The story I shared over a year ago inspired two local women, Susanne Frilot and Cheryl Mills, to create the first annual Healing Trauma Conference, which brought together over 38 practitioners with a wide variety of gifts to share with over 120 people who sacrificed an entire Saturday for a free day of learning and…Read more Healing Trauma Conference
Anorexia
Hunger hurts but starving works when it costs too much to love.- Fiona Apple
Trying or Traumatized
Russell Brand interviewing Brene Brown for his podcast Under My Skin. Under my skin, indeed. You can read this with a British accent; makes it more fun. Russell and Brene asked: Are people doing the best they can? Dear, Russell, Brene and World, we’re asking the wrong question. Instead, let’s ask: Does society create the…Read more Trying or Traumatized
Chapter Compost
"This preoccupation with surpassing the mother is apparent in women whose development hesitates or altogether ceases as they become obsessed with food. For who can bear this vision of the mother’s life, impoverished, sacrificed, depleted?”~Kim Chernin. Re-reading this book which I first devoured between the stacks on the library floor at college. Then, as now…Read more Chapter Compost
Cut
Don't bother flattering me with your Fancy font Full of holy smoke And deliberation About who did or didn't need A penal implant Sacred substitution For what? The cosmic garden Fertilized with human shit? Good Lord, Tired of being your whore Bleeding love from Slit wrists and I's Owe. Ewe. Mi. Bloodshot Dry The silent…Read more Cut
Betty Crocker-Ford
Check in, check out or check labels. If we're trying to lose weight, continue breathing and generally feel good, we shouldn’t eat the delicious, chemical conglomerations created by processed food corporations. This includes, but is not limited to: Anything on the entire 500 page menu at Cheesecake Factory, except steamed broccoli which no one wants…Read more Betty Crocker-Ford
Sojourn
It's not like You're gonna rise up singing Cradle cap and rocking Horse Back and forth Between hungry mother and child She never was Cooing in her Baby Face Offering oysters of Truth Walking off to the sentiment of freedom It's not like They can read your mind The carts coming up the aisle Knocking…Read more Sojourn
Stardust
"Everybody tells the truth with something."-Glennon Doyle At the end of ballet class the teacher used to have us line up to get little red, blue, silver or gold foil stars which she'd stick to our leotards. It was a sign we'd done well, even if all we did was flap our arms and legs…Read more Stardust
Surrender
"Mommy's alright, daddy's alright, they just seem a little weird. Surrender, surrender, but don't give yourself away."-Cheap Trick Until I learned how to love, prior and hungry attempts felt like a cheap trick. Men can eat more than women. Commercials sell more than useless products which end up in our collective dumpster of misguided leaps…Read more Surrender
Somebodies
I followed MSN's series on Poverty in America. Article after article shared depressing, definitive data pointing to the growing effects of systemic oppression, the desperate need for affordable housing, healthcare, living wages and a revision of where the government draws the arbitrary poverty line. Maybe it's an imaginary line on the white sandy beach between…Read more Somebodies
Book Report
For God so loved the world...he gave us an extra hour to write this weekend. Creeping up on the 50,000 word mark with a goal of 120,000. I'm guessing this is true whether we're writing fiction or fact but I find it hard to linger in the details of certain stories because I'm excited to…Read more Book Report
Born in Providence 