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Fans of Little House on the Prairie books should get my reference – one entire book describes how the Ingalls family and neighbors endured from October 1880-May 1881. The book exaggerates a few facts, but is generally considered an accurate representation of the suffering and hardships endured by residents throughout the Great Plains. That book […]
My friend John Ruffing died on November 9, 2007 at the age of 41. He is someone I loved very deeply and think about often. It was suggested I create a blog altar for my ancestors. John and I are not blood related that I know of, but like many queer people – we created […]
Coronavirus is roaring back. Last week, the US averaged 53,000 new infections per day. This week, that’s up to 59,000. According to the New York Times, experts forecast hitting 75,687 new infections per day in the near future. That’s the highest rate in the US from back in July. It could go higher in the […]
Content Note: sexual violence, assault, intergenerational trauma, child abuse I still have my very first baby doll, a rag doll named Mary. She sleeps in a cradle that was originally a wooden planter. She lived on a relatives dresser for many years and I finally inherited her when that person moved. I’ve written before about […]
On Wednesday, May 25, 1988, I received my diploma from West Mifflin Area High School, a blue-collar suburb of Pittsburgh. A few weeks later, my parents had a graduation party for me as thousands of parents had done before. We had lots of food, tons of canned pop, and almost no guests. I don’t have […]
We’ve been pondering how to get outside, meander, and get a change of scenery. Our solution – visit cemeteries. I decided to map out cemeteries where our ancestors and extended family are buried. Our first trip was to St. Mary Catholic Cemetery in Lawrenceville. We found the graves of two of my third great-grandmothers, Mary […]
June is here and that always means it is time to blog about #LGBTQ families in partnership with Mombian blog and the Family Equality Council. I struggle to find a topic this year, more from having so many options than a surfeit of ideas.So I’m picking this one – our Pittsburgh MasQUe ProjecT.We create opportunities […]
Content Note: sexual violence, mental illness, family violence I was born on October 22, 1970. By mid-July 1971, my mother was pregnant again with my brother. Somewhere during that time, she was hospitalized in a psychiatric unit. I was left with my paternal grandparents. By my third birthday, we were all reunited under the same […]
It is clear from this series of diary posts that my ability to county is not on-point. We started our quarantine/self-isolating on March 17, 2020. That’s when Laura was told to work from home and when the City and County orders were in effect. So today is day 32. Our fifth week of hunkering down […]
“Do you feel comfortable sharing family stories about living people?” is a question I am frequently asked, particularly when I’ve just published a post about my trauma work. I never feel comfortable or good about revisiting trauma infused stories, but not because I might upset someone in my family. The only exception is the other […]
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