fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Body Found With 193 Stab Wounds. Was it for insurance money or…
By: Dylan Deckard
Tags: Relationships, Murder, Crime, Short Read, True Crime

Body Found With 193 Stab Wounds

Susan Wright / Photo by CBS News

When people think of murder cases in the 21st century, Susan Wright is one of the names that come up.

Susan was born in Houston, Texas, and worked as a waitress when she got older and worked at a few different restaurants to pay bills. In 1997, while she was waiting tables she met a man named Jeff Wright and they fell in love.

The relationship evolved quickly and they planned to get married and have children within the year and by 1998, Susan and Jeff were married and 8 and a half months pregnant.

Their first child was born soon after and he was named Bradley. A few years later they had another child, this time a daughter and they named her Kayley. All of the citizens of the greater Houston, Texas area thought that the Wrights were a normal loving family, but that all changed on January 13, 2003.

For the majority of Houston, there was nothing different about the night of January 13, 2003, but there was a lot going on in the Wright household. The next day Susan went to the Houston Police Department and filed a domestic abuse report and a restraining order against her husband. She also said he went missing and that is why she requested the reports for the safety of herself and her children. A few days went by and on January 18th, 2003 Susan called her attorney over to her house to talk about Jeff’s disappearance.

Susan & Jeff Wright / Photo by Digital Journal

Susan told her lawyer that she killed her husband a few days ago and buried his body in the backyard, explaining that it was self-defense. The lawyer then called the district attorney to inform him that the body of Jeff Wright had been found.

A media storm soon began as the body was found in a way that nobody expected. Once the body had been exhumed, it was found that Jeff Wright had been stabbed 193 times and two different knives were used.

A few days later on January 24th, 2003 Susan drove to the Houston Police Department and turned herself in. She was claiming that this murder was self-defense and she was protecting herself against his abusive ways. One of the number one motives for murder is love.

An Associate Professor of Health Sociology at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom backs this up. He believes there are only four possible motives for murder and they are, “love, lust, loathing, and/or looting.” This motive seemed to be lust though as this was a grown couple with two children and instead of ending in a divorce, it ended in a murder.
Climb Aboard…
By: Jupiter Grant
Tags: Relationships, Cowgirl, Sex, Erotica, Short Read

Climb Aboard…

I pick up my tablet and start scrolling through my emails. But though my fingers are running up and down the screen, my mind is very much focussed on his crotch… Jupiter Grant Follow Dec 14, 2020 · 3 min read

Photo by Juli Kosolapova on Unsplash

I find myself fantasizing about straddling his lap, as he watches golf on the TV. I don’t get his “sports” thing (is golf even a sport, really?), and I admit I get fed up when he ignores me in favour of watching people hit balls around. After all, I could be hitting his balls around. But I don’t want to be a spoilsport (literally), so I pick up my tablet and start scrolling through my emails. But though my fingers are running up and down the screen, my mind is very much focussed on his crotch.

The bulge in the front of his jeans when he sits never fails to draw my eye. Is his cock even bigger like this, or is it just a figment of my imagination? I feel myself getting wet as I picture myself climbing onto his lap, a thigh on either side of his warm body, and feeling the protruding heft of his bulge pressing against my groin. I imagine myself slowly pulling his glasses off his face, before leaning forward to run my tongue over his half-opened lips. I think about his hands finding my thighs, sliding up to cup my buttocks, then up my back, under my arms, and front and centre at my breasts. My nipples harden inside my bra as I imagine the sensation of him kneading my flesh over my jumper, before reaching inside to make contact with my heated skin.

I’m drawn out of my fantasy by the sound of him clearing his throat.

“You’re staring at my crotch,” he chuckles. “Are you aware?”

I blush and giggle. Whoops. I guess I’m not exactly being discrete here.

“Err, sorry? It is a very good view, and I can’t stop thinking about riding you.”

He raises his hand and lays it on my leg, squeezing firmly. He smiles that sexy, crooked smile, the one that says he’s feeling frisky and, instantly, a warm drizzle of slick moisture leaks from my pussy.

“Well, by all means, climb aboard,” he murmurs, and leans back, angling his hips so that his bulge is even more pronounced. I practically drool as I see that his cock is starting to harden.

“But what about the golf?” I purr, as I set my tablet aside and slink onto his lap. The warm press of his growing erection nudges at my dampening mound, and I grind against him. He groans and grips my hips, as I lower my mouth to his and share his carbon dioxide for a moment before closing my lips over his and sucking his moist flesh in a hot, wet kiss.

When I release his mouth, and rock against his crotch again, he breathes, “Fuck the golf.”

My sentiments exactly. I reach down to unbutton his jeans, while he fumbles with the remote control…..
The Eraser
By: Brianna R Duffin
Tags: Relationships, Poetry On Medium, Poetry, Love, Short Read

When I showed you the place

Where I became a paper doll

I never expected you to

Become an eraser just for me

I didn’t think healing was possible,

I thought scars were evergreen

Because love certainly doesn’t

Drive the long haul for girls like me

But here you are after 1000 years

For some reason still right here

If ever left me I don’t think I’d mend

But I heal all over again

Every time you give me that smile.

Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash

You can go ahead and burn

My whole house to the ground

I live in your heart, right where

There used to be an emptiness-

I keep doing my best to erase it.

