Litany for My Mother’s Body
My mother’s body horrified me. Nine years old, I watched her dress. Her belly was rippled and sagged and scarred—a used-up bag of nothing.
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Posts Tagged: Abuse
The Repercussions of Modern-Day Witch Trials
We like to think mass hysteria about black magic in the US died with the Salem witch trials, but 300 years afterward, starting in the 1980s, childcare providers across the country were accused of “Satanic abuse.”
One such case involved Fran and Dan Keller, who ran a daycare center in Austin and went to jail after being accused of using children in outlandish “Satanic rituals” involving murder, cannibalism, grave robbery, and sexual abuse.
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The Girls Do Cute Things
Her parents, in the past, tried to surrender her to the state, asking the state to force her to go to school. They didn’t want to be held responsible for her any more. Now, it’s Maya who wants to live somewhere else.
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Spotlight: Dickson Lam and Ted Closson
Writer Dickson Lam and illustrator Ted Closson team up on a graphic story about Lam’s life called “You Think This Is Your House?”
...moreWeekend Rumpus Roundup
Welcome to the weekend Rumpus roundup, where we showcase our finest weekend features in case you actually have a life and don’t sit in front of the computer all Saturday and Sunday.
Here you will see an interview with adventurous L.A.
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The Sunday Rumpus Essay: Rage
“The heart is a fist, and he taught me to make mine hard.” Laura Bogart makes her Rumpus debut, exploring the link between rage, power and grief.
...moreWriter’s Mom Downplays Feminist Heroism
...more“…her husband was an alcoholic, but so clean cut. I didn’t really put two-and-two together until she came to me and said, ‘I need your help. My husband is going out of town soon, and I’ve got to leave while he’s gone or he’ll kill me.’”
“Searching for A Memory That Wasn’t There”
...moreI met my friends in San Francisco, and I felt safe. I kept thinking – so curiously! – that I hoped he was okay. How could someone be so angry at whoever loved him? How must it feel to hate being loved, and then to have the person that loved you run away in fear?
“Teenage Girls Aren’t Pining for Roman Polanski”
After Chris Brown’s inventively profane online spat with comedian Jenny Johnson and his subsequent departure from Twitter, the public is left to wonder once again just how Brown’s actions fit into the ways our society views race, gender, and abuse.
Luckily, Rumpus essays editor Roxane Gay has written a Tumblr post breaking it all down for us:
“Chris Brown continues to face backlash because he continues to remind us that he is an asshole.
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