Shanon Angermeyer Norman
Bio
Gold, Published Poet at allpoetry.com since 2010. USF Grad, Class 2001.
Currently focusing here in VIVA and Challenges having been ECLECTIC in various communities. Upcoming explorations: ART, BOOK CLUB, FILTHY, PHOTOGRAPHY, and HORROR.
Stories (377)
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Pain is a reminder of limitations
I want to cry or scream. The pain is bad. I'm breathing heavy and trying to deal with it, hoping it won't be here too long. What else can I do? I've got Tylenol, coffee, and my cigarettes. That's all I've got besides my strength and tolerance for pain. It hurts just like that image above. It hurts less when I stay seated. It hurts more when I stand or walk. I feel like the Tylenol had no effect - like the pain is so much bigger than the Extra Strength Tylenol. I try to accept that. I tell myself it will pass, and pain is temporary, like happiness. But the mood is different than my strength. The mood gets angry and depressed. The mood thinks about death. The mood makes jokes about how Death is the Messiah and eliminates all suffering. I think gruesome, dark thoughts - like how I've seen people get killed, and how some of their deaths were so quick and seemed painless. That's what pain does to me. It reminds me of the blessing of mortality and death. It makes me grateful that we don't live forever. I can only hope that my death will occur when I'm in great pain so that I can be grateful to both death and pain.
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman3 months ago in Viva
Painters, Sketchers, Photographers have an Eye for Obvious Profundity
There are two communities here at Vocal that appeal to me that I haven't submitted to yet: Art and Photography. Now with this submission, I've got one in Art. Yet for my "image" I've used a photograph that I took. Why not a painting or a sketch? Would that have been better? I decided to go with this photograph because I haven't shared this photograph yet, while most of my paintings and sketches have been shared online because once I'm finished painting or sketching, I'm quick to share it out of pride for the creation. Do you like the photograph above? Why or why not? I wish you would comment on it. I can tell you more about it. I took the shot at a weird angle as you can notice. Why? It was the only way to get the Palm tree and the hammock inside the frame and I felt that the message I wanted to convey with the photograph made it essential that both the tree and hammock were shown. Does that change your impression of the photo - knowing why I angled it that way?
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman3 months ago in Art
How I feel as a typical consumer playing online games
I've said it about business over and over again and yet I feel like I'm the only one who really cares about the value of money when it comes to salesmanship and customer service. What good is any product or service or item available for purchase or sale, if it does not have customer service to go along with it? This is how I as a typical consumer feel when being bombarded by app advertisements coming to view at Playstore or when I'm surfing online. I don't know the new "whatever" they are talking about and they expect me to fork over my money when I don't even know if there's a person to talk to about whether I like the product or service or if I need a refund for a bad deal.
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman3 months ago in Gamers
Does Perception Come with Consquences?
Are you looking at the sketch above and thinking "She can't draw" or "That body is offensive because it doesn't look like Barbie" or "Why did this writer just post a nude sketch?" ? If it's the last question, I can reply and explain that the nude sketch is an appropriate artwork for the topic of objectification, which is commonly discussed in feminist writing and also a topic of irritation between the sexes due to our human hypocrisies and contradictions.
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman3 months ago in Viva
Dear Diary in Late October 2025
Dear Diary, I've been reading both AI generated articles and real articles written by contributors here at Vocal.media and of course taking in the various topics jumbles up inside my mind like a math formula summing up for some conclusion. That's what this diary entry is - all those words mixing up together in my mind for an opinion, a summation. "Add it Up" sang The Violent Femmes, a band that I enjoyed listening to in my teens. Well, I do. I always do. I used to pride myself on being an excellent critiquer, until I started noticing that most contributors (whether they are serving you food, a product, a service, or some entertaining or educational reading material) want praise, not critique. And now, with AI generated articles, most of the contributors feel that there is nothing to critique because AI is perfect, right? I don't think so. I've read some of the AI generated articles. The format is shiny, the grammar and spelling mistakes absent, and the presentation is pretty --- like those photos of the perfect hamburger complete with decorative garnish. But when you go order the REAL hamburger, it doesn't look exactly like the photograph. Why not? Oh, that's right, there is a difference between REAL and Photo-Shopped. Like the difference between a real mother who breast feeds her children and a mother who would never let a baby suck on her breasts because that's "disgusting".
