A story about telling my story
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…
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Doing Hard Things
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…
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Gymnastics coach Mike Spiller abused me in the 1980s and is still working with kids in Texas gymnastics, circus, and camps (TBW#1)
In 1983 and for a while after, the gymnastics center in Northwest Houston that I attended held sleepovers. These were fun extras, like the lock-ins a church youth group might have. But, beyond the normal kid fun of a sleepover my friends, something else happened. My coach, Mike Spiller, whom I adored and whose attention…
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