Anonymous asked: what creeps you out? I hang on yr words, I love yr words.

I’m not easily “creeped out”, and don’t like the way that word has come to describe social unease (e.g., “Ew, that creepy guy just tried to buy me a drink, let’s get out of here before he rapes us and stalks us forever and never stops doing that”). That fear stems from misunderstanding, and I feel like when you don’t understand something, you make a choice about how to react to that confusion, that dismay. You can revile, reject it, or you can devote even your most minimal efforts, to understanding and acceptance. It’s simple. You can say, “What is that thing?! Get it away! Kill it!” or, “Is this thing posing a real threat to me?” Usually probably not. Humans are pretty resilient. But creepiness is visceral. Having said that, some things irk me and my reaction is totally irrational. For example, I have a terrible phobia of cockroaches. I know they can’t hurt me, but the way they look is so horrible, I can’t be in a room with one. I hyperventilate, I shriek, I tremble, I go nuts. If I see one in my house, I will either leave the house, call someone to come over and kill it, yes, kill it, not toss it off the balcony where it may waltz right back in, or if I have to, I’ll kill it myself, and then I will not sleep for a week. Have you ever watched those talk show videos, like on Maury, where someone has a crippling phobia of something really silly, like chicken, balloons, caterpillars, pickles, peaches, or cottonballs? And invariably, they’re confronted/taunted by the thing (for our entertainment of course), and they make a bee-line through the audience, leaping over people’s heads, or run off backstage and hide in a corner with their knees under their chin, crying and cursing incoherently? Those videos are hilarious and I recommend them. But yeah, that’s me with cockroaches. Although a lot of things that are intended to be creepy are exciting or intriguing, like paranormal activity… the business itself, and the films. I watched Paranormal Activity 2 last night. And Candyman, which is still really disturbing after all these years! I love that that movie exists because I feel they could never make that these days. A young white woman terrorized by a former slave boogeyman. This big negro chasing her around the projects, where he tries to both coalesce with and kill her! Hahaha. It’s rich. So there’s that aspect, too. As for you hanging on my words, OmG, umm, Ew, CrEeEePy!!