Make her walk home to Fox Chapel from Duquesne.
The boro of, not University.
Wow what a head case. Mind you It would make a frickin hilarious Comic book.
Viva Fantastico!!!
It’s deeply disturbing. Yet, I must know more.
I wish I’d never seen it. Yet, I cannot look away.
I feel sorry for this woman. Yet, I can barely surpress the laughter.
Is anybody else having Unbreakable flashbacks?
Besides the obvious projection (I’m not the one who needs protection. They are!), the disassociative identity disorder(Sarah is somebody else! I’m Terrifica!), I seriously wonder if this woman has suicidal tendencies.
She seems to be profoundly lonely and to have no sense of self worth. Then, she wears a leotard and annoys drunk people late at night. Is she unconsciously doing this to fulfill a deathwish? Does she nurture some dream of front-page stories mourning the death of Terrifica, slain in her heroic battle against evil?
To me the truly sad thing is that her dementia and vision are so limited. There is something grand, and noble about Don Quixote. He may be a lunatic charging at windmills. But he not only sees an army of giants, he has the courage to fight them. Terrifica’s opponents are, by her own admission, drunk men. That is what makes her ridiculous to me. Sarah has remade herself as more than human. Now, she does battle with…the guys from Cheers?
Hmmmmm
I’ve been unemployed and living off SSI for at least 7 years now. I’ve got a fine(though sadly, not award-winning) cyberknight costume. I could just stop taking my meds, live on the streets and start life fresh as Obi Wan Quixote. I’d be living in filth and smog. But, I would see the Minotaur’s labyrinth and the breath of Fafnir. True, I’d die having accomplished nothing. But wouldn’t the attempt be a glorious thing?
Well sure, except when you’re in the mood for a good shag and the trash needs taking out.
Duh!
Good point. But the more I think of this, if she has indeed been doing this for 7 years, don’t you think this would have made news before? This is just too strange not to. Has anyone seen an older article about her than this one?
DocCathode wrote:
She battles her old archenemesis, Sanitas.
Hmm, haven’t heard that word before. But, let me extrapolate from known data
gravitas=gravity
humanitas=humanity
sanitas=yup
I've had many friends with mental health issues. One friend had seven different personalities. BUT, the personality change was accompanied by only slight changes in body language and speech. Thus, people didn't know and he wasn't treated like a crazy person.
Sarah is much the opposite. Her underlying problems aren't that severe. But, the outward manifestations of her disorder are. Hmm, I suspect Terrifica is also a defense mechanism to prevent relationships.
Semi-Hijack-
I first thought of this as a joke. But more and more, I wonder if it might have some real benefit.
One of the big signs that somebody is crazy, demented, a loonie, nuts, mental and all the other negative labels is talking, often loudly, to nobody. I was working on a ceramics project in a facility that provides free time and materials to “mental health consumers”(which is better than loonie but, IMHO swings too far the other way) when a new class came in. One of the students constantly mumbled to an invisible companion. Once or twice she laughed quite louldy at jokes she’d been told. Then, I had an idea.
Give them cell phones.
Seriously. Even in a room of people who were perfectly willing to list their disorders and daily medications, that woman was shunned. Sure, we might be crazy. But, she’s crazy. But, what if you give that woman an old cell phone and get her to hold it to her ear? Suddenly, she seems much more normal. A stranger who is constantly yacking on a cell phone might seem rude, but they aren’t the pariahs that the mentally ill are. People would respond to her much more favorably. They wouldn’t be afraid to sit next to her on the bus. Her life would improve.
I know it's not a panacea and I'm not expecting a Nobel prize. The patient would have to function at a certain level for this to work. They would have to appear that they could afford a cell phone and contract. Some people may notice that the phone is turned off or hear a dial tone. But, I think it could help some people.Wait a minute. I often talk to myself when I’m alone, thinking out loud, or sometimes, when I’m working on stories, I speak them outloud, or something.
So talking out loud to nobody is being crazy?
H’uh?
Oh, right, because CMU already has its own costumed superhero. Thanks for clearing that up.
Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m saying. I think that as a fellow OCD patient, you know what exactly what I mean.
[sub]but, can I be sure? Maybe I should repost this. Nahh. I’ll just check this thread every hour or two. No wait, every 30 minutes would be better-no, every ten-no, every five-damn! Did I take my methylphenidate today?[/sub]
hey DocCathode, your cell phone idea is now being suggested to consumers by self help organisations the world over. Not a silly idea at all. In the past we used to get folks to wear headphones with cords leading into empty pockets if necessary so they looked like they were listening to something that others could not hear (which of course they were) without the stigma attached but mobile phones are much better.
Anyone with old cell phones may like to think about donating them to their local drop-in centre. Stigma is often harder to deal with than the disorder that brings it about.
In my home town there is a man who has obviously some type of mental illness, and he walks around all day long in the town.
He’s not dangerous and never bothers or harasses anyone, but he talks to himself and that led to him being treated rather badly by some of the kids in the town.
So the volunteer fire department gave him one of their old ‘walkie talkies’ to use while he’s out walking. He talks to the ‘walkie talkie’ and since it seems like he’s talking to someone else, he’s not such an outcast.
Reminds me of the comedian who said that insanity doesn’t exist really, it’s all a matter of having the right props for the play going on in your head. Wish I could remember which comedian that was.
Well, at least Bill isn’t crazy. He’s a pretty cool guy actually. 
Well, I guess you mean, I don’t talk to myself in public, and I know I’m just thinking outloud-I don’t REALLY think there’s someone there.
Right?
It’s probable that guys with attitudes like that are what inspired her to do this.
So what does the crazy bitch need, then?
j_kat:
Don’t call her a bitch. You don’t know her. You don’t know if she’s crazy, either. Whatever this is, mental illness, performance art or vigilantism, this woman has issues about men. You don’t know the specifics of her breakup with the guy seven years ago, or other relationships she’d had, or her relationship with her dad. But you dismiss her as a “crazy bitch”, the way so many men dismiss women who don’t fit the mold. That’s a hallmark of the men she’s apparently targeting.
It is also not your business what she needs. I’ve heard it expressed elsewhere in this thread that “not all men are like that” or words to that effect. But putting her down with crude remarks like yours, or the ones I quoted, makes the speaker look “like that”.
I suppose that’s fair enough. I’m just not usually as considerate as you with other people’s feelings, especially when they’re not around.
It doesn’t seem like the best way to educate women about the evils of relationships is to dress up as a superhero and forcibly remove them from resturants, though.
At least we can agree she has issues.
If that’s what she did wouldn’t she be charged with assault?
Marc
Rilchiam, I suspect she has as much animosity towards the women. I’ve encountered women who have had bad luck with men and turn into man-haters. They also seem to resent women who have either had good luck with men or haven’t become bitter about the bad experiences. I would also say she needs to get laid.
What she needs becomes other people’s business when she starts behaving as if other people’s sex lives were her business.
However, I think that all of us are taking this a wee bit too seriously. I imagine this is a form of performance art.