Manning the controls...

It has been observed that men are less adept at dealing with their emotions than women. This awkward relationship with the turbulent weather systems of the psyche has traditionally lead many men to wall-up that part of themselves and position their captain's chair firmly in the analytical part of the brain. The resulting repression, or imbalance of psychic pressure, frequently leads to a tremendous buildup of emotional energy which is often expressed in the most basic of ways - outbursts - which, depending on the individual, are sometimes violent or animalistic in nature. A growing awareness of this aspect of the male psyche has lead to a whole men's movement which involves sublimating the emotions into primal drives such as banging drums and running through forests in grass skirts.

Lately, I've noticed my own unconscious way of dealing with this male pattern emotional disconnect. I've created a character, a voice - the steady, even keeled News Anchor who reports soberly on the minute to minute changes that occur internally. He is a first hand witness to all the raw bile, the childish whimpering, the melancholic gloom, the sexual voraciousness, the unbridled enthusiasm, the telephone-book tearing frustration, and countless other messy affairs that may be unfolding at any given moment. My inner Ted Koppel is a master at packaging, processing, toning down (or is that detonating?), in short - rationalizing my emotions into tidy, civilized sound bites ready for broadcast (should any passing human care to tune in). I'm not saying this is good or healthy or anything. It's simply my way of dealing with the issue at hand.

Of course, there are those times when I find myself face to face with my inner Jack Nicholson, and in those moments I have strong feelings that HE's the one who should be the one doing the %@#!-ing emoting. I'm sure that Mr. Koppel would have some pithy and subtly cutting remarks for the drooling and disheveled Mr. Nicholson. Then again, I'm sure that Jack would have an effective retort of his own.