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Anne Elrod Whitney

  • Justice - Writing

    What it felt like to face the man who sexually abused me in court

    October 20, 2023 - By Anne Elrod Whitney

    It felt strong. It felt brave. It felt powerful. It also felt sad. Unexpectedly, desolately sad. I’ve always said “When I have an emotion, I’m usually last to know.” That’s not really true of me anymore, but for years I was always reacting to Big Feelings but almost never knowing which feelings, or why. I’m sure the reasons are as…

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  • Justice - Writing

    Writing hangover

    September 29, 2023 - By Anne Elrod Whitney

    I have a writing hangover. It’s that feeling I get when there’s been something I wanted to write, or needed to write, and haven’t been able to, and then I finally do. It felt SO good to complete and send it off, but MAN I feel hung over.  Do you get writing hangovers? I do, especially with big and important…

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  • Writing

    Suppose it’s a Saturday

    April 2, 2023 - By Anne Elrod Whitney

    It’s April Fools Day, and I can’t take a joke. Like, at all. Every time I’ve been fooled or pranked or tricked, the way I feel is not amused, but ashamed. It feels like everyone set against me, like I‘ve brought shame upon myself by falling for it. I know, party pooper, right? I blame long-undiagnosed autism and the aftershocks…

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  • Justice

    Today in Austin

    March 22, 2023 - By Anne Elrod Whitney

    www.fox7austin.com/news/survivors-protest-texas-bill-child-sex-abuse-statute-limitations-austin-capitol

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  • Family - Justice - Uncategorized

    Pop Quiz, or, Report to my employer on the last three years after a “Sabbatical.”

    January 28, 2023 - By Anne Elrod Whitney

    (Dear reader, I know there is irony in speaking of truth and then redacting parts of this post. However, my commitment to living in the truth does not extend to telling other people’s truths on the internet, and so I have hidden details pertaining to other people where I felt the need to give them the gift of privacy.) Now,…

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  • Uncategorized

    On TV

    December 5, 2022 - By Anne Elrod Whitney

    The last thing I ever thought I’d be doing on TV news is talking about this! Usually it’s students of mine doing a cute performance, or maybe photos of them eating ice cream at a festival or something!

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  • Justice - Uncategorized - Writing

    A story about telling my story

    November 30, 2022 - By Anne Elrod Whitney

    When I decided in spring 2022 to make sure that the man who had sexually abused me in 1983 had actually been officially reported to law enforcement, I did so for my own peace of mind if nothing else. I had no real sense of the places it would lead. Now Mike Spiller, a gymnastics coach who sexually abused me…

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  • Uncategorized

    Abuser in jail. Boom.

    November 18, 2022 - By Anne Elrod Whitney

    They got him. This is Mike Spiller, the gymnastics coach who sexually abused me when I was 10. It took 39 years, but tonight there’s ONE LESS ABUSER out there getting away with it. Thanks so much to the people who shared, retweeted, looked up old photos, etc. It took your help to turn up enough of my fellow victims/warriors…

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  • Faith - Family

    Talk about “just-in-time” delivery!

    October 3, 2022 - By Anne Elrod Whitney

    “This is an example of what we call ‘just-in-time’ inventory.” Maybe these are not the words you think of a new grandmother saying to her first newborn granddaughter, but if you know that both of my parents are CPAs and that there’s only so much a new mom can chit-chat, it makes more sense. I’d had my newborn home for…

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  • Teaching - Uncategorized - Writing

    Doing Hard Things

    September 23, 2022 - By Anne Elrod Whitney

    In conversation today, I heard myself use a line I’ve used about myself many times, a line that feels truer every time I say it: I am great at big things; I’m terrible at little things. I make no claims about the originality of this line, but I have been saying it since my twenties and it’s truer than ever…

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