Good enough is the one thing I’m not

But for you I will be everything,

Everything you need to fill you up.
Need
By: Kristin Waters
Tags: Flash Fiction, Fiction, New Author, Short Read, Twist

The reek of the seedy hotel room clung to me. Shame made my cheeks burn as I hurried away from the flickering vacancy sign, my shoes slapping the pavement rhythmically, creating a cadence for my heart to follow. I wrapped the thin covering of my jacket around myself with shaking hands and, as the tears threatened, took comfort in the fact that soon this gnawing pain in my belly and oil slick fire racing through my veins and over my brain would be gone, replaced with satiation of the beast and tinkling laughter to soothe the flames.

I was drawing nearer my destination. The soft yellow glow of the streetlamps gave way to the harsh glare of neon signs. The empty streets from earlier were becoming overpopulated by cool men in flashy suits and loud women in leather and fishnets. My nose wrinkled as the fragrance of under-washed and over-perfumed bodies finally overwhelmed the hotel room stench. My stomach tightened and, even though it was empty, I thought I might vomit. My eyes searched for the man I was looking for and, just as I thought I might have missed him, there he was smiling and gesturing to me. I grinned and forced my way past the pimps, prostitutes, and pushers into the small store.

He bustled me inside, straight to the register. Two brown sacks sat there waiting for me. They were full of milk, cheese, bread, and eggs… all the essentials. I reached into my pocket to pull out the crumpled wad of bills I had saved for the last week, just for this. His hand reached out to cover mine and I flinched involuntarily. He pulled his hand back and shook his head.

“No. You tell that little angel of yours I said hello.”
The Hamster Trials Diary Entry #8
By: Steve B Howard
Tags: Short Shots City, Pets, Humor, Short Form, Short Read

The Hamster Trials Diary Entry #8

A question not exactly a an entry

Do hamsters have nightmares?

Coco-Chan making muffled squeaky noises while she was sleeping today.

I woke them both up just to check. They seemed to be fine, so the next question is:

What the hell do hamsters have nightmares about?

Out of control hamster wheels? A Sisyphus like hamster ball? Or maybe a piece of wood that no matter how much you gnaw it is magically restored daily?
Self-acceptance
By: Alice Floris
Tags: Illumination Curated, Self Acceptance, Poetry, Short Read, Critical Thinking

Books and experts make us believe that the search for ourselves is easy, with a handful of tips and tricks. Know that if it were really that easy, we wouldn’t need them in the first place.

If you liked this, please take a look at my earlier piece:
A recent article inspired me to try short-form posting on Medium. As someone that likes to tweet and comment on certain articles by quote-tweeting, I believe I can really learn much by experimenting…
By: Mikhail L. Skoptsov
Tags: Short, Short Read

A recent article inspired me to try short-form posting on Medium.

As someone that likes to tweet and comment on certain articles by quote-tweeting, I believe I can really learn much by experimenting with the new format, the benefits of which Thomas Smith succinctly outlines in “Medium Is Building a Monetized Alternative to Twitter.”

The very post you are reading is a test to help me get more acquainted with the format. Hopefully, this will be the first of many “short takes” that I do in the coming days.
Follow my Heart. Where to Begin
By: Alice Floris
Tags: Illumination Curated, Poetry, Heart, Short Read, Emotional Health

Learn more. Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. Here, expert and undiscovered voices alike dive into the heart of any topic and bring new ideas to the surface. Learn more

Make Medium yours. Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. Explore
My superpower is being able to see the ideal in anything.
By: Joy Anne
Tags: Short, Thoughts, Short Read, Human Intelligence, Unpopular Opinion

Photo by Dariusz Bargiel from FreeImages

Which, of course, is also a dysfunction. Most superpowers are.

We can agree that humans have useful, valuable, and creative intelligences. We have solved many difficult problems and have built many beautiful things. I can see how much more we are capable of if we focus our intelligence and cooperate. So it pisses me off when we are so stupid — like when we assume our own intelligence is the criterion by which to measure all other life in the universe.

We don’t bother hiding that there are proven elements in our personal environments that human bodies cannot sense. A lot of us daily depend on radio, electrical, and electromagnetic frequencies that go undetected (by most — see electromagnetic hypersensitivity).

We don’t shy away from understanding through reason that we can’t know everything. So why do we unquestioningly continue to apply our judgment to any life form we identify?

What is much more likely is that there are intelligences that would be off our radar one direction or the other, like sound frequencies above or below certain decibel levels. Logically, in the universe, if not at our very own home, there are even ways to be alive that we have no clue about.
O Fortuna was my folly yesterday, but today I’ve doubled down and went with the 9th Symphony, or at least the Ode to Joy section. Now, head in the clouds, voices raised in German I can’t…
By: Steve B Howard
Tags: Poetry, Humor, Short Form, Everything Short Form, Short Read

O Fortuna was my folly yesterday,

but today I’ve doubled down and went

with the 9th Symphony, or at least the

Ode to Joy section.

Now, head in the clouds, voices raised

in German I can’t understand, O daughters

of Elysium, Ode to the Talking Heads,

“My god, what have I done?”

What lyrical folly will befall me?

(Is befall a word?)

Grandiose verbosity and bloated

purple prose litter the page as I

pen this ponderous 150 word mess.

What is this daily literary curse I have

tasked myself with. O’ to hit the daily

one fifty in a timely manner, often will

sitting on the water closet throne.

