Tag: abuse

Yes, Let’s Draw the Line Aziz Ansari

Veronica Mattaboni

By now we’ve all read the Babe article; “I went on a date with Aziz Ansari, and it turned into the worst night of my life” which described a detailed recounting of a woman’s experience of aggressive sexual behavior by Aziz Ansari. The circulation of this article, and dozens upon dozens Read more

Veronica Mattaboni

Veronica is an fiction and poetry author from Pennsylvania. She graduated from West Chester University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in English: Writing and a minor in Creative Writing. Veronica's work has been featured in the GLVWG's Write Here, Write Now Anthology, Writer's Yoga Zine, and Daedalus. She has also worked as an Associate Editor with 823 on High, and as Editor in Chief of Literati.

Leaving My Ex Sparked Decades of Unintended Consequences

Lizbeth Meredith

“My name is Precious, how can I help you?” “I think I need to go to your shelter,” I blurted. My daughters, still both in diapers, were wailing in the background. The battered women’s shelter. Never had I thought I would be a battered woman, or that I would live Read more

Lizbeth Meredith

Lizbeth Meredith's memoir Pieces of Me: Rescuing My Kidnapped Daughters is a 2017 IPPY Award silver medalist. She blogs at www.lameredith.com, is a contributor to A Girls’ Guide To Travelling Alone by Gemma Thompson, and is the author of When Push Comes to Shove: How to Help When Someone You Love Is Being Abused. A former domestic violence advocate, Lizbeth has worked with at-risk teens for nearly two decades as a juvenile probation supervisor.

Rocks and Cameras

Cassandra Cervi

Then, in a wine soaked haze, I realize what the worst part about this is.We are always on guard against the men in the streets. The ones who whistle while we walk. We guard against the men at the bars, whose smiles turn to snarls upon rejection. We guard against the men online whose thumbs could spell “slut” without help from their eyes. We are almost always on guard. We almost never feel safe.

Cassandra Cervi

Cassandra Cervi is a student entering her fourth year of an Honors Specialization in Creative Writing and English Language at the University of Western Ontario. Her work has been featured in Beautiful Losers Magazine and Pip Magazine. She is also the Assistant Book Editor at the Drunken Boat.

i was the third

Amanda Linsmeier

i knew enough to know abuse was someone pounding their fists into someone else and i knew enough to know the domestic violence shelter was full of real people they were filled with children i had played video games with while my mother worked downstairs helping their mothers survive   Read more

Amanda Linsmeier

Amanda Linsmeier is the author of Ditch Flowers and Beach Glass & Other Broken Things. Her writing has been featured in Portage Magazine, Literary Mama, and Brain, Child Magazine. Besides writing Women’s Fiction, she loves reading and writing fables, fairy tales, and fantasy, and sometimes she pretends her Hogwarts letter is still coming. When she’s not writing, she works part-time at her local library and brings home more books than she has time to read. Amanda lives in the countryside, surrounded by trees, with her family, two dogs, and two half-wild cats. For her, writing is the best kind of magic, and her work is heavily influenced by mysterious women, nature, and beautiful images and fueled with lots of iced coffee and background music. She’s the kind of monster who dog-ears book pages, and she has read her favorite book, Beauty by Robin McKinley, probably a hundred times. She loves pizza, tattoos, shopping, and pretty much anything French.

HELL-O

Ericka Arthur

Drawn to the scorching And then your Spring showers From choppy singed waters To smooth sailing From Summer tornadoes To dry Autumn winds Enveloping Winter Underlying our laying   Our S’mores Our invisible foundation Shook Volcano erupting You appear to take pleasure In having burned me Heart melted Now decaying Read more

Ericka Arthur

I am Ericka Arthur an Inspirational blogger, Poet and Radio Divas cohost on GrindhardRadio.

My Non-Television Mother and Me: The Apology

Richard DeFino

Part 3 of a 3 part series. After interviewing my mother, reading through the archives of my memoirs, taking note of the dark memories that quietly play in the back of my mind like an old French noir film, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve hit a plateau, with Read more

Richard DeFino

Ricky De Fino grew up in New York City and currently resides in Buffalo NY. When he isn’t writing about his anxiety and his crazy Bronx upbringing, he enjoys watching countless hours of television with his wife Andrea, cat Bebe and dog Zeke. Two years sober, good coffee and veganism keeps him sane. His work can be found in Two Cities Review, tNY Press, Purple Pig Lit, Dialougal and Cycatrix Press.

Safe Words

Rebecca Charlotte

Baby, where you going? Baby, you don’t know a thing. You don’t know the ways of the world, Stop saying such words Stop saying “cock” Stop saying “fuck” Why’s everything you say have to be a dirty joke? Stop wearing all those opinions on your sleeve, A heart is safer Read more

Rebecca Charlotte

Rebecca Charlotte is a recent graduate of Westfield State University, a small liberal arts school in New England, where she majored in English with a concentration in literature. Currently, she works at two libraries. By day, Rebecca is a nerdy librarian, by night she is a nerdy librarian who devours books and superhero shows. Her work has appeared in BUST, elephant journal, Her Campus, and will be included in the upcoming issue of Doll Hospital Journal.

My Non-Television Mother and Me: The Interview

Richard DeFino

Read Part 1 here.  Part 2 of a 3 part series In an attempt to understand my mother a little better, I asked her a couple of questions that remained unanswered to myself. My mother has come so far in life, but she appears to be stuck. I want to Read more

Richard DeFino

Ricky De Fino grew up in New York City and currently resides in Buffalo NY. When he isn’t writing about his anxiety and his crazy Bronx upbringing, he enjoys watching countless hours of television with his wife Andrea, cat Bebe and dog Zeke. Two years sober, good coffee and veganism keeps him sane. His work can be found in Two Cities Review, tNY Press, Purple Pig Lit, Dialougal and Cycatrix Press.