi written around 1754 BC, classified male headship, restricted female occupations, and severely penalized challenges to male authority.

There is no single cause for the imbalance of power where women were being viewed as subordinate to men, but when you are a minority it is very difficult to gain control.  Dominating groups create the foundational rules that naturally restrict the upward mobility of minority groups.  Having wealth and assets are necessary ingredients to influence change, and they are critical for getting your message across.  Eventually women got tired of being paid less and being told that they had smaller brains and their broader hips made them ideal candidates to bear and raise children.  In the 1970s, the women’s movement decided to challenge male dominance in all its forms by targeting systemic inequalities across law, culture, the workplace, and personal relationships, because they were tired of being devalued and considered inferior.  The oppression of women needs to end, but globally they earn roughly 16% to 30% less than men and perform over three-quarters of unpaid domestic work.  1 in 3 women face physical or sexual violence in their lifetimes.  Women hold only about 10% of top government leadership roles globally, and over half of countries lack consent-based definitions of rape.  Women still don’t have control over their own bodies, as male lawmakers have made abortion illegal, and things seem to be getting worse since June 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the federal constitutional right to an abortion.

Written for Reena’s Xploration Challenge #450 where today she gave us two images to ponder, and I chose the one on the left which is shown above.

Habitually High on Marijuana

I’m a space cowboy the first human born outside of Earth.  I am a cowboy that has lived my whole life in space, bet you weren’t ready for that.  Since the moment I first realized that cowboys were cool, all I ever wanted was to be a cowboy.  I wear boots and a western hat, but I have never seen a real cow or rode on a horse.  I have ridden on the mechanical bull bucking machine in this bar many times, which is a lot like being a real rodeo cowboy and I did quite well, if I have to say so myself.  I broke the time record, and the bartender gave me free drinks for the rest of the night.  I practice lassoing working on my wrist coordination, rhythm, and timing to release the loop at the exact moment where the natural momentum of the spinning rope carries it forward toward the target, but while traveling through space in microgravity, spinning a rope causes my entire body to rotate in the opposite direction.

Written for Thursday Inspiration new and improved hosted by Fandango where he gave us the AI generated picture above to write a story about.

Gang Rape is Contemptuous

Research comparing multiple-offender (gang) rape and single-offender (individual) rape indicates that gang rape victims often experience more severe trauma outcomes.  Gang rape is considered to be a heinous crime, as it represents a severe violation of human dignity, bodily autonomy, and fundamental human rights.  Gang rape is a violent, criminal act where a person is forced to have sex against their will by two or more people.  This is classified as a non-consensual sexual assault.  When I was in High School, I learned that many students were involved in gang bangs, and this one girl was known for pulling a train and her brothers made money from the guys that lined up in the queue.  The term gang bang is used for a group sexual encounter where one person has sex with multiple partners, usually sequentially or simultaneously, with the explicit consent of all participants.  It is a form of consensual group sex or an orgy.  All of these instances involved a lone girl and a group of guys, and these situations never worked out good for the girl, as after the guys had their way with her, she was called a slut.  I don’t know what made these girls do this, but I have to think they regretted what they did later.  Scientists and sexologists say that almost everything about human sex is “normal” because biological and behavioral research reveals an enormous range of natural diversity rather than a single rigid standard, thus as long as sexual activities involve informed, ongoing consent between adults and do not cross into abuse or coercion, sexology treats the vast array of consenting human expression as a healthy part of the human experience.

I read that most straight men don’t like being involved in gangbangs, and this was never my thing, but the guys that did do this bragged about it like they were heroes.  Acquaintance rape happens in a dating relationship, and this is commonly known as “date rape.”  This involves unwanted sexual contact forced through physical violence, threats, intimidation, or coercion, including when a person is unable to give consent due to the influence of alcohol or drugs.  Consent is an active, voluntary, and ongoing agreement to engage in sexual activity, and it is the fundamental boundary that separates consensual sex from sexual assault or rape.  An individual who is incapacitated by alcohol or drugs cannot legally or ethically give consent to sexual activity.  This brings us to what I have been watching on the News where New York state prosecutors reopened a case of alleged gang rape at Cornell University that took place in 2024.  The plaintiff, identifying as Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit against Cornell University, several Chi Phi fraternity organizations, seven current and former students, several sorority organizations, the former president of Cornell’s Chi Phi chapter, a local bar and several unnamed individuals.

On Oct. 19, 2024, the night of the alleged drugging and sexual assault, the plaintiff admits that she consumed hard liquor at an event even though she was underage and she became intoxicated.  She “stumbled alone” to Chi Phi National’s Xi chapter’s fraternity house, where a fraternity member allegedly proposed having a threesome with him and another fraternity brother.  The lawsuit contends she was “incapable of consenting,” when the two guys pressured her to snort a white, powdery substance claimed to be ketamine and supplied her with marijuana and a liquor believed to be high-proof rum.  She claims that they each had sex with her without her consent.  Then allegedly one of the rapists allegedly encouraged fraternity brothers to join him, sending a message about “free pussy” upstairs to a Snapchat group.  I have never been in a fraternity, as I went to a commuter college and I did that at nights while I was working, so I don’t have a clue how this works, except from what I saw in the movie Animal House.

Written for FOWC with Fandango – Contemptuous.