domestic abuse

The Face of Domestic Abuse?

Inside a cozy courtroom in Aspen, Colorado this week I came face to face with Carlos Irwin Estevez as he appeared to face multiple domestic abuse charges. I said hello. He remained silent.

This is a man whose past is littered with complaints from the women in his life. One of his ex-wives alleges he became absorbed in pornography, abused alcohol and street drugs and threatened her safety. Several of his past female companions worked in the porn industry and he once shot a girlfriend in the arm. He’s been in and out of rehab for cocaine abuse and court ordered probation violations but still he keeps popping up on law enforcement’s radar. So far he’s avoided prison time.

On this day Estevez was dressed in somber black, including his skinny tie and horn-rimmed glasses. He was memorable for what he wasn’t wearing. He’d left his trademark smirk and cocky bad boy attitude back home in Los Angeles where he makes a multi-million dollar living as an actor…. [click to continue…]

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I was into bubble gum and Nancy Drew mysteries

Ive never been a joiner. As a child I didn’t join the Girl Scouts or go out for cheerleader. I would never have considered joining the Math Club or commemorating Save the Earthworm Day. But as I’ve matured I’ve come to realize that only when people band together around a specific cause or purpose do others become educated and aware. It’s only when passionate people form a movement that things truly change.

For example, it was the nationwide campaign highlighting the startling number of traffic deaths that got us to change our habits and wear seat belts. When a concerted campaign showed us the insides of our bodies and the harm done by cigarettes our national smoking rate began to plummet. And when drinking and driving, once tolerated and hardly punished, became the cause celeb of a group of women called Mothers Against Drunk Driving the rest of us began to change our thinking about this now taboo practice.