Hello,
I wrote a book about a strange experience. I'm not sure what to do with it yet.
I would very, very much appreciate feedback or interest from those on the spectrum. Conscious NT is a big claim, but I never lie.
Below is a brief description of me and the book. If it interests you, contact me and I will send a link so that you may read the full book on the web.
There is no cost, no download necessary, and it will ne a new input for you. [email protected]
My name is Claire Hoogstra, and I am a thirty-one year old advocate of autistic intelligence. I currently live with my husband Brandon, who is on the autism spectrum, and our two young kids in Latin America. I have a B.A. in Communication Studies from Hollins University in Virginia, though I didn't like school.
This book is about my opting to become homeless with my husband prior to our marriage and having children. It explores the nature of autistic intelligence, the lack of recognition of its existence, and it follows us through the beginning of a difficult journey. Throughout, I maintain a position that autism is really just the vestiges of the male mind trying to crop back up in a now insanely feminist world. My writing is not anti-female though, just pro-male. In my telling of our story, I also offer many observations about the state of mankind on this planet, which can be bleak given the situations that we face during our travels. I intend to plant a seed of doubt in a reader's mind about what is commonly considered to be right versus wrong in the way we interact with one another and the world around us, while simultaneously offering hope in other possibilities.
The story opens with my return to the U.S. from South Africa in 2009, where I was trying to help my father achieve his dream of establishing a space for those on the spectrum to live apart from neurotypicals and create unique things without being weighed down by all of the rule sets of the world in its current state. Believing my mother could be integral to the salvation of the project, having been sent away by my father when our funding was cut, I return to live with her as an adult. Over the course of one year spent in my mother's house, I begin to lose interest in her importance, growing agitated with the revelation that she seems to show no compassion for anything, and I grow increasingly anxious to embark on a life with Brandon, a misdiagnosed schizophrenic man who I am in love with.
Brandon and I met several years before during a period of enlightenment for both of us. For him, this was a time of realization that he was a lot less nuts than he thought and everyone else was a lot less sane. It was then that he reached out to my father, believing himself to be autistic and met me. Because Brandon had such a profound impact on me since he came into my life, I find myself terribly distraught over the hard fact that he is now nearly dead due to the damage the world has inflicted on him. I resolve that I will either commit suicide or join up with Brandon. He finds a way to bribe the director of the halfway house he is living in to let me stay under the pretense that I am an addict, and from there, we begin a journey that is both horrible and beautiful all at once.
We spend several months living among rough men in the recovery home before leaving in late Winter to become homeless. With nowhere to go that will allow us to stay together, we venture into the unknown. We sneak into a downtown building to sleep, stay at a forgotten campground for several weeks, experience life in a homeless shelter, crash in a dilapidated, vacant motel, and sleep behind a church by the sea while we travel through mill towns and bay side beach cities. Finally, we make it back to where we started and are able to give birth to our son, who gives us his protection until we can make a heavenly alternative to life on Earth as we know it or die trying.
My book isn't all about the dark side either. After all, the two main characters are creatures of light, meaning that their intentions are pure. There is accidental humor sprinkled throughout coupled with light-hearted sarcasm.
08 Feb 2016, 8:20 pm
