https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/show/more-lgbtq-candidates-win-office-than-ever-before-in-midterm-elections

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/11/09/lgbtq-midterm-2022-candidates-history-wins-firsts/8313445001/

The suicide gap: Why men are more likely to kill themselves

Dear Anita

I feel like pets and animals are heartwarming 💙 they relieve stress and fill the heart with love. scientists on youtube tickled mice and they measured their brain waves with an eeg and they discovered that mice like humans when they laugh release endorphins that help relieve stress and pain. the first mouse in space named hector (who lived to be eight years old) helped scientists understand the long term impacts on bone structure of being space for astronauts. mice eat grains like honey nut cheerios, fruits like apples and bananas, and vegetables like carrots and lettuce much like people.  most mice live 1-2 yrs but some with good care and proper nutrition live 3-5 yrs. Some mice that have been genetically enhanced to slow aging in scientific studies can live up to four years or sometimes more. Scientists have discovered that mice are social animals, they like to have company and get depressed if they are alone. Being with other mice helps them develop social cues like grooming each other to show who the dominant mouse is or just to show that mouse likes the other mouse. Mice can sometimes tussle, standing on their hind paws facing each other and they try to knock each other down, whichever one gets pinned is the lesser one and the other is dominant,  it’s like mice wrestling 🐭

Scientists have discovered that mice have a strong sense of smell and some have trained them in military to sniff bombs so they can be deactivated by military special units. Mice weigh smaller than the weight to trigger mine bombs so they can be used to help with sniffing out hidden bombs.

Furthermore, mice have short term memory that is only about 2wks but they can remember sounds and words long term. Mice can remember the voice of people who talk to them frequently and they can react accordingly. If a person talks kindly and treats mice kindly the mouse will remember the person as a kind person and will happily squeak when they hear the person speaking. Since they have a good sense of smell too, mice can remember scents of people who gave them treats and they’ll be excited hoping for more treats. Mice are very smart and some can solve mazes.

A mouse that is happy popcorns, hopping around swishing their tail lightly. They’ll have a series of squeaks that sounds like they are singing “squeak, squeak, pique, squeek”

here is my mouse mochitea popcorning on the playground

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EoOPl-NbUEVwGdmlzY-UKs2GBOipPlZ5/view?usp=drivesdk

Dear Anita

Of Mice and Men was quite sad 😔 Lenny Smalls had a big heart, he loved soft things because they gave him comfort. He wished he could touch soft things but he didn’t know how to take care of them so he ended up hurting them. Mice are small and Lenny Smalls name “Lenny Smalls” seems to signify that Lenny has a caring heart for small and soft things but he unintentionally hurts them. I feel like men need social support much like mice to help them with their mental health. Lenny probably felt small and isolated because everyone at the farm had more intelligence than he did.

Mice form bonds with other mice and they’ll play, eat and snuggle together. A mouse that’s kept alone without someone to comfort them can become depressed. I feel like men who are supported and allowed to express their vulnerability, and build emotional support groups can improve their mental wellbeing too.

Hugs friend, thanks for your kind words on my poem.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/PEbwRgxzG9qWWHn77

mochitea and pringle are soulmates

sometimes mice really connect with each other and there’s soulmates. they play together, rest together, exercise together and snuggle together. they look out for each other and happily squeak. if one of them loses the other then they’ll be sad.

if i take mochitea out for a walk and don’t bring pringle (because pringle might be sleeping), mochitea gets upset and starts looking for pringle

and pringle does the same when mochitea isn’t around

A soulmate for people is a person that uplifts our soul helping us grow and heal. Mice have soulmates that teach them love and compassion and people do to.

Dear Anita

Many people are holding vigil over the lives impacted by the Colorado Springs shooting. It’s quite sad that there’s prejudice and discrimination in the world against lgbtq people. I feel like schools should do better to educate people about lgbtq people. Some topics about sexual orientation (heterosexual, homosexual, pansexual- attracted to all genders and sexes, asexual- capable of feeling romantic feelings for all genders and sexes but isn’t interested in having sexual intimacy) and gender identity might help too.

I feel that people tend to hurt soft and kind people. The empaths and the compassionate souls often get hurt and negative feelings dumped on them. I agree that treating people kindly regardless of gender or sexual orientation or race is important in creating a more peaceful world.

I was thinking about Jenny in Forrest Gump when I wrote about the feather being soft and delicate. Yet, feathers help a bird fly, and keeps them warm. Jenny was hurt by her father and very angry at him for hurting her and Forrest understood when he said “sometimes there just aren’t enough rocks ” when Jenny is through rocks at her childhood home because it reminds her of her father’s abuse. I feel sometimes that children are like feathers, soft and delicate but overtime they’ll build themselves up to become durable and strong to fly into the world. I like to think that when Jenny passed away at the end of the film and the feather that Forrest catches was Jenny in flight free from the hurts and anger. Parents and the world often unintentionally or intentionally hurt children and it can be hard for them to grow up with self-confidence.

People do need to free themselves to think with compassion on people and treat them fairly. Listening to people’s hurts and letting them cry including allowing men to express their emotions can be helpful. Society tends to push people who are soft and sensitive down but those with empathy and compassion provide emotional awareness to hurts and they can heal.

Going back to Forrest telling Jenny “sometimes there aren’t enough rocks” I feel like people do feel anger at the people they feel wronged them. Sometimes not having a healthy outlet for anger can lead to unhealthy coping mechanisms that cause more mental health effects like depression and anxiety.

I do feel like I sometimes repeat things in my poems trying to get a chorus to make it seem more like lyrical poetry. But sometimes the repeats might take away from the other lines of the poem like you mentioned. Thanks for your insightful advice.

hope that you had a great thanksgiving, blessings anita