Reasons why volunteering is working for me

I'm extremely satisfied now that I'm doing voluntary work but I'm not going to start preaching that every unemployed mentally ill person should start volunteering because it is a very personal decision and one that you should only make if and when it's right for you. Right up until the very day I decided to apply to volunteer, I found any pressure to get back to work extremely distressing and felt misunderstood by those who applied it.

However now that I am volunteering, I'm very happy about it, here's why:

1. I feel useful
2. My days have more structure
3. I don't feel guilty about claiming benefits
4. I feel that I'm a part of something
5. I'm around nice people
6. I'm learning new skills
7. I have less time to think about my problems
9. I have something to focus on
9. I have another reason to leave the house
10. I'm gaining confidence
11. Employment doesn't feel unreachable anymore

Something went wrong this week, not my #1 volunteering worry (having to quit because I was too sick) but something quite unpleasant nevertheless. I won't go into detail (I'm probably not allowed to) but it was the kind of event I dreaded when people told me I should try volunteering. However when it happened, it turned out I could cope after all! I probably wouldn't have done if it wasn't for everyone around me being supportive, but they were, so I was fine.

I just hope this period of good health marks the start of a full recovery rather than one of those irritating temporary reminders of how good life can be just before you crash. It feels like recovery.

Katy Perry, Threesomes and Lesbian Jabs - Three spoof news articles

We've written a few spoof news articles about sexuality this week. They're published elsewhere to reach a broader audience but I think you will enjoy them the most. Here's a summary:

Katy Perry honoured by the gay community
The female pop star responsible for "I kissed a girl and I liked it" has been chosen to receive the next Vanguard award for her contribution to promoting equal rights for the LGBT community.

Men encouraged to include threesomes on their CVs
Bosses are urging male applicants to include details of participation in threesomes with two women, on their curricula vitae on the grounds that there is no greater achievement for a man.

New vaccine against lesbianism soon to be available on the NHS
The government plans to offer 14 year old girls vaccinations against the sexually transmitted disease: lesbianism, after research showed that as many as 1 in 8 women will have a homosexual experience at some point during their lives, in the UK.

Lesbianism not counted as adultery

I looked up adultery law as research for a satirical article called "Law rules lesbianism is not cheating" and was shocked to find that it actually is not counted as adultery under UK law.

The phenomenon I was intending to ridicule was the modern attitude that it's OK for a woman to cheat on her boyfriend as long as it's with another woman. I had not expected to find that echoed in current law, which classifies lesbian affairs as "unreasonable behaviour" rather than adultery,  even though the dictionary defines adultery as:

voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other than his or her lawful spouse.

And yes, most dictionaries acknowledge that sexual intercourse is a superordinate term that can include all manner of sexual activities not limited to penis-vagina penetration. 

As far as I can tell, both adultery and unreasonable behaviour are grounds for a fast-track divorce, but I don't think the wording is particularly helpful in valuing homosexuality as a practice just as valid as heterosexuality.

Bisexual posts beat bipolar ones

The amount of traffic this blog attracts correlates perfectly with the bisexual:bipolar content ratio. Perhaps someone should glamorise bipolar disorder - but how do you make mental illness sexy?

Famous Bipolar Bisexuals (Possibly...)

I've met many queer women and men with mental health problems yet when I looked for famous bipolar bisexuals I found very few, in fact I've had to extend this list to "Possibly bipolar and probably not straight" for it really to be a list at all.

Due to links between creativity and bipolar disorder I am surprised not to find more. However a lot of famous figures from history lived in a time where their sexuality and mental condition may have been well hidden, if recognised at all.

Still, cross referencing lists found on the internet did uncover a handful of homosexual and bisexual manic depressives.

Stephen Fry (1957-present)
As both a successful writer and actor, Stephen Fry is a famailiar name throughout the UK. He has spoken publicly about his illness including a documentry called "The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive." The Independent on Sunday named Fry the second most influential gay person in Britain, (May 2007.)

Hart Crane (1899 to 1932)
This American poet is one of the most influential poets of his generation. He felt his homosexuality put a great distance between himself and society and that that distance helped to shape him as a poet. He is reported to have suffered from bipolar disorder and alcoholism.

Alexander Hamilton (1750s - 1805)
Hamilton was a US secretary of the treasury. He is believed to have been homosexual because of the content of letters he wrote during his life. Hamilton was considered self-destructive and some of his biographers have written that he was a manic-depressive. He developed an interest in writing and published in newsletters of the time.

Isaac Newton (1643-1727)
One of the greatest minds that ever lived belonged to Sir Isaac Newton, writer of the heavily influential book: "Mathematical principles of natural philosophy." Claims that he was a repressed homosexual are the centre of much controversy and likewise, with our understanding of manic depression not blooming until much later, it is hard to be certain that he suffered from bipolar disorder.

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)
Yet another writer, Virginia Woolf, is a highly regarded literary figure. Her dramatic mood swings and mental breakdowns have been attributed to bipolar disorder by modern experts. Woolf was bisexual and there are lesbian themes found in much of her work.