This dude’s name is Meatball. He’s my first-born monster, and already I’ve given him away. What kind of monster-mother does that make me?

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These monsters are fun to imagine, design and make (my coworker’s ahead of me on the monster creation). Craft Magazine — http://www.craftzine.com/ — says you’re supposed to name them and give them a back story. Meatball Monsteropholes likes cats, though he fears one day becoming a cat-snack to one of his two kitty-housemates. He’s decidedly nocturnal. He dislikes rutabagas but he saves the fury of his rancor for squirrels, decrying “They’re just rats with good PR!”

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Other monsters aren’t so amusing to think about.We try to forget nightmares.And I’ve done that quite well; I can’t remember a single childhood monster nightmare. I must have had them, though, and need to remember to ask my folks next time I see them.

In daily life, I think we have a tendency to make monsters out of the people we fear or those we don’t like. That teacher or supervisor we hated? We totally distort their bad qualities until they’re monster-like.It’s easier to blame and dehumanize “enemies” that way. It’s much harder to admit, “I was a lazy student with a bad attitude. She was just a flawed human who dealt with the situation as best she could.”

We also monsterize our fears.Whether it be job-hunting, learning waterpolo, or whatever icky situation we face, we distort it. (Maybe I should stop saying “we,” and just say “I.”) I overblow things sometimes, worrying and making them much worse by avoiding them. Guess what? Job hunting sucks. But it’s not lurking under the bed, waiting to kill me. If I face the ogre often enough, eventually I will find a job. In fact, my new one starts next week!

Even the real monsters out there — the sociopaths and illnesses and whatnot that can harm us — they’re much better faced than avoided. I have friends who are facing cancers and other life-changing, if not life-threatening, diseases. Their real struggles put my worry-worsened everyday fears in check.

I’m going to keep making stuffed monsters to remind me that monsters are mostly our own creation. I’m taking requests: I’ve already got a dissertation monster and a job-hunting monster in the work for friends. Special precedence given to those who have really compelling reasons or already have a monsterlicious back story for me.