Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Category: Writing
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 3
It went on like this for a couple of years. Long periods of calm interrupted by longer moments of panic and terror. I remember….a long night watching my boyfriend sleep with a butcher knife in his hand wondering whether he intended to use it… Continue Reading “Men We Love: A Domestic Violence Story – Part 3”
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”
Men We Love: A Domestic Violence Story: Part 1
Thirty years ago, I sat all night on the sofa in my upper Shorewood 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 front… Continue Reading “Men We Love: A Domestic Violence Story: Part 1”
It’s Crazy-Making: Jerry Sandusky’s Awful Legacy
At first, when I heard about what Jerry Sandusky was alleged to have done to young boys, I couldn’t stop thinking about the boys. How scared and worried they had to have been. How hurt and ashamed. And, this is really what bothered me… Continue Reading “It’s Crazy-Making: Jerry Sandusky’s Awful Legacy”
I Think They Got It Wrong: Milwaukee’s Anti-Co-Sleeping Campaign
Today the City of Milwaukee launched a new ad campaign against co-sleeping (babies sleeping in the same bed as their parent/s). I hope it works but I really have my doubts. I never slept with my kids. I saw going to bed with my… Continue Reading “I Think They Got It Wrong: Milwaukee’s Anti-Co-Sleeping Campaign”
Unclaimed is Better: The Pain of Disputed Adoptions
I feel ill for the Monahans – the couple whose adopted Guatamalan daughter is now being reclaimed by the Guatamalan government on behalf of her birth mom who says the child was kidnapped by human traffickers and essentially sold into the foreign adoption system. I… Continue Reading “Unclaimed is Better: The Pain of Disputed Adoptions”
Smile, Baby
So the Dad got up this morning, put on his Green Bay Packer sweatshirt, his jeans, and his flipflops and took his son to the dentist. But wait! It’s not this little cute guy in the striped shirt and his baby corduroys. It’s this guy… Continue Reading “Smile, Baby”
Snow Door | wisconsinacademy.org
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
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
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