Stories
5 stories of how stigma became strength
My father's shadow became my foundation
My dad was brilliant and broken. Everyone in our small town knew about his drinking. Teachers treated me differently. Parents hesitated before letting their kids come to our house. I grew up carrying...
The empathy I never asked for
Growing up with a mother in active addiction taught me to read rooms before I could read books. I knew the weather of a house by the sound of a door closing. I could calibrate the mood of an adult by...
When they said I'd never be trusted
After my DUI at twenty, my uncle told me at Thanksgiving dinner — in front of everyone — that I would never be trusted again. He said it like he was reading a weather forecast. Matter of fact....
Twelve years clean and still proving myself
I've been sober for twelve years. I have a master's degree, a mortgage, and a kid who thinks I hung the moon. And still, every time I'm honest about my past, I can see the recalculation happening...
The label that made me listen harder
When I was twenty-three, I overheard a colleague whisper "addict" about me at a work function. Not to me — about me. That single word, spoken behind a cupped hand, changed the trajectory of my...