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman3 months ago in Journal
Teacher Lesson Plan 2: Creativity and Evolution
Reading books and watching documentaries is the typical and classical approach to education in regular school houses or institutions; However, some of the Montessori philosophies and principles can be applied to Secondary Education levels without too much disruption to the "normal" sit down and don't cause chaos idea. Regardless if you are in a classroom with children or pre-teens, or if you're trying to see if Geometry can compete with Instagram or some teenager's raging hormones, you should remember this: Students love learning and enjoy learning when it is FUN. Some of the smartest students in the classroom may not participate or engage in lessons because they either already know the information or it simply doesn't challenge them enough to be interesting or worthy of their attention. FUN defies those factors. When a lesson or activity is FUN, the students don't mind if they already know, and they forget they weren't interested because FUN made it interesting. Not all teachers are FUN. As a matter of fact, most of the teachers I had the pleasure of learning from had a serious lack of humor. I think before I graduated, most of the teachers I learned from had to take a class in "How Not to Be Fun" and they all aced it.
By Shanon Angermeyer NormanExclusive • 3 months ago
Stop Harassing Women who Smoke. Top Story - October 2025.
I could have smoked three cigarettes for how long it took me to find the right image to put with this article. I'm sure the AI generators don't struggle like I do trying to force an image into the pixel spot wanting a specific mood/look but not getting the number of pixels correct. Ugh. Ok, now that I've vented, what was I wanting to talk about today? Oh yeah, women who smoke. I did not light a cigarette while I wrote this venting prelude paragraph. I just wanted you to know that because as I move on to the next paragraph, I'm going to refill my coffee cup and then light a cigarette.
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman3 months ago in Viva
Purpose and Heroism found in Charity
Today in my mailbox I found a lovely envelope stuffed with information about an organization I had never heard of: Mouth and Foot Painting Artists. They sent me a sample of Christmas cards painted by their mouth and foot artists such as the painting I've shared above. I'm astonished in the most pleasant way, and not slightly offended that they are requesting a donation for the Christmas cards. I have at times been accused of being a "rebel without a cause" but I do remind my accusers that I am an empathic, starving artist who can not afford to promote all the causes or charities that my heart goes out to. My artwork is strange and avant garde most of the time, yet I don't even think I'm in the same league as Iwao Adachi, who's talent to paint such a beautiful masterpiece by mouth is truly worth more than my meager donation.
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman3 months ago in The Swamp
Applying Piaget to Women Reinventing themselves
Have you ever heard of your favorite star (actress, singer, or something else) talk about how they got to a point in their lives where they had to "reinvent themselves"? I read articles (starstruck long ago) about some of my idols mentioning that phase or stage of their lives. I think it's very Piaget in thought or psychological consideration. Stages. Certain time periods of our lives. The childhood is different from the teenage years. The young adult life is different from the new mom and dad years. The empty nest or divorce years are different from the married grandma and grandpa years... Etcetera. For me personally, the past eight years have been challenging me in the harshest aspects of aging to "reinvent myself" --- and let me tell you --- for a stubborn 50-something woman like me who finds change uncomfortable, this "stage" or "phase" of my life and aging process has been utter drudgery.
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman3 months ago in Viva
The Shelter of Urban Decay?
You know the address. You know where "that" area is. What do you call it? The ghetto? The bad neighborhood? Gangsta's Paradise? Was it you who said, "I wouldn't be caught dead there?" Yeah. I was morbidly curious, but that's not how I got there.
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman4 months ago in Fiction
Shopping is like Hunting
I don't know if it was Rabbit Season or Duck Season or Deer Season, but I hunted for about five years for three specific things: A Job, a Shoppe Space, and/or a home. My bipolar attitude of "find your own joy" had me hunting in every town I could get to from Florida to Georgia to Alabama to the Carolinas to Virginia even all the way to New Jersey. The mind is a terrible thing to waste, and when fear and pride are an individual's leaders, time and money get wasted on fruitless searches like a machine gun spraying bullet ammo aimlessly. I may have lost my tank and machine gun, but from those five years of hunting, I think I got two out of three. No job, but home is good and the shoppe space online is sufficient. I'll not buy another tank or machine gun for Duck Season, Rabbit Season or Deer Season. I've decided to give those up like vegetarians and Hindus give up Cow. I still have credit cards and some cash to go shopping with and the internet is still showing me lots of great "targets" of acquisition, so I'll just shoot for cans when I can.
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman4 months ago in Poets
Any Tampa Bay Area Parties for Halloween?
Oh oh! Only 13 more days until Halloween. I hear spooky music. The door just closed on its own. Etcetera. It's October and spook lovers are vibing to the monster mash and looking for festivities. Moms and Pops with the little ones are either throwing home parties or have already found a family-friendly place to gather and collect treats. Churches usually have a pumpkin patch or a trunk-or-treat thing going on. But I'm sure there's also a bunch of Tampons like me wondering what to do for Halloween. Should we go out there? Can we hide behind a costume and mask and have some fun for once in our boring old lives? Can we get some candy and relive just a bit of those fabulous glory days while we can still carry a plastic pumpkin? I think so. I hope so. I've got my costume ready just in case.
By Shanon Angermeyer Norman4 months ago in Wander
