Month: June 2020

So just exactly what is it that we expect from our police? Yes, I fully understand that they should not be racist. Seriously, that should just be a given. They should also not be prone to violence in their policing duties. Yes, there may be times when the only answer is a drawn gun. But that should never be the answer to a call for help with a social services or mental health situation. In fact, why the hell are we asking the police to respond to those things in the first place?

A person experiencing a mental health crisis Continue reading →

I like to think that I am handling this isolation thing very well. Then I realize that I have not only adopted another dog, but I have also embarked on major house renovations. I guess boredom caused me to look around my house and think of all kinds of fun things to do.

I mean, seriously, how many NCIS reruns can one possibly watch before the need to buy a new washer arises – or before you realize that you want new windows. Or a new roof. Or a new anything that will keep me from staring at the same Continue reading →

The race riots of the sixties were my coming of age story. For the first time, a lot of us were exposed to a level of racism we hadn’t know existed anymore in our wonderful, post-World War II America. My parents had mentioned the prejudice their parents endured when they immigrated from Italy at the turn of the 20^th century. But aside from what I learned in school about the Civil War, I knew nothing. I mean really nothing about the issues facing African Americans in America.

The closest I ever came to a conversation with my parents on Continue reading →

This piece will appear in the ADN online on Friday and then in the Sunday paper. It took me a long time to write it. Not long in that I sat at my computer for hours, but long in that it has taken me this long to admit I was raped in my marriage and I should not hold the shame for that. My ex-husband should.

Here is the memory that sticks most in my mind. My husband is kneeling on me with a barbell on my neck and he’s screaming he’s going to kill me. Then he forces me Continue reading →