Tag Archives: neglect

Best Friends and Change

I just got back to VT after spending a week down south visiting family (and seeing my little sister in the roller derby!) and then over to New Hampshire for the weekend to see two of my dearest friends. And … Continue reading

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Books for Survivors

I haven’t had much that’s coherent to say recently. I’ve been pretty involved in my own personal journey. But I think about this blog a lot and why I started it. I see kids hurting all around me. Because I … Continue reading

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Lies My Mother Told Me About Myself

She said, “I know you fancy yourself an outdoors person, but you’re really not.”–This despite the fact that I had spent four years playing competitive soccer (well),  had spent my entire pre-adolescence either up a tree or wrestling, and have … Continue reading

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Victim Characters and Passivity

So, Lyn Miller Lachman started a great discussion on my graduate student forum about writing about characters who are victimized, and it really sparked some thoughts I have about the subject that I thought I’d share with you all. I created this … Continue reading

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Maybe God Wrote “Change”: Review of Last Night I Sang to the Monster by Benjamin Alire Saenz

So I have another wonderful book to share with you all. I am probably the last one to read Last Night I Sang to the Monster by Benjamin Alire Saenz–another Cinco Puntos Press book–but it was one of the most powerful books … Continue reading

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Self-harm is the Symptom, Not the Disease

Deliberate Self-Harm is an umbrella term that encompasses any non-accidental activity that a person engages in that, well, harms that person physically. Cutting is the most talked about self-harm behavior. But the term also includes head-banging, pulling out hair, biting, … Continue reading

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Why do kids need Love Stories?

When I was seven years old, I fell in love for the first time. His name was Adam King, and we played marbles together on the playground during recess. I lost track of him in third grade when he was … Continue reading

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Where are all the Evil Parents?

The stoutest rule I know in writing for children is that the protagonist has to solve the problem him or herself. For this reason, the parents and other adults are often deleted from the equation–mysteriously called out of the country, … Continue reading

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