Hi, everybody, I’m proud to announce that my short, edgy, experimental, cross-genre piece, “This is a Test: A Personal Essay in Six Dissociative Acts” just went live on Atticus Review. It’s a three-decades […]
School shootings and domestic violence shootings are two separate, complex problems—even when they become intertwined, as they have today. Crucial in the development of this tragedy is that the victim, Karen Elaine Smith, had recently left her abuser—the most dangerous time and circumstance for a battered woman. In our righteous grief and anger because this shooting took place at a school and included child victims, we must not forget the women like Ms. Smith who need us to address this story as a domestic violence issue.
Don’t tell her what to do; talk to her and listen. Offer your help, but understand that to leave or not to leave is her decision. Respect it. And tell her you respect her.
Acknowledge the pain and turmoil she is in, most especially the emotional turmoil. If she doesn’t leave him, don’t give up on her leaving him. Give her love, respect, support, and time. It’s going to take all of that.
by Suzannah Gilman When a woman hasn’t been the victim of physical abuse by her partner, odds are she doesn’t think she’s a victim of domestic violence (DV). But the common misconception […]
by Lisa Lanser Rose Last Tuesday morning my daughter Delaney and I drove two hours north from Clearwater to Gainesville on I-75. We were taking my Mick dog to the vet in what […]
by Vanessa Blakeslee I spent the first week of October with my father, side-by-side in the Florida condo where I’ve long resided. Pieces to a board game lay scattered throughout the house, the […]
This “Flash Nonfiction” first appeared on Word Riot. Lisa reads it aloud to you here. Once, a man I loved left my dog alone in a car with an apple pie. The man […]