My muse has been usurped by this

terrible Medium, I think.
Holiday Heroics
By: Cindy Shore Smith
Tags: Humor, Short Read, Kids, Christmas, Batman

Holiday Heroics

Photo by Melissa Brindisi

NINJAGO JAY: Good morning, Batman.

BATMAN: Our mission today, Robin, is to — hey, wait a minute! You’re not Robin.

JAY: No, sir. Robin is lost.

BATMAN: Did you look in the toy box?

JAY: Yes, sir.

BATMAN: I better not find out the Evil Sister is using him again. He is a superhero sidekick, not a baby!

JAY: Yes, sir. He does fit perfectly into that little Barbie stroller though.

BATMAN: It’s true. All right then. Can you follow orders?

JAY: Yes, sir!

BATMAN: Our mission today is to get the super power candy cane.

JAY: Why, sir?

BATMAN: It will increase our super powers. Duh.

JAY: Oh, right. Well, the Evil Mom is cleaning her lair so this is a good time, right?

BATMAN: She’s not our biggest problem this time of year (points to living room).

JAY: The Elf on the Shelf?

BATMAN: Shhh! Yes. Mr. Tattletale is guarding the whole room. Any ideas?

JAY: My super power is lightning. If I knock him down, maybe we will have enough time to complete the mission?

BATMAN: It won’t hurt him, will it?

JAY: Nah. I’ll make it a small strike.

BATMAN: Holy atmospheric disturbance, Jay! This just might work!

ZAP! POW! OOF!

JAY: We did it, didn’t we, Batman?!

BATMAN: We sure did! We make a pretty good team!

JAY: Should we go look for Robin now?

BATMAN: Nah. Let’s enjoy our super power candy cane. . .You know, “Batman and Jay” has kind of a nice ring to it, don’t you think?
Dumb Joke #3: Today the lady at Starbucks was all excited to inform me that I was drinking their…
By: Steve B Howard
Tags: Short Shots City, Jokes, Humor, Short Form, Short Read

Dumb Joke #3: Today the lady at Starbucks was all excited to inform me that I was drinking their X-mas blend. I have no tongue for coffee. It all tastes burnt and bitter to me.

Unless she was trying to tell me that it tastes like the ass end of a reindeer, I have know idea what “Christmas Blend” means or why I should care.

Steve Howard currently teaches English in Japan and is a semi-professional stand up comedian. Subscribe to his blog and find his books here.
Immortality exists!
By: Moni Vazquez
Tags: Science, Facts, Discovery, Short, Short Read

Immortality exists! And the way to achieve it is way ‘easier’ than we thought! Here is what we need to do to become immortal: once we reach that sweet spot in life that makes us feel the end is near… we put a rear gear into our system and go back to puberty. At least that is what the Turritopsis Nutricula jellyfish does, the only known organism on Earth considered biologically immortal. They grow up, reproduce, and once they’re done with their cycle they just reverse into a juvenile state and start over again. How many here would just LOVE to be able to go back to those teen years, knowing what’s coming, and do it all over again? I would. Keeping my 46 years of life knowledge I’d do this in a heartbeat. Imagine being happily in love… instead of dying we’d just become young together again…

Photo by Ramin Talebi on Unsplash
Feng Shui and Graves… Some use bombs for power, some money, others, like Chinese Dynasties, used…
By: Moni Vazquez
Tags: Feng Shui, Interesting, History, Short Form, Short Read

Feng Shui and Graves… Some use bombs for power, some money, others, like Chinese Dynasties, used graves. Not common graves, oh no, perfect graves. They’d use secret laws of Feng shui to bury their ancestors in the perfect spot, to ensure the lineage of their progeny and welfare of the masses. An error in hight, timing or degrees would destroy generations to come. Many believe Mao Tse-Tung kept his power so long due to his profound knowledge of Feng shui, whose books he destroyed right after learning all he could about them and before becoming the politician he was. Reason for burial site importance? DNA! The dead’s marrow binding father and son –where’s the daughters? A wrong site surrounding the DNA –read negative energy– would prevent the DNA from flourishing within the child’s life. For generations to come. And we just burn them up…

Photo by Sacre Bleu on Unsplash
Alone In The Bedroom
By: Nosh Komen
Tags: Erotica, Sex, Love, Short Read, Sensual

Alone In The Bedroom

I am alone and horny. Tell your boss to release you early today. It’s a Friday, and your man is aroused and lonely at home.

It isn't an issue being alone, but I want to be alone with you, only me and you, and the soft pop music. Ooh dear, hurry home. I am tired of cuddling the pillow.

Do not go by the shopping center, I have shopped enough for the whole weekend. Also, don’t worry about the food, I have cooked for us.

Everything is set. Just waiting for you, craving to eat you up as raw as you are.
Anna loved fires.
By: Moni Vazquez
Tags: Short Story, Fiction, LGBTQ, Short Fiction, Short Read

Anna loved fires. Not for heat, but to delete. She deleted bad events from people’s days. Not all people, only beloved ones. She felt proud, fulfilled, a heroine. When friends confided losses, mistakes or missed actions, her evening mission was to light the fire and burn them out of quantum memory. She received that gift as a kid, discovered by chance, lighting a fire as her parents were fighting and she was hoping it would go away. I did, and so she learned.

