"Big Brother" - mixed media on 300 lb watercolor paper.  Deckled edges.  15" x 22".  Ready to frame.  Available here and at Artfinder.

"Be wary of surveillance."  

This advice was given to me repeatedly over the last two years.  Ever since the day I was hit by a car while bicycling in my own neighborhood, big brother has been watching me.  Yep, you read that right.  I was hit by a car, yet I was being surveilled.  Because apparently in the great state of Florida, you are guilty of insurance fraud until proven innocent.  That's how epidemic fraud is in the sunshine state.

It is a very unsettling feeling as a victim.  There you are, busy going to doctors and adjusting your lifestyle to accommodate injuries, struggling to cross busy streets without fear and watching your bicycle gather cobwebs in the garage, all while trying to think positive, healing thoughts as you prepare for the inevitable start of spinal surgeries.  And, apparently you are supposed to watch out for mysterious surveillance people who are trying to prove you are faking it.   I even received this cautionary advice again in the first days after surgery....as if I could do anything but drink from a straw and use my arms like a T-rex to avoid straining my cervical spine.

I come from the midwest, where people pretty much are who you think they are and mostly try to do the right thing.  My family had a pretty tough ethical standard (my dad was a notoriously bad exaggerator because it was just too close to lying) and the thought of committing fraud would be untenable.  But insurance companies don't know me or my family.