Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Tag: domestic violence
My Square in the Domestic Violence Quilt
Originally posted on Red's Wrap:
PART 1 Thirty years ago, I sat all night on the sofa in my upper flat, smoking Benson & Hedges, with my mother’s green and orange afghan wrapped around my shoulders, waiting for my addicted, unpredictable, and sometimes…
A New Line in the Sand
If you love someone and that someone often disappoints you, maybe hurts you, lets you down, wrecks your stuff, or gives you a black eye you can’t explain to your boss, you are often compelled to draw a new line in the sand. This… Continue Reading “A New Line in the Sand”
Tap, Tap, Tap
Tap, tap, tap. I pull the blanket tighter around my shoulders. Tap, tap, tap. The house is silent now, the whispered screaming over. Tap, tap, tap. He’s sorry now that he scared me. Tap, tap, tap. Do the downstairs neighbors know that he is lying… Continue Reading “Tap, Tap, Tap”
Dress-Up
I’d wear Groucho Marx glasses every day if I could. It has limited effect now, however, since practically no one now knows who Groucho Marx was. The fun of flicking a stogie is lost on 90% of the people I encounter. So, why bother?… Continue Reading “Dress-Up”
Rescue
“What black eye? I didn’t see a black eye.” My husband sat in the driver’s seat with the map of Colorado spread over the steering wheel. He didn’t even look up. His concern right now was finding a way around Rocky Mountain National Park… Continue Reading “Rescue”
My Square in the Domestic Violence Quilt
PART 1 Thirty years ago, I sat all night on the sofa in my upper flat, smoking Benson & Hedges, with my mother’s green and orange afghan wrapped around my shoulders, waiting for my addicted, unpredictable, and sometimes violent boyfriend to pull up in… Continue Reading “My Square in the Domestic Violence Quilt”
Paint It Red
I reached with my paintbrush for the tiny unpainted space between the two bedroom walls and the ceiling that the roller had missed, stretching my back and arm and holding the brush by its very tip to avoid having to step down from the… Continue Reading “Paint It Red”
Quilting: A Domestic Violence Story
PART 1 Thirty years ago, I sat all night on the sofa in my upper flat, smoking Benson & Hedges, with my mother’s green and orange afghan wrapped around my shoulders, waiting for my addicted, unpredictable, and sometimes violent boyfriend to pull up in… Continue Reading “Quilting: A Domestic Violence Story”
Men We Love – A Domestic Violence Story: Part 4 The Coda
Two years ago, I went to my old boyfriend’s funeral. I milled around with old and old-looking friends and colleagues, talked to his nieces, now adult women, with whom I’d spent several Christmases so long ago, and every now and then glanced over at the urn that sat on… Continue Reading “Men We Love – A Domestic Violence Story: Part 4 The Coda”
Men We Love: A Domestic Violence Story: Part 2
Not long after the endless night keeping watch out the window, after a bunch of happy evenings with my boyfriend, a trip or two to the racetrack, a drive in the country with a stop at a funky bar, and, oh, maybe a concert… Continue Reading “Men We Love: A Domestic Violence Story: Part 2”
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect.
Jan’s essay “At the Breakfast Bar” on WUWM Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “The Parish Hall,” on WUWM Lake Effect May 27, 2020
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
