Picture a girl sitting alone on a rock in a campground, her face streaked with tears. She is fourteen, though her thin frame makes her look even younger.

She could be pretty—with her green eyes and long blonde hair—but her face is dirty, and there is a taste in her mouth she knows she will never forget.

She has been hurt before, but not like this. A breeze passes through the oaks above her, and the dandelions around her stir. She wipes her tears, trying to steady herself.

What would it feel like, she wonders, to matter?

Then she sees the truck. White, worn, moving slowly toward her. She recognizes the man behind the […]

This writing — for now a blog, perhaps later a book — is an act of remembering.

It draws me back through vivid scenes of the past, calling for honesty, courage, and collaboration with those who shared the journey.

This story is different in two important ways.

First, the memories I revisit — particularly those surrounding my mother’s death — come from the perspective of a grieving child, and they are deeply painful to tell.

Second, some of what I reveal about sexual abuse and trafficking will challenge the reputations of individuals once considered beyond reproach. My father’s threats kept our family silent for years. He warned my aunts, my grandfather, and eventually me to say nothing, even […]