Northern Attitude

Why I cut off my mother

‘Lo child!

Or, well, how about for a change…

‘Lo, Dad!

My dad signed up to get these mails recently and it made me happy. So, welcome to the cult, Dad! Mostly it’s me blithering into the ether about how people should be nicer to each other and their own brains. Maybe someday it’ll be more. Maybe it’s enough.

To bring the rest of the congregation up to speed, Dad is the only member of my family I’m still in contact with, though we’ve never gotten to spend much time together. I like to say I was raised by wolves — it’s close enough to the truth, and conveys the right impression without me needing to go into specifics. I was raised by creatures in survival mode, creatures who saw their child as competition. I was raised out in the cold, to quote this clever young man who’s been on the radio lately singing lyrics that make me feel personally targeted…

I tried to find a way to coexist with my mother and stepfather, I really did. For a very long time. I tried from a thousand miles away, and…