Snap Out of It!

Kim Pederson
Sep 7, 2018 · 4 min read

I reminded at this moment of a scene from the 1951 film Detective Story in which Kirk Douglas, as Detective Jim McLeod, rages at his wife Mary after finding out she has had an abortion: “I’d give my soul to take out my brain, hold it under the faucet and wash away the dirty pictures you put there.” Played by Eleanor Parker, Mary doesn’t wilt one bit, something surprising and heartening given the year. She fires back: “But when you wash away what I may have put there, you’ll find a rotten spot in your brain, Jim. And it’s growing. I know, I’ve watched it.”

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Kim Pederson
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