Sunday, July 10, 2016

Spergs in the news: The North Pond Hermit

Some of us crave friendship but can't get it. The North Pond Hermit, scavenging (stealing) in the Maine woods for nearly 30 years, didn't want it. Normal people were just too confusing. Kudos to the kind people who, after he got caught, said they'd accommodate him. Obviously mentally ill so he got a very light sentence but even that seemed too much. Humility or inverted pride? With a really crazy person, maybe that doesn't apply.

Friday, July 8, 2016

Autism in TV fiction? The "Night Gallery" episode "Brenda"

A very weird tale of a lonely girl and the monster she befriends one summer in the Night Gallery segment “Brenda.” The show seems hokey now. It was an attempt to cash in on Rod Serling's popularity; he only hosted this anthology horror series. This episode isn't particularly scary but an interesting "social story" with maybe heavy-handed psychological content. I'm sure at least some of us were or still are weird Brenda. A lot of us grew up in this horrific situation: people (such as parents) noticed what we now know is autism but didn't know how to handle it, so they handled it badly.