When It Happened To Me By: C.P. Stringham

Internet search meme from Justice for Jane Doe in
Steubenville with link. 

According to statistics compiled by the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, known as RAINN, one out of every six women in the United States will be the victim of sexual assault in their lifetime. Let that sink in for a moment. Even if you are male, consider the likelihood that your grandmother, mother, aunt, sister, cousin, daughter, or granddaughter, one of them has been or will be the victim of sexual assault in their lifetime. If this statistic doesn’t make you angry, it should. If you aren’t angry, it also means YOU are part of the problem. This so-called “rape culture” you keep hearing about is real. The same research by RAINN also states that one in thirty-three men have been the victim of sexual assault. You see, sexual assault isn’t gender bias. As for the perpetrators, some are serial offenders who prey upon strangers when opportunity avails itself. They get off on the violence and control of the act. Others are authority figures; church leaders, coaches, counselors, neighbors, and family members who take advantage of those with whom they are entrusted with. And then there is the final group; those who seem to have a lack of understanding over what constitutes as sexual consent, so here's a video that pretty much dumbs it down for even the most obtuse person:

The tide is slowly turning for victims of sexual assault. They are stepping forward and sharing their stories in the hopes of helping other victims know they are not alone. Our society is being called upon to change this antiquated mindset of victim blaming. It is also time to hold the assailants responsible for their own behaviors. There are no acceptable excuses for their actions. None. "He had too much to drink." "He wasn't raised better." "He was a victim himself." Bullshit. Lady Gaga movingly performed Till It Happens To You during the 2016 Oscar’s last night. She, herself, the victim of sexual assault, had the courage to co-write and perform this song as her proclamation to the world. The lyrics are so true: Till it happens to you, you don’t know how it feels.  

This blog post has been a long time in the making for me. I’ve started writing it in my head many times over and, each time, I lose my nerve. Allow me some levity as I do what I feel compelled to do. In my Ellis Springs Series, the subject of rape is an ever-present theme in each volume, from the date rape of teen Kori Marshall to the marital rape of adult Grace Werner, readers follow along with how these victims cope in the aftermath of sexual assault. Grace’s affects her in such a way that she pursues a career as a county victim/witness advocate to help others find, not only the satisfaction of seeing their assailant pay for their crime, but to also assist the victim in finding the psychological help they need to work through their assault. Moving forward, I know authors are supposed to take the high road when it comes to negative reviews about their books. And I have. I truly look at each and every one of my reviews, good and bad, and use them to grow as an author. I appreciate when readers tell me what they liked and what they didn’t like. With that said, here I go with addressing one of my reviewers for my eBook A Moment’s Rest.  The female reviewer said, and I quote, “The author clearly has a political agenda to pursue, which I found distasteful and overbearing…Rape was covered in the first book, don't think we needed to do that so graphically again.” Well, she’s absolutely right. I do have a political agenda. However, did I overstep with the subject matter? No. No. And no. Let’s look at that statistic from RAINN again. One in six women will be the victim of a sexual assault in their lifetime. ONE IN SIX!!! I’m using my blog to tell our Broads of a Feather readers that I am one of those females who was the victim of sexual assault.

Internet search from Psychology Today with link to article.

So, you see, I have personal experience with this particular subject matter. I have carried the emotional baggage of shame, guilt, and fear for most of my life. Now, the chorus of our misguided rape culture will read this and comments like “you must have been asking for it” or “you had to be dressed promiscuously” will be said. For the record, I was a child victim of sexual assault. Just eleven years old. My assailant was an adult male over thirty years old and the uncle of a boy I rode the school bus with every day. I’m forty-five years old now. Thirty-five years have passed and I can still close my eyes and recall, in vivid detail, what he was wearing (right down to the Italian horn pendant he wore on a thick gold chain around his neck), I can hear the words he said to me to gain my trust, and even how his clothing smelled of fried foods and perspiration. My sexual assault, while not nearly as bad as what others have endured, is ingrained in my sensory memory as if it happened yesterday. I suffered in silence. I have never told my parents. I’ve never told a single family member because I thought what happened to me was my fault. I felt dirty and ashamed because I let it happen.  

Internet search from Unsafe at Home with link.

