This form of art therapy worked wonders on the narrator. He enrolled in an art class, where an art instructor helped participants express themselves through clay modeling. Isolated and on the brink of despair, the hospital’s recreation program became his saving grace. Here, an unnamed narrator remembers his time at a mental hospital. “In Our Circle” also presents an optimistic story of mental illness. Rather than be embarrassed or turn her away from his workplace, Tim consoles her and calms her insecurities by affectionately touching and describing the different parts of her body. At the end of the story, Sheila appears at Tim’s hospital, drunk and distressed. She starts to abuse alcohol to dull her painful insecurities about her weight and looks. Sheila silently deals with body dysmorphia, a problem that worsens with her continued exposure to and compulsive interest in bodies and diseases. It opens with the story “Guts,” in which a woman named Sheila describes her dating life with Tim, a medical student. The anthology consists of twelve stories. The collection deals with common problems in rural America, including drug and alcohol use, bullying, abuse, and adultery, but celebrates how individuals transcend these systemic problems with their unique adaptations and virtues. At the same time, Parsons illuminates how self-preservation can come at a cost: some of her characters put themselves on sure paths to self-destruction with their obstinacy and self-centeredness. Set in modern-day rural America, the stories involve characters who bear complex and stigmatizing burdens, including mental illness, poverty, and isolation, with great resilience. Black Light: Stories is a 2019 anthology of short stories by American author Kimberly King Parsons.
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