One day Anna fell in love, and her lover told her of her bad day, of her troubles with a crazy woman obsessed with her. She felt suffocated and deprived of her life. Anna, first thing home, went to her fireplace, cleaned it and filled it with wood and intent: “I will free you my love.” She said. Those were Anna’s last words in this world.
The Hamster Trials Diary Entry # 7
By: Steve B Howard
Tags: Short Shots City, Pets, Humor, Short Form, Short Read

The Hamster Trials Diary Entry # 7

Coco-Chan has gone full on Mission Impossible Hamster on us. Somehow she wedges herself in between the top of their cage and the hamster wheel, hangs upside down like Tom Cruise and gnaws the hell out of the top of her cage.



I guess nothing sharpens hamster teeth like the lid to a hamster cage, in her world. At night she sounds like an industrial sewing machine that runs all night long. But, I guess even hamsters need hobbies, so if it makes her happy I’m not going to judge.
In a stunning new reveal of even greater depths of incompetence than possibly imagined, the White…
By: Jennifer Geer
Tags: Vaccines, Covid-19, Politics, Short Read, News

In a stunning new reveal of even greater depths of incompetence than possibly imagined, the White House refused to buy more doses, beyond the original 100 million, of the Pfizer vaccine. Even after multiple offers were made by the pharmaceutical company.

It’s a 2-dose shot, so the 100 million doses will go to 50 million people. Beyond that, America will have to wait until June for more Pfizer vaccines. As Mr. Dealmaker himself did not attempt to make a deal, other countries did make deals, leaving the US supply limited.

Today, Trump is holding an event at the White House to celebrate his “America First” policy and his executive order that no other countries will get any US supplies of the vaccine until Americans are vaccinated.

Like everything Trump, the summit means very little beyond appearances. The facade of the deal-making expert crumbles in the face of reality.
To succeed, commit to excellence.
By: Yousuf Rafi
Tags: Success, Lessons Learned, Motivation, Short Read, Life

To succeed, commit to excellence. That’s the only way to achieve success in life. Of course, there will be failures along the way, but if you are serious about a certain goal or passionate about it, you’ll do everything to achieve that goal.

Failure is a mindset, so is success. Each day will present opportunities to you. Whatever you do, be responsible for it. Don’t let others control your life, own your actions, and create the life you love to live. Create. Give. Love. Innovate & succeed.
Zero Waste mindset during the holidays.
By: Maryrose Denton
Tags: Sustainability, Holidays, Short Read, Zero Waste, Family

Zero Waste mindset during the holidays.

I just finished my holiday shopping and am getting ready to decorate and place those presents under the tree. In the past few years, I have put into place more mindful practices. Implementing Zero Waste ideas for my holiday gift-giving.

Zero waste is a concept focused on waste prevention that encourages participants to reduce, reuse, recycle, and even rethink the way we consume materials and goods. The goal is to send as little to a landfill as possible, even during the holidays. The only prerequisite is a little creativity spiced up with some mindfulness.

For more ideas, this may help.
Face the fear with a smile.
By: Yousuf Rafi
Tags: Fear, Success, Hope, Short Read, Life

Face the fear with a smile. The world is a nasty place. It’ll break you down into pieces, and no one will come near. Only you can mend your broken heart and show the world that you are strong.

Life is a gift given by GOD to make a difference. When you feel that the world is against you, it is the right time to be thankful towards the things that you already have.

Don’t let the world distract you from the grand goal. Understand that when you face the fear, the fear will disappear.
Another great story about writing from Illumination.
Tags: Short Read, Creative Writing, Advice, Creativity

Another great story about writing from Illumination.

Going back a few months, I read this excellent story written by Steve QJ. He takes us through the heady experience of having a great idea and how we must act on it to begin to make something beautiful.

‘The problem with ideas is that they don’t exist yet. They’re ambiguous, ineffable, apparitions. Smoke in which we imagine we see patterns.’

How you get from the idea to reality is fraught with danger. He describes it as a journey across a fragile bridge.

‘This bridge is almost always unsteady and poorly built and offers a thousand different opportunities for your idea to fall into the ravine.’

You just have to walk across and make your first mark. Read his words here.

Make Your First Mark. The fragile nature of ideas | by Steve QJ | ILLUMINATION | Oct, 2020 | Medium
My Fortuna, or Don’t Watch Excalibur Clips on Youtube Before You Write: A silly poem.
By: Steve B Howard
Tags: Poetry, Humor, Short Form, Everything Short Form, Short Read

My Fortuna, or Don’t Watch Excalibur Clips on Youtube Before You Write: A silly poem.



O Fortuna, you fickle bastard

I kick thee in the nards.



*(It’s 2020, so can’t I get away with using non-gendered/gendered Latin?)



Is this scribe to be a mere scribbler

in contrast to those, uh, scribers? (scribs?)



O Fortuna, (is that a type of fish?), I read your

Latin into English and realize the 13th Century

must have had its angsty teen poets too.

If only your great backing band had of come

along before Carl Orff discovered you in 1935.



Oh for Tuna, I shall save the dolphins. If I had

but a steed, a great screenplay, and a magnificent

soundtrack to propel me to glory!



Arthur, Urthur, Author, if only I were a Pen Dragon!!!



My Excalibur is a dull butter knife rusty and unpolished.



Reboot, I say. Reboot!!!
The Hamster Trials Diary Entry #5:
By: Steve B Howard
Tags: Short Shots City, Pets, Humor, Short Form, Short Read

The Hamster Trials Diary Entry #5:

I had heard that all pets are terrified of vacuum cleaners. Apparently, this is true for hamsters too. I vacuumed around the girl’s cage today and they both went into Meerkat Hamster mode immediately.