The first person I ever confided in was my husband and that didn’t come about until we were well into our first year of living together. I was twenty-one years old. Even now, thirty-five years later and I have only shared my story with a select few. While working in retail management over the course of eighteen years, the majority of my part-time employees were high school and college students. To some of them, I became the adult they could talk to about everything. Even their most horrid personal experiences. One teen told me how their grandfather had recently molested them. This high school girl’s family didn’t believe her. Not only did she endure being sexually assaulted by a trusted and loved family member, she was betrayed by the rest of her family and called a liar. Another told me about the savage rape they’d experienced at the hands of a complete stranger. This same employee wrote poetry and asked me to read the poem she wrote about her experience—a poem in which she compared rape to death and how it had robbed her of who she used to be. I remember driving home that night and crying for her. Crying for myself. So much she had written hit home with my own feelings. The entire time these young people came to trust me with their secrets, I questioned my own inability to talk about my experience. I was no longer the scared little girl. Enough time had passed and I wasn’t in any danger of meeting my assailant again. As the years passed and I encountered others who had similar experiences to mine, I finally talked about what I went through. But, still, it was only to a handful of people. For some reason, I couldn’t openly talk about it. It’s only been since the whole Jerry Sandusky thing that I have addressed it and again, to a select few. The Penn State cover-up angered me when I had friends defending the actions of the university’s administration. I grew tired hearing how the victims came from broken homes and their parents should have known and how they didn’t protect their children. Even some blamed the victims because they kept quiet for so long. They accused the victims of coming forward solely based on monetary reasons with the opportunity of upcoming lawsuits that were bound to happen. I didn’t come from a broken home. My parents did care, they never knew, and they did protect me. I grew up when the world was different and naive. Sexual assault simply wasn’t talked about. People were trusted because no one realized how prolific it was. I told my oldest daughter about my experience three years ago. I felt it my duty to let her know that I was a victim. She was dating age and I wanted her to be able to see a face with the national statistic. I think it is prudent of victims of sexual assault to make others see faces with the statistic. This epidemic needs to have a face, a familiar face, in order for members of our society to feel a personal stake in it. Only then can the stigma attached to victims go away and our rampant rape culture be dealt with.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Due to what happened to me at eleven years old, it shaped me into the parent I am today. Some may call it paranoia, but I prefer to think of myself as a vigilant parent. It takes a lot of time before I trust anyone with my children. I have to know that family members aren’t going to be lax while my children are in their care. I have to know the people who my children may come into contact with while they are in their company. I’m always on guard when we are out in public. There is a difference between a male admiring your cute teen daughter from afar and another who seems to be lurking and fixated. I’ve learned to trust my gut. If someone seems a little off, then it is with good reason to avoid that person at all costs because it only takes a second for something to happen. 
**As an Addendum to my original post, I wanted to mention the outpouring of support, encouragement, and love I have received since going public with my story. Not only have readers posted comments to this blog post, my personal Facebook page, and my author Facebook page, I have also received private messages from other victims/survivors--some who have already publicly shared the burden of their experience and some who have not yet reached the point of being able to really talk about it all. I wanted to post one of the comments on the actual blog portion for others to more easily see. 

  Jill Marie: Thank you for your bravery. The darkness of abuse cannot flourish in the light of brave and compassionate people. There is much work that needs to be done to improve outcomes and support for victims, but few are willing to do it. Awareness is key. I would encourage parents of young children to teach body safety. I didn't do this nearly early enough. If anyone discloses abuse to you, don't ask 'are you sure?'. It may be the last time they utter a word of it and there may then be countless other victims. Do not trust that the legal system will fix this problem. We need many, many, concerned, educated, and passionate society members so that we can have a safe, healthy, and productive society. There is no one to blame for any type of abuse on another person than the perpetrator, those who hide the truth, or those that attack the victim. C.P. Stringham, thank you for sharing. 

My name is C.P. Stringham. I am a wife, a mother, an author, and the victim survivor of sexual assault. To our blog readers who suffer in silence,  please know that you are not alone.  

   Resources for Statistics & Help:

90% of cases are never reported

Which means the majority of sexual offenders are walking the streets free and unknown to society.

Why? It often takes a long time for the child to tell someone, and even though they may disclose to a friend, therapist, or family member - it's not being reported. The child & family may not want to face the difficulty of having to go through the investigation & possibly a trial. The person may not believe the child. And often, since it takes so long for children to finally tell - many are often adults by the time they disclose their abuse. - From The Mama Bear Effect Website.

