Robert E. Wronski, Jr.

Starting in September all manna meals will be at 6pm. There won’t be lunches. (Saturday is the exception. Lunch will still happen on Saturday.)

They have a legitimate reason. The St. John’s construction isn’t finished and the parent center is starting back up at Edwards so they just don’t have a space for lunch.

Unfortunately that’s going to have some negative impact on the community. Panhandling is likely to multiply as people are trying to get money for lunch. People hanging outside won’t have a place to go during lunch hour so they will be on Main Street hanging out hungry and angry as some people won’t be able to eat all day until 6pm now. That might lead to more negative encounters with pedestrians, store owners and the police. And the haymarket common account is likely to get overextended which will dip into profits and become more costly.

Some folks who don’t panhandle regularly have already expressed that they will have to start doing it daily to eat. Others who can are going to try to bus to Amherst for lunch, which will also then impact their attendance numbers and resources.

A lot of folks are stressed. As I said, Lee is doing his best under unforeseen complications but I wanted to make everyone aware so the city can be prepared and brace for the ripple effect.

Well, not much lately.  I sit on my couch watching movies most the the time.

Over the last few years my writing has slowed down due to my efforts to be more involved in helping the disenfranchised in my community while also dealing with my own health problems.  Recently I had surgery that really halted me in my tracks.  I’m only now starting to get back to normal.

But I wanted to update you all who follow me on that status of projects that I’ve been working on.

The Television Crossover Universe — My original blog that I started in 2011.  I haven’t updated it in a while but I’m still working on both new posts and updating older posts.  Within the next few months you should start seeing activity picking up there.

Television Crossover Universe:  Worlds and Mythology Volume II — I haven’t touched it in a while, but actually it’s not that far from completion.  I expect it should be published by the end of the year, at which point I hope to start working on a different TVCU series focused on classic television series.

Cartoon Multiverse:  The Cartoon Crossover Encyclopedia — I’ve been working on this one since the Horror Crossover Encyclopedia was published.  It’s been stalled many times.  I decided to take a different approach.  This one is actually one of the few projects that I actually worked on more after my surgery.  (Mostly watching a bunch of Family Guy and taking detailed notes.)  This one might be out next year, fingers and toes crossed.

Wild Hunt Press Projects — So recently I did a Dorian Gray timeline for Wild Hunt’s first anthology, and after Wild Hunt announced more anthologies I thought I might try returning to writing fiction.  I very enthusiastically signed up to contribute many stories really not thinking my surgery was going to be as hard as it was.  So these stories are still ones I want to write, but they probably won’t make it into the intended anthologies.  Some of them are linked to each other, and I’m really excited to write them (one I’ve started), so I will finish them and then submit them to Wild Hunt for first crack at publishing them in whichever future book they see fit, or if they pass I’ll probably self-publish them (but I really prefer when I have a publisher that’s not me, because it’s less work for me.)

Cathedral in the Night — So I’ve been having some meetings with Pastor Stephanie Smith about writing a spiritual blog (and perhaps a book) with her about our experiences over the past eight years at Cathedral in the Night, an outdoor ministry in which I currently serve as a lay minister.  I’ve been wanting to start writing something that is fulfilling and could help my community in some way.  This is a charitable effort on my part.  All my royalties will go to help Cathedral in the Night’s mission of supporting the homeless in our community.

Super Entertainment Presents:  Overthinking from the Couch — So over the past year and a half I’ve made an attempt that’s almost complete to watch every movie based on an English language comic book.  So this was just for my own enjoyment, but along the way I’ve taken notes (because that’s what I do).  So a friend suggested I post my thoughts on YouTube, so I will sporadically start doing this, probably not until the winter though.

Speaking engagements — I’m doing some minor speaking events.  I’m doing my annual participation in the Smith College orientation’s “Be the Change”, and I’m also going to be a “human book” for an event at Forbes Library co-sponsored by Northampton Connects.

So those are the current things going on in my world.  I’m slooooowly getting back into things.  For a while I thought my muse might have left me, but inspiration and energy is starting to return as I continue to recover.  Thanks to all the folks who support what I do.

Attitude of gratitude.  I used to think this was so cheesy.  I hated gratitude meetings.  But I’ve come to believe.

Once upon a time I only focused on the worst, most negative aspects of my life.  And so naturally, I was always angry or depressed, looking through feces covered lenses.

I always anticipated the worst, and prepared my resentments in advance.  I could have had the best day ever, full of good fortune, but then focus on a traffic jam or someone saying just the wrong thing and let that affect my whole day.

In recovery, I don’t have as many bad days, though I have bad moments.  I try to remove myself from negativity and surround myself with positivity.  I don’t hide from bad things.  I mourn losses.  I deal with problems.  But then I find positive outlets to recharge my batteries.  Sometimes that’s being around good people.  Sometimes that’s watching dumb movies.  Sometimes it’s sitting outside in solitude with nature.

Sadly, because I suffer from bi-polar depression, sometimes it’s a bit more challenging to stay positive.  Sometimes my head gets stuck in a dark cloud of misery for no good reason.  But I’ve even come to manage those extreme swings by forcing myself to seek out positive people and help others, and the bouts of depression don’t last as long when I keep allowing the people who act as rays of light to shine through the cloud of darkness.