LETTER
Pit Bulls & Corporal Punishment
Did you know that Helen Keller had a pit bull? It’s true. His name was Stubby, and he was not a seeing-eye dog or therapeutic companion in the sense we know it today. He was “just” her pet, and she loved him a lot.
This week we’ve got a piece by another enthusiastic owner of that much-maligned breed of animal. In “A Pit Bull Saved My Life,” Savannah Hughes tells us about Toby (named for a favorite childhood toy and, obviously, for Toby from The West Wing).
And in “Eldon and the Paddle,” Stacy Ryan writes about her youth in Beaumont, Texas, where corporal punishment was still used in the classroom. In fourteen states in the USA, it remains legal for a public school teacher to beat a child — so long as it’s done under the rubric of “discipline.”
On a personal note, I realized this month marks the fifth anniversary of the publication of my first book, a memoir. Telling real stories in Agorafabulous!: Dispatches From My Bedroom most assuredly convinced me of the importance of sharing uncomfortable truth. Sometimes it ends up soothing folks. Sometimes it ends up making people feel less alone. Sometimes it’s really sad and sometimes it’s really funny and sometimes it’s both of those things at once.
Thanks so much for continuing to support The Stories. Real stories matter.
Best wishes,
EIC, The Stories
thestorymedium@gmail.com
P.S. I’ll shoot that monthly members-only vlog for you in New Jersey and send it out early next week, when it’s still February. I’m recording a podcast pilot here in my homeland with Earwolf this weekend.
P.P.S. I’m supposed to say that the option on Agorafabulous! is now available. Tell your grandmother who runs a studio. Thank you.
