Jungian Psychology
Carl Jung believed that with in our subconscious we have a thing called the collective unconscious. My psychology teacher called him a genius. Invent something that no one can prove to exist or not exist and you will be written in history forever. Freud did it too. There is proof as to whether or not the subconscious actually exists; yet psychoanalysists across the country make millions dissecting it. Jung’s idea is that our subconscious is comprised not only of our own experiences but those of our ancestors too. I wonder what happened to my distant relatives that made me like this.
I have cousins in jail in Northern Ireland for murder. Our great, great aunt used to own a horse that she traveled around the world with; she became very rich. But my cousins in jail saw none of this money. Maybe she’s like me, maybe she spent it all on alcohol and strip clubs.
My father is named after a man who was killed at age 13 on a farm in Germany. His brother ran over him with a tractor. In the second grade someone on the bus called me a Nazi and I started crying. But I didn’t know why.
At night when I can’t sleep I sneak up into the attic with the bats and smoke cigarettes that taste like Christmas. My mom blames the bats for the smell of the ornaments on the tree every year. There are a lot of nights that I can’t sleep. Jung would blame my ancestors for my nightmares.
CCC
My alarm goes off at seven every morning. At 7:30 my mom jams her finger into my ear and I shoot out of bed.
“Take a shower it’s time for school.”
I wasn’t really sleeping; I just had no desire to get up this morning. I finished a whole pack last night, that nightmare about bugs gnawing through my eardrum was back again. I’ve had it since I was younger. Ear infections are genetic in my family, I blame Jung.
Cucumber melon shampoo washes the burnt smell from my hair that I wake up with every morning. I fall asleep in the shower but always wake up when the man dressed in black tries to drown me. When I was younger I used to float face down in the water, wondering how long I would have to stay that way to drown.
CCC
In preschool the fire department sent volunteers into school to teach us important things like how to dial 911 and “stop-drop-and-roll.” My brother picked me up at the end of the day and I was convinced that fires happen at least twice to everyone. That night I went home and dreamed the house was burning down. I tried to open the window so I could breath but June bugs had blocked the way. I don’t know where they came from; we don’t get them any more. They used to line the windows in the summer and no one knew why.
CCC
There was this big storm a couple of years ago. The power was out for days, no reading past eight, no television at all. The night of the storm three of our trees fell down. One barely missed my window. I walked around the block the next day and there were live wires everywhere. I don’t really believe it happened though. I slept through it.
Was probably my last decent night of sleep.
CCC
Jung, before he had that big fight with Freud, was studying dream analysis. They believed it is through our dreams that our subconscious can escape. Freud thought it was all about sex. Jung believed it was our ancestors telling us their stories.
My parents never read me stories at night. I had a Walkman and books on tape. I learned that Go Dog Go was by P.D. Eastman and that some retarded bird believed that an airplane was its mother. I didn’t like reading much as a child.
CCC
At school I fall asleep in math class. The quadratic formula gets tattooed to my cheek, a mix of saliva and ink.
“Can I go to the bathroom?”
“I don’t know, can you?” the large hairy man that teaches us asks. I set myself up for that one.
I get up and leave the room with out responding, hoping that the strong scent of bologna doesn’t follow me out as a close the door. I sit in the art room until the end of the period. The art teacher tells me about her latest boyfriend and her newest. I tell her about the blind date I went on.
“We fucked in the movie theatre. I don’t believe in making love any more.”
“Cigarette?”
I nod; we walk into the woods and smoke for a while in silence.
“Ms. O’Bryan you never came back to class today.” The man that smells like my lunch box when I was five corners me in the hallway.
“Lady problems.”
He walks away with out saying another word.
CCC
“The two governments recognise the birthright of all the people of Northern Ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both, as they may so choose, and accordingly confirm that their right to hold both British and Irish citizenship is accepted by both Governments and would not be affected by any future change in the status of Northern Ireland.”
