Do you ever have those moments where you think "the world is a horrible place"?? I had one of those a few days ago. My current audiobook for my car is Rules of Survival; a wonderful and awful book about child abuse. There is little physical abuse thus far, and shows how a parent can torture her/his own children without (1) the parent realizing how crazy they are and (2) the parent coming in physical contact with the children. Very disturbing. I'm almost finished, so things are better, but it's still a sad tale. So amid listening to this book, I watch the movie An American Crime. I didn't know what to expect, but was blown away. It is about the true story of a girl in Indiana who is left (with her sister) in the hands of a woman who already has more children than she can handle. The girl is eventually thrown into the basement and beaten on a regular basis by the family and neighborhood kids. Some of the details are still fuzzy to me but I really don't want to know.

While these are horrible, horrible stories, the reality of the situations are why these books and movies must exist. Both stories include people that know what are happening but are essentially in denial about how bad it is. No, I'm not saying everyone should jump up and attack parents for a single bad decision. But patterns of behavior need to be addressed. And kids in these situations need to know that there are people to help them. If they tell someone who (unfortunately) doesn't listen, then they need to tell someone else. There is escape. Sometimes they need to be creative, but no one deserves what these kids go through. And they need to know that.

Okay, off my soapbox.

Still preparing for interviews. Still swamped with class projects. Still stressed and loving it.