You are holding in your hands (or on your trusty eBook reader of choice) a book expressing the thoughts of a person who identifies with people outside the mainstream of our culture. It collects my essays on a wide range of topics, from my love of writing and the perils and pitfalls of being part of the current boom in artistic expression online, in venues like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and elsewhere. I talk about our world as a whole, and also about what it is like to be part of the alt-lifestyle culture in a region and country that isn't ready for me to be openly myself. Many of these essays have appeared in their original forms on my Blogger website, "In the Eye of the Storm" ( http: //torturedcyclone.blogspot.com ). The essay about self-editing originally appeared in 2001 in the Vision, a now-defunct writing e-Zine ( http: //visionforwriters.com/vision/ ). I'd like to say that I have some relevant points and make them in a manner that shows some measure of eloquence, but the only one who can judge that is you, kind reader. All I can say with confidence is that these words are from my heart, and are written with a minimum of self-censorship. I hope that you do find something that resonates with you here - and that you do not leap to judgment. One of the goals I have with this book is showing that people from other lifestyles, other beliefs, other cultures - they are all people. All of us have common ground that we need to find and build upon. It is the only way that we can break this mutually destructive cycle of violence that mars our world.