I just wonder what predator in the wild sounds like a vacuum cleaner?

Steve Howard has published flash fiction, short stories, haibun, and creative non-fiction, poetry and haiku in numerous literary journals. His self-published collection of short stories Satori in the Slip Stream, Something Gaijin This Way Comes, and others were released in 2018. His poetry collection Diet of a Piss Poor Poet was released in 2019. Book One of Mystical Meat Machines was released in 2020. He currently teaches English in Japan and is a semi-professional stand up comedian. For a FREE copy of his “Best of 2020” PDF book subscribe to his blog here.
The Hamster Trials Diary Entry #6: If your hamster (Coco-Chan) has spent all night dutifully…
By: Steve B Howard
Tags: Short Shots City, Pets, Humor, Short Form, Short Read

The Hamster Trials Diary Entry #6: If your hamster (Coco-Chan) has spent all night dutifully sharpening her teeth on a chunk of wood and you, like a dumb ass, offer up your finger with a drop of water on it, she will without hesitation bite the shit out of your finger.

Now it’s time for my dumb ass to dig out the Band-Aids. lol.
As the maintainer of the Clean Up Twitter initiative, I’m finding Medium’s new short-form posts…
By: Rebecca Sealfon
Tags: Cyber Bullying, Ｍedium, Curation, Short Read, Twitter

As the maintainer of the Clean Up Twitter initiative, I’m finding Medium’s new short-form posts a very interesting development. The short-form posts are moving into Twitter’s territory. However, they are more carefully written than tweets. Writers in Medium’s Partner Program also get a direct monetary incentive to promote readership. Posts get more viewership when they are added to a Medium publication, and there is an approval process for getting one’s work into a publication. The more careful writing and the external vetting of Medium short-form posts might be able to reduce the hate and trolling that would occur in tweets.

Photo by Ravi Sharma on Unsplash
The 5 AM Japanese Salary Man’s Prayer: Haiku
By: Steve B Howard
Tags: Haiku, Short, Poetry, Short Form, Short Read

The 5 AM Japanese Salary Man’s Prayer: Haiku

Standing on platform

seven contemplating the

forever of nevermore.

Steve Howard has published flash fiction, short stories, haibun, and creative non-fiction, poetry and haiku in numerous literary journals. His self-published collection of short stories Satori in the Slip Stream, Something Gaijin This Way Comes, and others were released in 2018. His poetry collection Diet of a Piss Poor Poet was released in 2019. Book One of Mystical Meat Machines was released in 2020. He currently teaches English in Japan and is a semi-professional stand up comedian. For a FREE copy of his “Best of 2020” PDF book subscribe to his blog here.
I went from zero to >1,000 followers on Twitter in a month.
By: Love, Other Nugs
Tags: Writing, Social Media, Advice, Short Read, Twitter

I went from zero to >1,000 followers on Twitter in a month. And yes, I’m surprised I grew that quickly, especially since none of my followers are people I know from real life.

I’d been avoiding Twitter for a long time because I thought who cares about my internal monologue? But then I heard about the #WritingCommunity, and I decided to give tweeting a try. And I am so glad I did!

If you’re a writer and not on Twitter, here are a few good reasons to join:

Supportive writing community who answer questions, offer advice, and provide encouragement Pitch events where you can tweet pitches for your manuscript for agents and editors to see, and if they’re interested, you might end up scoring a publishing deal! Great practice in short-form writing A fun and creative outlet where you can share jokes, inspirational quotes, etc.

If you do decide to join, let me know. I’d be honored to be your first follower!
8-Year-Old’s Killer Identified After 38 Years
By: Megan Ashley
Tags: Dna, Murder, Short Read, True Crime, Ohio

8-Year-Old’s Killer Identified After 38 Years

Kelly Ann Prosser was abducted while walking home. DNA technology led to the discovery of the man who murdered her. Megan Ashley Follow Dec 5, 2020 · 3 min read

Kelly Ann Prosser (image courtesy of the Columbus Police Department)

On September 20, 1982, in Columbus Ohio, eight-year-old Kelly Ann Prosser said goodbye to her teacher and classmates and began the fifteen block walk home. She took the same route every day. It was a busy road with local businesses and lots of people all around — an unlikely place for a child to be in danger.

Witnesses said they remembered seeing her walking down the busy East 16th Street, but she disappeared when crossing an intersection.

When Kelly Ann failed to return home at her usual time, her mother wasn’t immediately concerned. She thought that Kelly Ann went to a friend’s house or stayed at school late. However, after a few hours, she began calling around. First to the school and then friends. By six pm, her mother called 911 to report her daughter missing in a panic.

Police started their investigation around seven pm. Already hours behind, it was hard for them to catch up. Despite the massive search, they found it challenging to find leads. Witness accounts didn’t see her get abducted, though that was what police had felt had happened.

Two days into the search, Kelly-ann’s body was discovered, dumped in a cornfield. She had been beaten, assaulted, and strangled to death. DNA from the scene was collected and preserved. Leads eventually ran out, evidence led to dead ends, and the case went cold.

Clipped From The Akron Beacon Journal (newspapers.com)

Kelly Ann’s family was left without answers for nearly four decades before being informed of a break in the case. Columbus investigators had begun working with a reverse engineering company called Advance DNA to identify suspects in cold cases.