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www.rainn.org with link 

Women:

1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime (14.8% completed rape; 2.8% attempted rape).¹

17.7 million American women have been victims of attempted or completed rape.¹

9 of every 10 rape victims were female in 2003.²

                                       ^Men:

                                                              About 3% of American men — or 1 in 33 — have                                                       experienced an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime.¹

• From 1995-2010, 9% of rape and sexual assault victims were male.¹⁰
• 2.78 million men in the U.S. have been victims of sexual assault or rape.¹

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www.nomore.org with link

Listen without judgement

If someone you know discloses that they are experiencing abuse now or have in the past, remember this could be the first time they’re telling someone. Listening without judgment or blame and letting the person know they’re not alone can make a huge difference. If the victim/survivor you care about or you are in need of support, ask them if they’d like to talk to a professional counselor, and offer to sit with them while they call the 24-hour national hotlines. While you may have a strong reaction to what happened, it’s important to focus and fully listen to the survivor’s words. 

Tip (via the Joyful Heart Foundation’s 6 Steps to Supporting a Survivor) → Sometimes you don’t even need words (or at least, many words), to be there for someone. Many people share that just being able to tell their story to someone else lessens the weight of isolation, secrecy and self-blame. Remember, listening alone can make a huge difference in someone’s life.

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1. Listen. 

Sometimes you don’t even need words (or at least, a lot of words), to be there for someone. Many people share that just being able to tell their story to someone else lessens the weight of isolation, secrecy and self-blame. Remember, listening in and of itself is an act of love. 

2. Validate. 

Think about a time when you felt vulnerable or faced a crisis, and think of what helped you the most. Chances are that it was not a specific conversation that you had, but it was the knowledge and comfort the person or people you told were there for you, believed in you, were on your side and were committed to supporting you through a hard time. 

“I’m so sorry this happened to you.” 

“I believe you.”

“This is not your fault.” 

“You’re not alone. I’m here for you and I’m glad you told me.”

Often times, a survivor may feel like what happened to them is their fault. We are bombarded with victim-blaming myths and attitudes in our society, and they can sink in…deeply. But no action excuses a person hurting someone else. Violence and abuse is never the victim’s fault. That responsibility and shame lies with the perpetrator. It can be helpful to communicate that gently and repeatedly.

“Nothing you did or could’ve done differently makes this your fault.”

“The responsibility is on the person who hurt you.”

“No one ever has the right to hurt you.”

“I promise, you didn’t ask for this.”

“I know that it can feel like you did something wrong, but you didn’t.”

“It doesn’t matter if you did or didn’t _______. No one asks to be hurt in this way.”

3. Ask what more you can do to help. 

Violence and abuse is about power and control. It is vital for survivors to regain their sense of personal power and agency. Instead of pushing someone into taking actions for which they are not ready, ask how you can support them. 

4. Know where to point someone to for more help. 

You can best help the survivor by offering options and leaving space for them to decide where to go from there. Here are some national resources—services that can point someone to local resources in your area. 

Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network Sexual Assault Helpline

1.800.656.4673 | www.rainn.org

National Child Abuse Hotline

1.800.422.4453 | www.childhelp.org

National Domestic Violence Hotline

1.800.799.7233 | www.ndvh.org

National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline

1.866.331.9474 | www.loveisrespect.org

5. Keep an open heart. 

Remind them that you are available should they like to talk about their experiences further. The healing journey can be a long one, full of many challenging—but sometimes joyful and liberating—conversations. Knowing that you are there to support along the way can make a big difference for someone. 

“If we are able to communicate only one thing about your role in a survivor’s journey, it is this: never ever underestimate your power to affect its course.”  

- Maile Zambuto, Joyful Heart CEO

 6. Finally, care for yourself. 

There is a limit to what we are able to take in and process. The stories of someone else’s hardships related to a traumatic event can impact or become a part of us. This experience of second-hand trauma—often called vicarious trauma—is a human response to coming face-to-face with the reality of trauma and the difficulties of the human experience. 

It’s important to care for yourself as you support another person. You cannot be your best self in your supportive role if you find yourself too tired to listen with care and compassion, or overfilled with your own emotions in response to another’s trauma. These feelings are totally valid. Take some time after a conversation to enjoy the outdoors, or do a healthy activity that makes you feel good as a way of re-centering yourself. We have more ideas on how to mitigate vicarious trauma here.

Remember, you can be your best self for someone else when you give yourself the space to honor your own needs.

