Melissa I. Hassard

Dear Mandy, I want to thank you for taking the time to read my essay exit wound and leave your comments.  It looks like you put a lot of time and effort into it and I’m very glad to respond but there is quite a bit to unpack.  I’ll do my best.  Here’s what you said: […]

If you’re not familiar with Writing for Peace, please take a moment and peruse the website of this wonderful organization.  They are a group of extremely talented writers, From their website: Writing for Peace is a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating empathy through education and creative writing in order to develop a foundation of compassion on which […]

exit wound: Forensic pathology:  The “goodbye” lesion that a bullet or other projectile causes when leaving the body;  EWs are often larger than the entrance wound, due to tumbling and deformation of the bullet. From The Medical Dictionary Growing up in the south, everyone’s father had a gun — weapons were always around but generally took […]

Do not forget where we started, or why — It is important that you remember, and check your stamina.  It’s a long fight ahead. And their names are important for us to remember. Children (8 boys and 12 girls) Charlotte Bacon, 6 Daniel Barden, 7 Olivia Engel, 6 Josephine Gay, 7 Ana Marquez-Greene, 6 Dylan Hockley, […]

From the opening, you should have seen it coming. “Over a billion people will be watching this event worldwide.”  Seth McFarlane delivers this line while licking his chops. Now, let me preface this by saying that I’m not sure why he believed a billion would be watching.  Here’s the last ten years’ ratings, according to […]

Well.  I’m going to keep my talking to a minimum and just publish the list as it stands.  (I might make a few calls to say thank you.)  Make your own inferences.  Draw your own conclusions.  By all means, comment.  Here goes: Late last year, the NRA published, on its website, a list of enemies […]

(A mother of a rant) At some point in the early mornings, A. usually crawls into my bed in the still-dark-out, wanting to snuggle.  This morning is no exception, and he cuddles up next to me.  We drift for a while like this, on a quiet raft of early morning. I am lying there with […]

Thank you to  Karen Walrond for the inspiration to pick up my list again and add to it, as well as publish. I began this several years ago because I wanted to make a list of things I’d never done, whether because I hadn’t made the time or never thought possible, and then set about […]