maura
New Member
Posts: 19
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Post by maura on Mar 18, 2019 0:04:26 GMT
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Post by Vicki Mayk on Mar 23, 2019 15:25:11 GMT
I love the use of the diary for the opening. You have quite literally shown us the voice of innocence – your voice as a 12-year-old writing in her diary. Very effective and a really good introduction to this piece. In fact, I have to tell you that starting with the excerpt from the diary and then talking about how you first got it and then how you were given it back as an adult is so effective. The diary itself becomes a kind of symbol for your innocence.
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Post by saburcat on Mar 28, 2019 18:50:52 GMT
Maura,
So I expected a cute little "first love" kind of story. I totally connected with 13 year old Maura and her diary entry and her repeated comments of "I don't even like him." Growing up, and burgeoning sexuality, is really f-ing difficult. You do such a great job of showing us how confused and awkward and, frankly, normal, you were at that age (aside from the bullying and abuse you mention in earlier pieces). But I really just expected a cute little story about a confused teenager dealing with stupid boys and weird first kisses. I really didn't expect Damien at all, and you write him very well.
One part that made me literally LOL when I read it was, "One night he told me on the phone, with loud screaming and fighting in the background of his house “There are posters of naked women all over my walls. I’m afraid I’m going to end up raping someone someday.” I had no response. I am ashamed to admit, I thought I was “safe” because I wasn’t sexy like the kind of women that would be in those posters. During no point did I tell my friends about any of this, and I certainly had no trusted adults to confess to. When I told my ex-husband years later about this comment, he told me that all teenage boys were like that, but wouldn’t admit it like Damien had. But my ex was a creep too, it turned out." And I KNOW I shouldn't be laughing at this. I know this is wrong, and that it must have been terrible to go through whatever you went through to get from Damien's comment to your ex-husband's to that acknowledgement of your ex. But it was written so well, and it's just kind of funny. And that, for me, is a key ingredient when we're talking about things that are difficult to talk about. It's not that we don't realize the seriousness of these things, just that we need some levity or we'll go mad.
My other favorite line, "I owed him no explanation whatsoever. I only owed my thirteen-year-old self the love I’d been unable to give her then love." I am SO PROUD of narrator Maura for recognizing this. Self care is not something we are taught nor is it necessarily encouraged, especially for girls or women (although there is more of it now then in the past). Part of me wants to see how Age 13 Maura got to Current Age Maura and this realization, but I also just like this succinctness. It doesn't matter. Just like Damien doesn't deserve a response, it doesn't need to be spelled out in this piece. Just the knowledge alone that you came so far is enough.
I really liked this. As with your other pieces, you do an excellent job of showing us what a 13 year old girl feels.
Louise
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