The purpose of this blog - I'd love to hear your stories

After the amazing experience at One Billion Rising RVA yesterday, I am wanting to keep the energy building to end violence against women.  I have decided to start this blog so people - you! - can share the stories of your life: your hopes, your fears, your experiences, your successes, your disappointments, your triumphs, things you've noticed in society which deserve comment - whatever is on your heart that you would like to share.

Here are some of the types of things people have shared with me which I'd love to include on this blog:

• Stories from the rally yesterday - something you saw, someone you met, something you heard, something that moved you.
• Stories from your life - your own experiences with violence, be it sexual abuse, domestic violence, emotional abuse or whatever
• Stories of your triumphs over tragedy
• Insights into ways society perpetuates the cycles of abuse
• Suggestions as to how we can help make a difference on an individual, societal, or community-wide basis
• Something you or someone you know has done to help make a difference
• So many more!

I decided to create this blog to give anyone who would like it a chance to tell her/his story.  

Guidelines:

• The story must be supportive of ending violence against women and others. 
•  If the tone doesn't fit the intention of this site, your story will not be published.
• To submit a post, please email your story to me, Susan Singer, at Susan.Singer@hotmail.com.  I will review it and contact you to let you know if it will be published.
• If there are grammatical issues, I may edit it a bit (I'm a former teacher, so I just can't help myself!).  
• If there's something that's unclear, I may ask you to clarify and/or re-write a bit. 
• This is YOUR forum to tell YOUR story.  You may publish using your name or you may remain anonymous.
• Please be aware of whether something you're sharing is safe for you to share.  It is your responsibility to know what's right for you to share.  Change names or identifying characteristics, or publish anonymously if you need to.  Be gentle with yourself in your sharing - it can often be very difficult to share painful memories with others and to allow ourselves to remember them.  Please, above all, be gentle and loving towards yourself.

I look forward to reading your stories and to sharing them with others.  Thank you for opening yourself up to others and breaking through the shame so that we all may heal.

~ Susan Singer
    2/15/2013