Upon reopening up Kelly Ann’s case, they discovered distant relatives of a suspect. They tracked the DNA back to a man named Harold Warren Jarrell, a now-deceased man. He had never been a suspect in the case, even though he had only been out of jail for less than a year for harming an eight-year-old girl in the same area. At the time of Kelly Ann’s slaying, he was fifty-three.

Harold Warren Jarrel (image courtesy of the Columbus Police Department)

Police used his living relatives to confirm that Jarrell had been the source of the DNA left on Kelly Ann. In a statement, police said that Jarrell had worked at a local radio station in the ’70s and early ’80s before moving to Las Vegas.

Jarrell passed in 1996; he only lived to be sixty-seven. Kelly Ann’s life was cut so short. In their statement to the media, her family said that they “don’t feel a sense of justice was served because justice is only a consolation prize.” However, they are grateful the killer is deceased as it spares them the torment of a painful trial.
Self Proclamations
By: Nicole Maharaj
Tags: Writing, Self, Love Letters, Short Read, Life

Are they unrealistic?

Photo by hannah grace on Unsplash

When you're a child, adults always ask you what you want to be when you grow up. As a child, we say things like Astronaut or President. Even when I was a child I always knew I wanted to be a writer. I’ve always loved reading, stories were always a part of my life. My mother used to read to me at night when she could and for the longest time, her voice has always been my favorite lullaby.

I always remember stories like the Little train that could and the very hungry caterpillar. I always said I wanted to write, and I think that not just my mother but also my father contributed to me wanting to write. My father wanted me to practice my handwriting skills because as a child my writing was messy and unclear. So he gave me a picture book of Aladdin and told me to copy the way they wrote over and over again.

Repetition has always been a way for me to learn different things. Of course as a child I hated it. So sometimes as I copied the words I would change the plot of Aladdin. The first story I ever remember writing was a retelling of the Golden goose told from the King’s daughter’s point of view. It wasn’t until I moved to Brampton that my fiction writing was actually noticed. In my first year of high school, I got to work with Wayson Choy in the writer’s club. My first published work was published that year in a textbook.

In the last year of High school, I started to write my first novel and five years later it was ready to be published. Writing will always be a part of my genetic makeup even if I never get noticed as a published writer. I will always write fiction because I love it, and I need to write stories that are in my head.

My father is like me in that way. He’s not a writer but when he was sixteen years old he decided that he wanted to be an Auto body man. For as long as I can remember my dad has always worked on cars, fixing scratches and dents, auto collisions, and painting and repainting the cars he owned. Self-proclamations can be what makes you achieve something or even what makes you feel like a failure. I spent years saying I’m a writer and hearing my parents tell other people that I write novels. Even if I don’t get a major published book, I will always have that belief, that I am a writer. That I do matter.

Proclamations, especially self-proclamations are a way of shaping your future, whether that future is shrouded in darkness and self-doubt all depends on your point of view. I failed twice at making my book be bought by many people. But I never stopped writing. Even now, I still claim to be a writer, because it’s not about how many books have been published or if you're famous. Being who you are, is something that’s never been so important in life. Especially in these trying times with the Pandemic shoving everyone into their homes away from the outside world.
Is the shortform content revolution upon us? Maybe.
By: Mike Marolla
Tags: Writing, Content Creation, Creative Writing, Future, Short Read

Is the shortform content revolution upon us? Maybe.

Michelle Legro explains(in the Creators Hub) some uses for shortform posts. She also explains how to properly construct shortform posts:

Thomas Smith suggested that Medium is creating a monetized version of Twitter. A very interesting read:

Paul Ryburn conducted an experiment of his own that’s worth checking out:

*Bonus tip from this article: Press CTRL+A while in the editor — you can see how many words your post has in the top left corner.

Thoughts on posting shortform? I’m interested to see if this picks up.
reading Zen music of Mexico playing loud next door a small green bird comes to feed
By: Dana Sanford
Tags: Creativity, Inspiration, Zen, Poetry, Short Read

Poet. Philosopher. A sense of Humor. 60 years ago I rode the winds at the top of a tall cottonwood. Buy me a coffee @ https://ko-fi.com/danasanford
The Hamster Trials Diary Entry #4:
By: Steve B Howard
Tags: Pets, Funny, Humor, Short Form, Short Read

The Hamster Trials Diary Entry #4:

I had a bit of freak out today. The girls have been happily chewing away on a new piece of wood we recently gave them. They pulled it into their toilet for some reason.

So, I went to check on them and Coco Chan was busy gnawing on it, but I noticed Momo Chan was just laying next to it with one eye open, but not moving at all. I freaked because I thought she was dead.

But when I started to open their cage to check on her Momo popped right up and seemed fine.

I guess hamsters can chew themselves into a semi-comatose state.
table
By: Kerim A. Altuncu
Tags: Simple, Short Read, Poetry

Where is the table?

I’m going to write a song.
You Cannot Help Everyone
By: Valentina Tuha
Tags: Self, Trauma, Psychology, Short Read, Life

And if you try, you simply burn into ashes.

Image by Ryan Holloway from Unsplash

Some people are simply fucked up.

Even though you cannot even say it aloud anymore.

It’s not like ‘Oh, this or that person is a genius misunderstood by the masses!’

No.

Some people simply aren’t going to be on the top.

