Originally published in the Journal Inquirer Tuesday, May 14, 2013
by Kristen J. Tsetsi
When a person found guilty of a shockingly violent attack is discovered to be a frequent player of violent video games—or when a criminal such as confessed cop-killer Devin Moore says the “Grand Theft Auto” video game directly influenced his 2003 crime spree—an outraged public revives the sleeping debate about video games and their relationship with real-world violence. Continue reading
In January, two figures sneaked into the book room of a Colorado public school after unlocking the door with a key from the ring the principal had given one of them for access to a supply closet. Continue reading
Aging as a woman is thrilling, exciting, invigorating, life-affirming, and super cool. With my 39th birthday arriving on the first day of summer, I am finding myself ever-enthralled with the changes I’m seeing in my face, my hair, my skin, as I mature. Woo!
I’m just like Gwyneth Paltrow, who said, “I like being older. It’s nice to really know yourself and feel relaxed. And I actually think I look better now than I did when I was 24, so I’m very comfortable with myself.”
Exactly! I was hideous as a 20-something. Ask anyone. Almost-40 is the bomb diggety doo (or whatever the kids are saying now). Continue reading
No more women and children, please. (Or “womenandchildren,” since it may as well be.)
Any given tragedy story will include this nonsense: “…killed 24 – including women and children…”
How many women? How many children? And – wait – what about the men? Continue reading
Originally published in the Journal Inquirer Saturday, March 23, 2013
By Kristen J. Tsetsi
Dudley, one of Our Companions’ adoptable dogs, was found in poor health in a cemetery in Bloomfield where his owner had abandoned him. Dudley was still waiting to be taken home (Jared Ramsdell / Journal Inquirer).
Dogs tend to stay where their caretakers leave them, thinking they’ll come back to take them home. “It’s a little psychological thing,” Marie Joyner begins to explain before breaking into laughter over Dudley, a young dog at Our Companions animal rescue in Ashford, Conn.
Dudley is bouncing around with a tennis ball in his mouth. “He’s just a hoot,” she says.
Dudley was abandoned in a Bloomfield cemetery and was found — still waiting for his owner — in “bad shape,” says Joyner, the rescue center’s canine operations director. Continue reading
It’s exciting to have a finished project, and it’s hard to get noticed.
Alone, those are just the facts. But throw in someone who has just finished their first project, and witness the gory, inadvertent self-mutilation resulting from the LOOK AT ME! explosion.
Originally published in the Journal Inquirer Monday, March 18, 2013
By Kristen J. Tsetsi
We’ve been inundated with images of women waving war goodbyes to male military members and then hugging them tearfully upon their return, so that’s what we tend to picture when service members deploy: male service members deploying, female spouses left waiting. Continue reading
When I learned that an author I’ll call Ms. Y had a son in the Army, I asked her if she might be interested in reading Pretty Much True… . (At the time, it hadn’t yet been placed with a publisher and was just sitting around in my computer doing nothing.) She responded with “Yes,” but she also asked if I was looking for an endorsement. Continue reading
Writers interview other writers all the time about their upcoming or current projects.
But when the writers conducting the interviews are also creative writers, the questions can sometimes get a little too “Tell me about your process.” A little too “What do you, as a writer, think about the great art of writing?” It becomes (frankly) a big writer circle j–well, back-patting circle Continue reading
Originally published in the Journal Inquirer March 5, 2013
By Kristen J. Tsetsi
Sister Monica Mary Kvasnik, a member of the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady Mother of the Church, says her neurologist was surprised when she told him the neuromuscular disorder he’d said was incurable had stopped producing symptoms following adjustments from a chiropractor.
“His mouth kind of just dropped open and he turned beet red. At first he was really upset that I was going to a chiropractor,” she says, “but when he heard my reasoning…”
