Category Archives: By the Sea

Painter of Light, Dead at 54

 

On Friday April 6th, famous “painter of light” Thomas Kinkade died. Kinkade is known not only for his beautifully cheerful paintings but his strong faith and belief in Christianity. Within many of his paintings, he hid the names of his family members as well as Christian messages and symbolism such as the fish that he painted under his every signature. His nickname, “painter of light,” is likely a reference to the Renaissance; the era where the techniques of point of view and specifically light and shadow depiction were technically developed and perfected. In this era, the technique chiaroscuro was born. Chiaroscuro is a technique that utilizes light and dark shades and shadows to create realistic depth through usage of these various contrasting tonalities. The discovery of this way of painting light and shadow was drastic in comparison to the Byzantine style used throughout the middle ages.

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Filed under Addiction, Art, By the Sea, Fairy Tales, Inspirational, Motivation, News

My Book is Here!

Late this afternoon my book should be available for download on Amazon. I’m sorry about the delay- I will post an article about that later. Coming soon: a hard copy edition. In the meantime, here is the book’s synopsis:

Told through the lens of the sea, each of the book’s five sections chronicle the main character’s journey away from tumultuous love affairs by weaving stories of her past with stories from literature, music, and visual art of both modern and classical significance.

After nearly being murdered by a boyfriend, Hayley promises herself that she will never let a man abuse her again. She figures that making this change, from dating abusive men to normal ones, should be as easy as flicking off a light switch, but soon finds that even after she’s made the conscious decision to no longer involve herself in unhealthy relationships, the rest of her has yet to catch up with that thought. Still caught up in the dramaturgy of her relationships’ past, she sets off on an emotional voyage to discover how she ended up on the shores of coastal New England.

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Filed under By the Sea, Journal, Writing

Why Do Smart Women Date Abusive Men? Now on HuffPost

Good Afternoon Everyone,

If you haven’t yet read this article please check it out and by all means, feel free to share and comment!

Why do smart women date abusive men? I was asked this question countless times as I found myself stuck in an abusive relationship that began to spiral even more out of control. He didn’t seem abusive in the beginning, but the longer we were together, the more his abusive behavior began to seep out. It started off with frigidity and verbal abuse but it soon became evident that the man I was dating was very spiteful and would go for the jugular in the most minor of disagreements. Even after all these warning signs, I still didn’t believe anyone when they told me that one day it would escalate to physical violence. I will never forget that day, the day I almost became a statistic — another homicide victim resulting from domestic abuse.

Certain family members continuously asked me why someone like myself, a person with a seemingly high IQ, would allow themselves to be treated this way? How could a smart person end up in this situation? Every time I was asked this question, I cringed. The inference that I was stupid or ignorant because of my poor relationship choices did not help make my already out-of-control situation any better.

Anyone who is familiar with the dynamics of an abusive relationship knows that falling prey to one has nothing to do with a person’s intelligence or even their socio-economic status; rather their vulnerability.

Vulnerability leaves a person wide open to falling prey to an abuser. When I fell prey to my abuser, I was at a very mentally and emotionally weakened state because of all things I’d been through. In addition, I had just been dumped by a guy after confiding in him that I’d been raped. I had never felt lower. This vulnerability allowed for easy manipulation and I was inevitably sucked into a relationship by a man who made himself out to be my Knight in Shining Armor. In retrospect, there were many things I could’ve done differently to prevent this situation.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Read the rest of this article at The Huffington Post

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Filed under By the Sea, Random Acts of Kindness, Uncategorized

The Future of Wildlife After The Gulf Oil Spill

A few days ago, I received a message in my Inbox titled, “In Memory of Sea Turtles and Dolphins.” Just reading the title made me sick to my stomach, but I opened the email anyways. For the past few years, I’d felt especially close to dolphins. It all started one summer, when I foolishly hopped in the car with my boyfriend to travel across the country. After less than a week of exploring, we found ourselves on Virginia Beach. Little did I know that during an afternoon of sand and shore, the day’s record heat would give me the worst sunburn I’ve ever experienced.

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Filed under Animal Rights, By the Sea

Sea Glass: My Newest Obsession

Photograph by Hayley Rose, Copyright 2011

 

For years I’ve picked up pieces of sea glass as I walked along the Connecticut shore. Not all beaches have it. Though the beach I go to in Rhode Island is full of gorgeous smooth beach stones, I have yet to find a single spec of sea glass there. Of the Florida beaches I’ve visited, shells were the only impressive beach treasures I found.

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Filed under Art, By the Sea, Sea Glass