Na.tasha Tr.oop·Feb 10I Just Want to Be OkayHope is Depression’s Enemy — #2 in a 4-part series — In the first installment of this series, I shared some of the problems which prevent me from being “okay” as filtered through MCR’s I’m Not Okay. There are a number of songs which refer to being okay, but that one most clearly hits the emotional core of definitely not being…Depression3 min read
Na.tasha Tr.oop·Jan 253 Reasons I’m Not Okay#1 in a 4-part series about the music which defines being “Okay” — I have a playlist on my music app full of songs I like to sing. This is not to say I can sing them well. While my vocal surgery resulted in the removal of bass tones, it did not magically raise my octave range. According to a web app devoted…Health6 min read
Na.tasha Tr.oop·Nov 13, 2021BBC Canceling Trans: Harry Potter and the Cornucopia of CashSay you are the British government and you have a choice to make: A) Trans People B) Harry Potter If you have not been to Great Britain recently, you might think they would support Trans People — or at least refrain from taking a side. After all, it was not…Transgender3 min read
Na.tasha Tr.oop·Nov 12, 2021Rough Collies Are the Best Dogs“Speak!” Casey grins, tongue lolling slightly. Pants. Collapses on the floor, her paws bent slightly as they extend upwards, exposed belly indicating either submission or desired scratching — latter likelier than former. I oblige until my hand tires, cramping severely. That glaring stare accuses me of slacking. Hmmph! …Dogs2 min read
Na.tasha Tr.oop·Nov 11, 2021Surviving the End of DaysThe Doctor’s receptionist tells him there’s an invisible man in the waiting room. “Tell him I can’t see him,” the Doctor says. Then he puts the phone down. Then he takes it off the hook. I can’t see anyone anymore, he thinks. There is no reason to it. They are…Fiction3 min read
Marni Troop·Nov 10, 2021Psychoeducation and Communication Skills TrainingWhen clients come to Marriage & Family Therapists, they should understand that, although they may speak one-to-one with the therapist, the therapy itself involves others with whom the clients interact. Key to successful intervention is communication, and that simply cannot happen if everyone is not using the same language. This…Mental Health7 min read
Na.tasha Tr.oop·Nov 10, 2021The Trauma of Jewishness — A PrimerThe first in a series — Kristallnacht was trending on Twitter yesterday. Translated from German as the “Night of Broken Glass”, this was an event that occurred on November 9–10, 1938 which some suggest was the beginning of the Holocaust. Coming from a not-German Jewish family which left their homes in cities and shtetlach (towns) in…Jewish5 min read
Na.tasha Tr.oop·Nov 5, 2021How Halloween (1978) Helped Me Control My Fear of The Boogeyman:The Therapeutic Benefits of Horror — For the purposes of this article, I will refer to Michael Myers by Dr. Loomis’s appellation, “The Evil.” Rather than taking a global perspective of why people find pleasure in horror films, I am going to address the more personal perspective of why I have been drawn to them from…Halloween6 min read
Na.tasha Tr.oop·Nov 3, 2021Are You Looking At Me (while I eat)?Food Symbolism in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver — Throughout Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976), there is a recurring focus on Travis Bickle’s diet. If, as Hayward says, “Mise-en-scène is the expressive tool at the filmmaker’s disposal which a critic can read to determine the specificity of a cinematographic work,” food is as relevant to Scorsese’s art as locations…Media Criticism3 min read
Marni Troop·Nov 3, 2021Resilience in “Precious”Precious (Daniels, 2010) is a 16 year-old Black girl living in Harlem. She is overweight and pregnant with her second child. She is emotionally and physically abused by her mother, and she has been raped several times by her father, who is also the father of both of Precious’ children…Mental Health7 min read