Some people simply did too many drugs and their brains are burnt.

Some people simply have some traumas they maybe never really deal with because they don’t even know they have them.

And if you want to keep dealing with this kind of people you can get ready for exploitation, chaos, emotional instability, and constant mental power play, that never ends.

Some people are simply broken in their heads. And you are getting hurt by trying to be their savior.

To fit their brain damage.

And unfortunately for both parties, you are not even helping them that way.

Don’t try to live for them.

Keep a healthy distance.

Be a friend.

A supportive friend.

But keep. Clear. Boundaries.

You are not an unpaid therapist.

You are not a lawn to step on.

Being a monkey on a string is a price not worth paying.

To say ‘no’ is also an option.

Always.

Because many times they are just playing with you.

And you feel like you are the one doing something wrong all the time.

‘Oh, next time I’ll do everything right so all will be good!”

No, you won’t.

No, it won’t.

Because sometimes ‘No’ is the right thing to say.

Not “Oh, it’s my fault for the millionth time!”

Because some people simply have brain damage.

And if you think you can or you should save literally everyone with any spark of potential regardless of anything else…if that’s not a sign of brain damage too, it’s at least a sign of very serious brainwashing, that is not helping you nor them.
The Universe is Expanding and I am Gaining Weight
By: Rondo August
Tags: Short Story, Very Short Story, Short Fiction, Science Fiction, Short Read

One Frogman’s struggle with obesity under extreme conditions.

Photo by Steve Smith on Unsplash

Dear Mom,

This place really sucks. It tries to kill me every chance it gets. I have been with the frogman brigade for nearly seven years now and this place is the worst. I know the necessity of rotating posts, but I wish the Imperium would scratch this place off the list.

We can only inhabit certain “safe” zones; otherwise we lose too many units to the indigenous fauna. As an example while we work mainly in the marine environments, we have to stay near the shore, since the enemy has unnumbered types of leviathans beneath the waves that would be all too happy to come up and kill a careless frogman. I have lost six members of my unit over the last month to them. The hardest part to get used to is that the enemy doesn’t just kill us, they actually eat us!

And don’t think the dangers of the deep are the most deadly. There are land fighters as well that have taken many of my comrades. We seem to lose someone to them most every night while we are on patrol. There are large predators out every night searching for us. I don’t think command has even determined if it is a coordinated effort against us, or if we are just that far down the food chain of this god-forsaken place.

You might think this is the worst but I have not even mentioned the enemy air force. They have amphibious walkers that stalk the marshes on long stilt-like legs looking specifically for my units. When they are able to catch a careless frogman they grab him with great pincers and fly off to devour him somewhere.

All this keeps us close to base, and many of us are getting fat. The Imperium tells us the universe is always expanding, so there will always be new worlds to conquer. Sitting here sometimes I get so depressed thinking the universe is expanding and I am gaining weight. It all seems so useless.

But all is not lost, we actually have the advantage over some of their smaller craft. There are several types of smaller, slower craft. One of them seems to be a clean-up crew of some sort, they hover around the casualties and deposit a small white grub type creature that will eat the dead. If we are careful they will get too close to us unawares and we can take them out. We use these smaller craft along with other similar sized air units and some of the smaller land enemies as our rations. They are quite good, but nothing like a meal at home.

I fear we will never be able to conquer this forsaken planet.

Give my love to dad and the current batch of tadpoles.

Your son Ferd on Earth…Ribbit!

END
Readers’ Block
By: A Fresh Pot Of Coffee
Tags: Writing, Poetry On Medium, Poetry, Thoughts, Short Read

Reader reader, where’s your attention?

They want me to write about productivity,

Or my experience as a leader.

There is apparently a tested formula

to appease the 3-minute reader.

They want me to caption it “5 ways to ..” -

an SEO-friendly description;

outline the exact steps with images

almost like a prescription.

They tell me to create bullets;

the text is a placeholder.

They ask to write on trending hashtags;

tell personal stories that are bolder.

What about deep seated thoughts,

the layers under the obvious?

Confrontation of feelings?

Why is that a different audience?

Why are we looking for ‘top hacks’

to patch our life’s fragments?

Try a piece of art, a line of poem,

they can bridge our mind’s pathways.
Guidelines for Short Shot City/Short Form City
By: Steve B Howard
Tags: Short Shots City, Submission Guidelines, 150 Word Story, Short Form, Short Read

What is Short Form?

Short form is anything on Medium that is 150 words or less.

1.Bold the first sentence.

2. Don’t include a headline, sub-headline, or picture.

That’s it.

EXAMPLE

This is my first sentence.

Blah, blah, blah, one hundred and fifty times….

If you need more details this is from Medium themselves.

What is Short Shot City?

Okay, with that out of the way, let me tell you about this publication.

This is a place to publish anything (almost) that is 150 words or less in the format described above. Poems, rants, daily thoughts, ect.

How to Write For US?

I’ve decided to make everyone editors like they do on the Partnered Pen. It just simplifies things a lot. Post in the comments if you are interested and I will add you as an editor.

We’ll probably cap it at some point though if there is a lot of interest.

What We Will Publish

Pretty much anything that fits the guidelines above.

Stuff written by openly racist and hateful asshats are really the only type of posts that will get shit canned immediately. And you will be banned and blocked you of course.

I’m a 50 year old Gen Xer who does stand up comedy, so my skin is pretty thick and my tolerance level is pretty high, so most things will probably fly.