- See more at: http://www.joyfulheartfoundation.org/blog/6-steps-supporting-survivor#sthash.N7xDVihW.dpuf

Week Off by Robin Janney

I'm going to be taking this week off from posting.  I'll be back week after next and share the post I had in mind before my aunt passed. Promise.

Hit the Road, Fat, and Don't Cha Come Back No More, No More! By C.P. Stringham

My oldest and me on a snowy trip 
around The Matterhorn--and I'm 
still smiling! 

After a year of family-related medical anxieties, I have finally decided to take back my healthy lifestyle choices that I’d started nearly three years ago. Although the stressors have not lessened, my stress eating needs to stop and I have to get back into my old exercise routine. I look at where I was this time last year (walking/running 2.5 miles 3-5 times a week and covering it in 37 minutes along a rugged, hilly township-maintained dirt road) and then look at my current fitness and want to cry in frustration. If it makes sense, even after the holidays, when I knew I had returned to my old bad habits and my new clothing wasn’t exactly fitting as it should, instead of changing things, I binged on more unhealthy stuff. I went from stress eating to what-does-it-matter eating. Crazy.

I love to cook and my entire family suffers for it! Foodies!!

Other things contributed to this motivation as well. My husband came home last week from his yearly work physical and said I had to stop being such a good cook because he’d put on ten pounds in a year. Although he has a very physical job and can usually burn some serious calories over the course of his workday, he was just as guilty of overindulging. Our youngest takes medication to control her epilepsy and, while the medicine and dosage is an absolute necessity, the side-effect is weight gain. Not only does it cause the brain to trigger a false sense of hunger, it makes the weight gain settle mostly around the subject’s midsection. We’ve been told it’s very common for those taking Depakote to later develop Type 2 Diabetes. And we don’t want that. Because of her autism and cognitive issues, it is extremely hard making her understand that she really isn’t hungry. The way she acts sometimes, you’d think we were starving her! She’s very sedentary, too. Her activities are more electronic gadget powered ones versus moving her body activities.

With our oldest away at college, it makes it easier for our household family of three to transition into healthier eating habits—besides, she's the fussy one who complains the most over menu choices. The first thing we did was purge the house of junk food, including processed foods and sweets (we’re big fans of ice cream and chips). Instead, we filled the fridge and cupboards with the good stuff. Losing weight isn’t about starving yourself and I hate the word “diet.” I would even go so far as to say you don’t need to pay for some fancy brand diet food or supplements to get results. I ate better and walked myself into a fifty pound weight loss. No DVD’s. No shakes. What I’m advocating is a healthier lifestyle. Plain and simple. Training yourself to make wiser choices when it is time to eat—or even snack because snacking is totally permitted!!!

For the first time in my life, I wore out a pair of
running shoes using them for their intended purpose--
 exercising! *Sniff* My Saucony TR7's. 

The second thing I did was more for myself. I purchased new running shoes. Plantar fasciitis makes having the perfect fitting sneaker with the best support a must. My first pair of running shoes were the awesome Saucony TR7’s! I loved them! The fit and feel were perfect and the tread was perfect for the terrain I am on—especially for running downhill. When they wore out, I was prepared to buy another pair of TR7’s. However, Saucony replaced them with TR8’s (and now TR9’s). They offered nothing in support even remotely similar to their predecessor. I settled on a slightly more expensive model, happy with the toe box and heel support even though the arch was nothing like my tried and true TR7’s. I know they say you need to replace sneakers after so many miles and, while I literally wore out my TR7’s from lots and lots of miles, I wasn’t nearly getting out as often as before to wear this new model out. Midsummer, plantar fasciitis came with a vengeance and benched me for six weeks. Sure, two weeks in, my feet began to feel better only I overdid it trying to get back into my regular workout. Reinjuring isn’t recommended. Recovery takes even longer. My left foot still has residual issues. My family went sneaker shopping with me last week and pretty much ended up hating me by the end. I lost count of how many shoes I tried on. I wasn’t going to be brand loyal. Whatever fit the best and offered the support I needed was going to go home with me. This was further proven by the fact that I didn’t care what the shoes looked like. I tried on everything—much to my oldest daughter’s chagrin. I guess old moms like me aren’t supposed to wear iridescent colors in five different shades. Whatever. I was about to give up when I spotted a brand I had never tried before. I knew from my running friends the brand had a good reputation, but they tended to be pricey. As I pulled them out and my oldest gasped in horror over their appearance, I had my misgivings. They sported those open heel shocks through the sole. I didn’t know if I would like that. I’m a plus size lady after all. How would this feature hold up? And then I tried them on. It was like walking on air! The shoe also has a damn sturdy foundation around the perimeter and a decent arch. The others I’d tried had very disappointing arch support. I didn’t want to use insoles to gain arch support. Insoles always mess up the feel of the rest of the shoe. I decided to snap them up. I prepared myself for sticker shock only to discover they were on sale. I should say ridiculously on sale since I had returned home and searched online to see if I’d paid too much only to find out that I paid half the price they were online from the usual suspects. So, I am now the proud owner of hot pink Mizuno’s! Of course, I bought them just in time for the arrival of the 2016 Polar Vortex and then the snow/ice storm we got that left my walking/running path too treacherous to even dare attempting. AccuWeather is forecasting a mild weekend in Northeast PA. I’m hoping to hit the trails again—not running because I’m far too out of shape to do that in light of the 3 ½ months I took off. Instead, I’ll take it at a leisurely pace to avoid cardiac arrest. The Matterhorn is bad enough without adding further cardio! I should also note, I purchased foot compression sleeves that are supposed to help offer support for plantar fasciitis. They aren’t very fashionable looking, but if they work? Who cares!!!

