Randy Susan Meyers

My Opinionated Self

Fasting Against the Violence at Home

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  I’ve worked with men who battered their wives, their girlfriends, their sisters, and sometimes their mothers. For almost ten years, I listened to their stories as they admitted bullying, hitting, smacking, punching, and breaking bones. Some had murdered. When asked where their children were during these incidents, almost all answered the same way: they … Read more

What Makes You Buy A Book?

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What makes you buy a book? Is it different from what makes you watch a movie?  Pick a television show? It seems so, because it’s so private—just you and the bookseller or librarian…or, these days, as likely, your computer. Do you try it on like a dress (like reading the first few pages,) or do … Read more

THE SOLACE OF DARK BOOKS

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Whatever his politics, and I am certain we’d disagree far more than agree, I bless Senator Scott Brown for revealing the sexual and physical abuse he suffered as a child. What could be a more compelling argument for being truthful about abuse suffered than the fact that so many of us hide the pain others … Read more

Family Homicide: Prevention is Possible

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A few weeks ago I followed my usual pre-work routine: I poured coffee and opened the Boston Globe. Then I flinched at the too familiar headline: Two dead, one on life support in shootings: Police say father wounds daughter, kills wife, then self.

I read every word — respect must be given, attention must be paid. The murder took place a few miles from my home. According to a witness, William Spada (53) murdered his wife, Patricia (51), critically wounded his daughter, Deidre (27), and then killed

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