RECOVERATI

Tag: Sobriety

Silas as an infant

The Whole Nine

If I were to tell my friends of 10 or 15 years ago that I would become somebody’s mother, I’d be met with dirision and dismissal. Not that they would try to be mean, but I don’t think those friends could have ever pictured me as a parent based on the person I was to ...

Forlorn and resigned

Part III: The Center Cannot Hold

First and Foremost The day that Roe fell, our team launched into rapid response–some Def Con, DDay, hard core shit. I got a text message delivering The News around 10:15am, after which I choked down my first cup of coffee to sprint, while texting and emailing, to my office. We sent out alerts to Planned ...

COVID 19 magnified cells

What a Time to Be Alive

Stranger Than Fiction I made it 1/4 of the way through Gabriel García Márquez’s novel Love in the Time of Cholera before I set my copy down never to return to it again. I mispronounced cholera for the duration of my time between those covers. The way I said it, ignorance sounded like ko-LEH-rah. I don’t do ...

Black lingere

Hands to Pants Combat

It was during my first weekend as a co-ed I discovered how to get rid of “the spins,” a phenomenon caused by excessive drinking on an empty stomach; see also: “cross-fading,” a physical state of vertigo-esque manifestations caused by smoking weed while drinking. When I engaged in furious making out and/or heavy petting, I became ...

Knives with ornaments hanging from them

Five Ways to Celebrate Holidays Sane and Sober

Who says we can’t be truly charitable with our party personalities during the holidays? One thing I always keep in mind by the time Thanksgiving rolls around is that I have a lot to bring to the season. I don’t need to sway clumsily over the stove, slurring my words as I forget to add ...

Petting Roberta

Dog, Interrupted

“Nice to meet you, Lucy, that’s my dog’s name!” For years now, this is how conversations with people I’ve never met have started. It is the reason I now know that “Lucy” is the most popular female dog’s name in the world. The world. I can’t say that I hate it. People love their dogs, thereby ...

PWD Gemini

Free Spirit

I’ve been referred to as a “free spirit” by no less than ten people in my lifetime. The first time I heard it, I bristled. What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I snarled. The first guy who made this observation was, by all accounts, a Grade A Douchebag, so I shrugged it off. He and ...

Whitney-Houston-1991-billboard

A Tale of Two Drug Epidemics: The Black and White Grey Area

As a feminist, I care about two things: Who gets heard and How. As a sober person, I care enough to do something about it. Lately, I’ve been troubled with thoughts about the opioid crisis in America. I share the deep sympathy and outrage of our populous for victims of mass addiction. Big Pharma, like ...

Flo Jo crossing the finish line

Stay.

In high school, my sister and I ran cross-country and track. She was the prodigious sprinter, while I was the patient long-distance runner. The amount of comparisons I made between myself and my twin were alarming–her smaller BMI and legs, for starters–disqualified me from being a “real” runner. I opted for the inconspicuous art of ...

Janelle Monae posing

Cruel Ruby

Anxiety is a cheap trick. I admit I get a high when I feel the wheels in my mind turning, churning and burning for resolution to untold fear. My adrenaline revs up and I feel hyper-aware. However, I don’t usually realize until it’s too late that my body has already decided that the Sky is ...