The boy that called me a Nazi when I was little got arrested the other day. He lit a cat on fire. It ran inside a house and it was burnt to the ground. No casualties, but a little girl broke her leg from jumping out the window. That wouldn’t have happened if it were June.
I have cousins in jail in Northern Ireland for murder. Our great, great aunt used to own a horse that she traveled around the world with; she became very rich. But my cousins in jail saw none of this money. Maybe she’s like me, maybe she spent it all on alcohol and strip clubs.
My father is named after a man who was killed at age 13 on a farm in Germany. His brother ran over him with a tractor. In the second grade someone on the bus called me a Nazi and I started crying. But I didn’t know why.
At night when I can’t sleep I sneak up into the attic with the bats and smoke cigarettes that taste like Christmas. My mom blames the bats for the smell of the ornaments on the tree every year. There are a lot of nights that I can’t sleep. Jung would blame my ancestors for my nightmares.
CCC
My alarm goes off at seven every morning. At 7:30 my mom jams her finger into my ear and I shoot out of bed.
“Take a shower it’s time for school.”
I wasn’t really sleeping; I just had no desire to get up this morning. I finished a whole pack last night, that nightmare about bugs gnawing through my eardrum was back again. I’ve had it since I was younger. Ear infections are genetic in my family, I blame Jung.
Cucumber melon shampoo washes the burnt smell from my hair that I wake up with every morning. I fall asleep in the shower but always wake up when the man dressed in black tries to drown me. When I was younger I used to float face down in the water, wondering how long I would have to stay that way to drown.
CCC
In preschool the fire department sent volunteers into school to teach us important things like how to dial 911 and “stop-drop-and-roll.” My brother picked me up at the end of the day and I was convinced that fires happen at least twice to everyone. That night I went home and dreamed the house was burning down. I tried to open the window so I could breath but June bugs had blocked the way. I don’t know where they came from; we don’t get them any more. They used to line the windows in the summer and no one knew why.
CCC
There was this big storm a couple of years ago. The power was out for days, no reading past eight, no television at all. The night of the storm three of our trees fell down. One barely missed my window. I walked around the block the next day and there were live wires everywhere. I don’t really believe it happened though. I slept through it.
Was probably my last decent night of sleep.
CCC
Jung, before he had that big fight with Freud, was studying dream analysis. They believed it is through our dreams that our subconscious can escape. Freud thought it was all about sex. Jung believed it was our ancestors telling us their stories.
My parents never read me stories at night. I had a Walkman and books on tape. I learned that Go Dog Go was by P.D. Eastman and that some retarded bird believed that an airplane was its mother. I didn’t like reading much as a child.
CCC
At school I fall asleep in math class. The quadratic formula gets tattooed to my cheek, a mix of saliva and ink.
“Can I go to the bathroom?”
“I don’t know, can you?” the large hairy man that teaches us asks. I set myself up for that one.
I get up and leave the room with out responding, hoping that the strong scent of bologna doesn’t follow me out as a close the door. I sit in the art room until the end of the period. The art teacher tells me about her latest boyfriend and her newest. I tell her about the blind date I went on.
“We fucked in the movie theatre. I don’t believe in making love any more.”
“Cigarette?”
I nod; we walk into the woods and smoke for a while in silence.
“Ms. O’Bryan you never came back to class today.” The man that smells like my lunch box when I was five corners me in the hallway.
“Lady problems.”
He walks away with out saying another word.
CCC
“The two governments recognise the birthright of all the people of Northern Ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both, as they may so choose, and accordingly confirm that their right to hold both British and Irish citizenship is accepted by both Governments and would not be affected by any future change in the status of Northern Ireland.”
The boy that called me a Nazi when I was little got arrested the other day. He lit a cat on fire. It ran inside a house and it was burnt to the ground. No casualties, but a little girl broke her leg from jumping out the window. That wouldn’t have happened if it were June.