Basically, my question is: how do you deal with negative people who sabotage your life's passions? I have several life passions that I have not been able to get involved with in my city, due to some very mean people. Three of them are women and there is one man -- these could be villains in a Shakespeare tragedy: Reagan (King Lear), Lady MacBeth (MacBeth), Timora (Titus Andronicus) and Richard III (Richard III). Look them up to get an idea of their character traits.

They're nasty people, like the people I previously knew who have continued to slight me to their friends, thus undermining my efforts to re-engage in three creative areas that are my life's passions, and it's made me miserable. I could use advice.

Obviously, I live by the motto "your past does not define you," but that doesn't apply to the people in my past, who continue to define me in their own distorted terms, without telling me what those terms even ARE. As Dorothy Parker, an American writer once quipped, "what other people think of me, is none of my business."

But in this case, I really want to confront these four a-holes who have ruined my reputation with complete strangers, who won't even give me the time of day now as a result. And yes, that says something about those people's character traits but if they are the gate keepers, and they hate me based on what their friends say, how do I get around that? How do I disprove the people who for whatever reason don't like me? I'm really frustrated because it's really unfair. I deserve to be happy and indulge in my life's passions regardless of what those four people think of me.