Month: January 2014

  • Her Body, Her Self: Part II

    After her beloved grandmother’s death, the specifics of Jayne’s molestation, stifled for so long, pushed their way out. The resulting confluence of grief, shame, and bewilderment caused Jayne to shut down completely. She was unable to concentrate, unable to lead her team of three other Covenant Players, unable to serve as their mentor out on […]

  • Her Body, Her Self

    Holidays were the worst. During the holidays, the family gathered together in one house, so he gave up his bedroom for the guests. During the holidays, he slept on the couch in the living room. As a “big girl” little kid, she slept on the floor in the living room. Her took her body from […]

  • The Twelve-Inch Scar

    Apologies to long-time readers: this post is a re-run from six years ago. I was ready to update the ending. ————————————————-   Eleven years ago, on January 17th, I made one of my students vomit. I hadn’t even assigned “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” either. Rather than yacking up her lunch as a reaction to Coleridge’s […]

  • One Hot Day

    Lawsy, it was hot. We’d weathered a memorable ride on a mini-bus (dolmus) to get there, a ride packed full of sweating bodies overlapping each other, a ride reeking of body odor, a ride without moving air to calm the overheated brain. Once we got off the mini-bus, we then had to walk down a […]

  • Taking Stock

    As one year ends, and a new one begins, it is tradition to slow down for a moment to take stock. Although I generally chafe at tradition, and although I tend to exhaust myself by taking stock every day of every year, I do like the notion of recording some of my favorite things from […]