My new hot pink Mizuno's! I hope they don't disappoint me! How do you like
those stylish compression sleeves? Jealous?

Any of our Broads of a Feather readers making lifestyle changes? What’s new with you?!      

In Sickness and In Health by Robin Janney

This is going to be a short post.  Because...I'm sick.  Either again, or still, I'm honestly nor sure which.

Two Sunday's ago, I woke up around 7am.  Unwillingly.  One of the perks of being a second shifter is I don't have to get up early.  But this morning, I had no choice.  I was freezing!  I had 3 comforters on top of me and was shivering!  I'm laying there, thinking I'm going to have to get up to go to the bathroom and not wanting to for fear of becoming even colder! But I braved the cold, and soon realized I was sick. And already dehydrated enough that I wanted to pass out.  Silly me just went back to bed.  Only to repeat in about two hours.

Of course, hubby chose this morning to come to bed late.  So by the time I asked him to take me to the ER for the dehydration, he had only been in bed about 2 hours.  I'm not the only silly one in my family.  Five hours later and a bag of IV fluid later, I'm sent back home to pretty much go back to bed.  I was also given a note to miss work the next day to give me more time to recover.

I dragged all week though, never feeling like I was bouncing back.

And then, Mr. Janney has the stomach bug.  It didn't dehydrate him thankfully.  But right after he was 'done' with that...he had something else.  Similar symptoms, complete with a 101.4 temperature that lasted two days.  As the temperature returned to normal, he started complaining about chest congestion.

So yeah, guess who can't breathe now?  Can't cough it out.  Feels like she has a small cat sitting on her chest.  And beginning to sound funny when she tries talking, at least to my own ears.  On the bright side, Mr Janney is still sick with it too.  This is what we get for breathing on each other!

It's probably the funky weather.  Warm, then cold, then mild again.  It tried snowing the past two days, and the temp outside has dropped drastically since this morning.  So all, keep warm and try to keep healthy.

The X-Files-Phile By C.P. Stringham

Special Agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder of Fox's The X-Files
(Internet Photo)

The day it was announced that Chris Carter was resurrecting his Sci-Fi Fantasy show The X-Files, I thought it was some cruel joke. Yes, even though it was a trending topic on multiple social media outlets, I feared that, if I went to the Snopes website to see if it was false, there’d somehow be a picture of yours truly with the caption “Sucker!!” under it. It wasn’t until I consulted the websites of Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Entertainment Weekly that I believed it. And even better? They confirmed the return of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. Mulder. And. Scully. Booyah! It was better than the best Christmas morning ever! Only true fans will understand…because “The truth is out there.”

