Bella Dancer
JOY AS A WEED - It's Everywhere!
On the subject of JOY today: One of my friends: ...definitely worth cultivating. And it takes a lotta freakin' work. Our other friend:...
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Memoir Table of Contents
Welcome Aboard!
--"Izzy, how did you start dancing?"
--"What got you into martial arts?"
--"What kind of dancer/martial artist/writer are you?
--"How do you deal with brain damage, bodily injury and
C-PTSD, yet still dance, write, train, live the way you do?"
--"How do you still find joy and beauty amidst pain and loss?"
--"Wow, you should write your memoirs!"
​
This Is My Story
​
NSFW, 18+
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Bella Dancer
- Mar 6, 2021
- 13 min
BEAUTIFUL, SEXY, SILLY, SAVVY: Unearthing Missing Black Muses & Founders
Toward the end of Black History Month, when I became inspired to write this post, I had sooooo hoped to complete it in the week I had...
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Bella Dancer
- Feb 17, 2021
- 14 min
BABY BELLY DANCER: My First Belly Dance Class
Okay. I'm finally ready to tell you what happened after a coin and fringe bra literally saved my life. Many of the references I make in...
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Bella Dancer
- Feb 17, 2021
- 21 min
WELL CRAP, NOW I'M TOO WHITE - Part 3: My CON-Fusing Search To Find Home
If you're just joining us, I highly recommend that you read these first: --THE GREAT "WHITE BELLY DANCER" WAR OF 2014 --IF *I'M* NOT...
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Bella Dancer
- Feb 1, 2021
- 10 min
IF *I'M* NOT WHITE ENOUGH?! - Then Yeah. Houston, We Have a Problem.
Seriously?! I mean, have you not seen my pasty-white butt? Some of you out there actually have. For the rest of you, let me assure...
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Bella Dancer
- Jan 7, 2021
- 7 min
"DO YOU SEE ROADBLOCKS OR OPPORTUNITIES?" the abled male said to the disabled female.
I love when the abled attempt to use their simple metaphors on the disabled, and then run in a cricket-chirping fashion when we respond....
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Bella Dancer
- Jan 2, 2021
- 14 min
MY RAWR-ING 2020 IN REVIEW: And a Shameless Request for Patronage
RAWRing '20s Grrrl New Years Eve 2020 EDIT: Dain Bramage & Covid strike again! Huh...so apparently it was actually the first day of the...
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Bella Dancer
- Dec 21, 2020
- 9 min
ON THIS DAY 20 YEARS AGO - Nadhra Rising, a Blossoming Belly-Nerd in Home-Sewn Spangles
You know how this goes. It started out like any other day... And it did. Like the day before, I cracked my eyes open and dragged my...
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Bella Dancer
- Dec 20, 2020
- 10 min
ON THIS DAY 20 YEARS AGO: Chakras and Pages and Most Welcome Changes
The first thing I did on the morning of December 19, 2000, before even getting up to pee, was crack open my eyes enough to reach for my...
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Bella Dancer
- Dec 18, 2020
- 7 min
SURFACING - The Hidden Injury in a Career That's All About *Show*
By 2005, I had decisively proven the pessimistic half of my medical team wrong when they told me I would never be a professional dancer...
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Bella Dancer
- Dec 2, 2020
- 2 min
CONFINED CREATIVITY - From Your Home Into Mine
One of my best friends just lost access again to her dojo, right when she'd really gotten back into the flow. Naturally, she can do the...
25
Bella Dancer
- Oct 31, 2020
- 16 min
A LOVE LETTER TO A FEW OF MY BULLIES - As We Approach 50
Do you have any idea how often I think about you all? The ruts in my neural pathways keep your voices on auto-repeat just over my...
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Bella Dancer
- Oct 25, 2020
- 12 min
KARATE KIDS: How Body Painting Gone Wrong Led Me to the Dojo
April 2005 32 years old He’s cast me in the role of Kali, the Indian Goddess of Destruction, among other things. (1, 2) This has been a...
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Bella Dancer
- Oct 25, 2020
- 7 min
A WEEK IN THE LIFE A PSYCHO-SLUT: Part 2 - TGIFF
Continued from: My Adventures on Monday-Thursday As stated last time: If the title didn't warn you that this one's about to get ugly,...
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Bella Dancer
- Oct 25, 2020
- 14 min
A WEEK IN THE LIFE OF A PSYCHO-SLUT: Rumors, Labels & Violence
If the title didn't warn you that this one's about to get ugly, then you must not know me very well yet. If you have school shooter...
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Bella Dancer
- Oct 17, 2020
- 9 min
I GO TO A FUNERAL - And Come Home With a Date
“…And yet, to learn of kindness after so much unkindness, to understand that a little girl with more courage than she knew, would find...
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Bella Dancer
- Oct 16, 2020
- 10 min
A SENSITIVE ORCHID IN A DANDELION WORLD - HSP, TBI & PTSD
Some people might say that orchids are sooooo much prettier than dandelions. I am not one of them. I adore dandelions. As a kid, it used...
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Bella Dancer
- Oct 11, 2020
- 10 min
A MULTIPOTENTIALITE HSP: I Am NOT a Specializer - In Anything
Multipotentialite: The phrase coined by Emilie Wapnick, referring to people who have a range of callings and jobs over one lifetime. ...
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Bella Dancer
- Oct 8, 2020
- 4 min
"SENSITIVITY" IS NOT A DIRTY WORD: The Highly Sensitive Person
My friend’s son sees colors on a hypersensitive spectrum. When he pointed out and described subtle shades in one of the testing photos, I...
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Bella Dancer
- Oct 5, 2020
- 10 min
TAKE THE SHOT - A Tomboy Cheerleader's First Crush & Burn
Spring 1986 Seventh Grade I’ve done it! This is the 80s, man. Girls no longer have to wait for a boy to make the first move. Forget...
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