On the other hand, I don’t have the time to moderate, so if you post something screeching out an extreme point of view and you get scorched in the comments by other writers, I probably won’t step in to save you.

I hope this place doesn’t turn into a shit-fest flame war like I’ve seen Facebook groups do in the past, but if it does I’ll deal with it somehow.

The Facebook Group

Anyone that has been around Medium for a while knows that one of the best way to drive readers to your work is via the Medium groups on Facebook. To that end, I’ll be creating one soon. Once it is up I’ll post a link and you are all free to join it as well and share your stuff.

UPDATE:

Got the Facebook group up. Join here.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2848726658735998/about

Looking forward to seeing all the great short form work that we will be publishing here soon!
THIS. EXPLAINS. EVERYTHING.
By: Christina M. Ward
Tags: Mental Health, This Happened To Me, Thoughts, Short Read, Followers

THIS. EXPLAINS. EVERYTHING.

Just stumbled upon this lovely word:

If you experience atychiphobia, you have an irrational and persistent fear of failing. Fear of failure may be part of another mood disorder, anxiety disorder, or eating disorder. You may also deal with atychiphobia at times throughout your life if you’re a perfectionist. ~ Healthline

Atychiphobia. Yeah, that’s going in my byline, my bio, on my driver’s license and becoming an opening conversation with every potential new friend. Might should bring it up to any new clients, too.

You can learn a lot on the interwebs.

Christina

(And here I was just out browsing for new #followers)
Jumping on the Short Form Bandwagon that Probably Doesn’t Exist
By: Steve B Howard
Tags: Writing, Blogging Tips, Blogging, Short Form, Short Read

Medium’s Short Form Thing

Photo by niklas_hamann on Unsplash

Update: I’ve got the guidelines and a link to the Facebook group up now. Check it out.

https://medium.com/short-shots-city/guidelines-for-short-shot-city-short-form-city-8f088a493a62

I did it. I started a new publication called Short Shots City dedicated to the newest trend on Medium.

No idea if it is a good idea or a bad one yet.

If you are curious what Short Form is Gregory Prince wrote an excellent short from piece all about it here.

In the spirit of short form esthetics and because I’m way too busy with other stuff to make it look pretty, I’m keeping this publication pretty bare bones simple and ugly for now.

As I said, I have no idea what will come of this if anything, but I am open to idea of adding more writers to this pub in the future.

For now, I’m just going to concentrate and putting up the best short form stuff I can produce. Most likely daily for a while.

I realize some people might see this as gaming the system, I suppose there is some truth to that, but on the other hand Medium itself created the short form. And their in house publication Gen is publishing short form work. Considering how long poets, cartoonists, humorists, and others that tend to write shorter work have been royally screwed over by Medium, I don’t feel all that bad about gaming Medium’s system a little bit if it helps me finally get my voice out there.

Steve Howard has published flash fiction, short stories, haibun, and creative non-fiction, poetry and haiku in numerous literary journals. His self-published collection of short stories Satori in the Slip Stream, Something Gaijin This Way Comes, and others were released in 2018. His poetry collection Diet of a Piss Poor Poet was released in 2019. Book One of Mystical Meat Machines was released in 2020. He currently teaches English in Japan and is a semi-professional stand up comedian. For a FREE copy of his “Best of 2020” PDF book subscribe to his blog here.

https://stevenbhowwrites.wixsite.com/website-1
Afterlove
Tags: Poetry On Medium, Poetry Writing, Hurt, Unrequited Love, Short Read

Surviving the blast,

of exploded emotions,

shrapnels of regret protrude from our necks,

sick to our stomachs,

the inner red light careening down our torsos,

into the pit we already share.
12/3 Evensong
By: Matthew Woodall
Tags: Relationships, Self Improvement, Life, Short Read, Family

12/3 Evensong

Photo by author

There are days when nothing seems to go right. These are the ones that test your mettle, especially in the midst of a pandemic.

I didn’t rise to the challenge today, and I’m sure some of you didn’t either. We can feel bad for ourselves, that’s okay. It is a perfectly normal reaction to not meeting our expectations of ourselves.

What is even more important is that we wake up tomorrow knowing that our failure of today has been washed away overnight. Tomorrow gives us another chance to rise to the challenge of the day. It may test our mettle, but we are a day older, a day wiser, and a day more experienced.

Sleep well, friends.
The Hamster Trials Diary Entry #2:
By: Steve B Howard
Tags: Pets, Funny, Humor, Short Form, Short Read

The Hamster Trials Diary Entry #2:

Well, last night we learned that if you take the girls out of the cage to clean it and don’t keep a close eye on them they can disappear quick. Don’t let the stubby little legs fool you.

I took my eyes off of Coco-Chan for about 30 seconds and that resulted in a frantic 30 minute search by Kai, Chieko, and me to locate her. Eventually we found her about five feet away joyfully exploring the inside of my slipper. lol
President Chump
By: Anthony Halliwell
Tags: Short Story, Centina, Politics, Short Fiction, Short Read

When leadership becomes more about perception than facts

Courtesy of Unsplash — Jacob Morch

The plan’s not working, numbers are rising” barked the President, to a minion responsible for ‘bringing numbers down when they were too high’.

Well, Sir, there’s good news and…”

For news I watch Fox. How are you gonna fix this?”

I recommend telling them the numbers are going down, Sir?”