The original series aired from 1993 to 2002 and included two motion pictures in 1998 and 2008. The series made all of us think “I want to believe” when the story line touched on alien abductions, secret international consortiums, and monsters-of-the-week cases. It was edgy and different during a time of endless cop shows and sitcoms. What started out as a cult following, quickly earned a top spot in the pop culture world. We loved Fox Mulder’s enthusiastic belief in all things government conspiracy and outright bizarre just as much as we loved Dana Scully’s scientific Doubting Thomas who kept Mulder in line—until she joined Team Spooky, too. That was the best. The sexual chemistry between the two FBI agents charged each scene with electricity. It was HAWT! Yowza! We waited and waited for the episode when the two of them would rip off each other’s clothing and have at it. And then nothing. Suddenly, in the episode titled Requiem, they drop a plot bomb and reveal that Scully is pregnant. What?! In Trust No 1 they lead us to believe that Mulder is the father. Scully had Mulder’s baby and we never got to see the love scene that led to this outcome. Cruel. Very cruel.

  

Mulder’s dry sense of humor was peppered into every episode. Along with each one-liner he tossed out was an equal amount of eye rolls or mental eye rolls by Scully.

 SCULLY: Snake handling. I didn't learn that in catechism class.

MULDER: That's funny. I knew a couple of Catholic schoolgirls who were expert at it.

(Signs and Wonders Season 7: Episode 9)  

As a true fan, I have my favorite episodes and each one for different reasons. In my opinion, the most disturbing episode was Home. Set in my home state of Pennsylvania, this has to be the most twisted episode of the series. Ever. One word sums it up: Incest. *involuntary shiver* Enough said. Quagmire was a monster-of-the-week episode where the duo go on the hunt for Big Blue, a lake monster. The two find themselves abandoning a sinking motorboat (a homage to Jaws perhaps?) and end up spending the night trapped on a large rock that is partially above the surface of the lake. The sound of lapping water only builds to the suspense because we don’t know what could be looming just outside of our vision. When morning arrives, we find out that the agents could have walked to the nearby shore through knee deep water. It also marked the terrible demise of Scully’s Pomeranian, Queequeg, when the “monster” gets him. Eve brings to surface all of my fears regarding human cloning and how genetic manipulation at the hands of mad scientists could cause the downfall of mankind. Because of that episode, every time Harriet Harris guest starred on Frasier as his eccentric entertainment agent, I couldn’t help but assume Bebe Glazer was yet another reincarnation of an Eve clone.  Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose was one of the best-written episodes ever about a psychic who is brought in to help Mulder and Scully catch a serial killer. Not only did critics and fans alike praise this touching episode, it was awarded Emmy’s for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series for Darin Morgan and Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for Peter (Everybody Loves Raymond) Boyle who played Bruckman. Honestly, there are many more I could add to this list, but I don’t have enough time in my schedule today in order to do it justice. I say that and yet I have to add Detour. You’ll never look at a forest in the same way. 

Scully holding William as her paranoia grew. Soon, she would put the baby
up for adoption to protect him.

The reboot aired last week with double episodes; airing back-to-back on Sunday and Monday. I have to admit, as the premiere approached, I was a little worried that the same magic of the original series would be gone, but it isn’t. Duchovny and Anderson fell right back into step with their G-Men alter egos. Added to the sexual chemistry from the first run is a sense of longing between them, which means an ember is still burning inside both of them. Gillian’s range of emotion is palpable in each and every scene she’s in and she has handily transitioned from young naïveté to wise and life-weary woman. David is still David; reminding viewers he’s still very much like their sometimes dorky, but always loveable, big brother who knows when to drop the funny witticisms at just the right moment. The X-Files’ writers have always been able to intertwine modern historical events into their story arcs. Edward Snowden’s name was dropped in both new episodes. When they discussed the government’s plot to create a fake alien invasion, the bit about causing power grids to fail resulting in massive blackouts kinda scared the crap out of me. Remember the Great Northeast Blackout of 2003?! They attributed it to a software bug that kept an alarm from notifying operators of an overload, but it could be a ruse. You never know. Conspiracy or software? Umhmm. See? Now you’re thinking about it, too. Trust no one!  

Mulder's poster that adorned the wall in their

shared basement office at the bureau .

With four episodes left to go of this new “season ten,” I’m hoping they explain William’s fate as well as divulge the secrets surrounding his conception. Was it au natural or was it via a turkey baster? Enquiring romantics’ minds what to know.
Episode three aired last night. I haven't watched it yet. I saved it for this evening. A little after dinner treat for myself and that way I can fast-forward through the commercials. What did we do before DVR's? Have any of our Broads of a Feather readers watched the new episodes? Are you avid fans of the old or new viewers? If you're new to the franchise, you need to see it from the beginning. I'll admit there's a little cheesiness to endure, but once you get to the meaty burger portion, you will be hungry for more.