Latest news with #andRedemption
New York Times
30-04-2025
- General
- New York Times
How Has Marriage Equality Changed Your Life?
This June will mark a decade since the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges established same-sex marriage as a national right. We're looking for personal stories about how this important decision rippled through the country, both in states where same-sex marriage was already legal and in those 13 states where the decision ended bans on same-sex marriage. Please tell us, in 200 words or fewer, how this decision impacted your life. What did the change mean to you, emotionally and in practical terms? How do you feel about it now? Perhaps you were able to marry a longtime partner, start a family, or celebrate the love of friends or relatives as they legalized their unions. Or maybe you felt pressured to marry for the first time. What surprised you about your feelings and actions at the time or in the years since? We hope to publish a collection of the most interesting and moving accounts we receive. We won't publish any part of your response without following up with you first, verifying your information and hearing back from you. And we won't share your contact information outside the Times newsroom or use it for any reason other than to get in touch with you. The deadline for submissions is Monday, May 12 at 11:59 p.m. P.S.T. Modern Love can be reached at modernlove@ To find previous Modern Love essays, Tiny Love Stories and podcast episodes, visit our archive. Want more Modern Love? Watch the TV series, sign up for the newsletter and listen to the podcast on iTunes or Spotify. We also have two books, 'Modern Love: True Stories of Love, Loss, and Redemption' and 'Tiny Love Stories: True Tales of Love in 100 Words or Less.'
New York Times
23-04-2025
- General
- New York Times
Tiny Love Stories: ‘The Secret About People'
Anxious Affection My mother's love language was worry. An anxious woman, she believed panic was a form of protection. 'It's what you don't see coming that gets you,' she said, searching out the unlikeliest dangers. If a plane crashed 10 states away, she'd scan her mental Rolodex: Which cousin might have been going to Ohio or Nevada? Years of therapy later, I have learned to keep worry at bay (somewhat). I remind myself that worry as a means of security is magical thinking. And that you can love someone without staring sleeplessly at shadows at 4 a.m. It works (sometimes). — Jilann Picariello Committed Comedians Steve and I met at a club in Los Angeles, both comedians chasing fame. I was 23, fresh from Canada. When my visa expired, I asked Steve to marry me. We were both gay, so it was a perfect union. We spent years together traveling the road, navigating one-night stands and sharing our truths. In 2001, Steve contracted AIDS and moved home to Virginia. I visited him often. Watching him deteriorate was unbearable. He passed away in the spring of 2014. To some, it was just a green-card marriage. To us, it was a faithful, lifelong friendship. — Lois Bromfield Cycle of Care When my father was a college student and moved from Karachi to California, his father wrote him letter after letter that could be collected only at the post office. When my father told his father that his shoes were getting worn out by walking to and from the post office, his father promptly airmailed him a package. Inside the box: new shoes. Luckily, I'm a 45-minute drive away from my father, not a daylong flight. Yet, the cycle of care packages continues. For me, he will deliver steaming soup, my favorite books and box upon box of sweet mango juice. — Reem Faruqi Guilty as the Ghost The first time he ghosts you, you are 16, your sincere messages left unanswered on a flip phone. The second time he ghosts you, you are 18, waiting three hours by Newcastle, England's towering monument until you realize he won't show. The third and final time he ghosts you, you are almost 30, incredulous that he has changed so little and mad that you — apparently — haven't grown out of this pattern either. Here's the secret about people who fall for serial ghosters: You are just as guilty as they are, believing their false apologies to be true. — Francesca Willow See more Tiny Love Stories at Submit yours at Want more from Modern Love? Watch the TV series; sign up for the newsletter; or listen to the podcast on iTunes, Spotify or Google Play. We also have swag at the NYT Store and two books, 'Modern Love: True Stories of Love, Loss, and Redemption' and 'Tiny Love Stories: True Tales of Love in 100 Words or Less.'
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Marine writes book aiming to clear his name after bloody Iraq ambush
In 2006, shortly after graduating high school, 19-year-old Jonathan Phillips deployed to Iraq's Anbar Province at one of the most volatile times in that bloody conflict. On Jan. 20, 2007, Lance Cpl. Phillips faced a fierce nighttime ambush that launched him into a national security scandal and led to him spending 20 months in prison, half of that time in solitary confinement. But that wouldn't be the end of his story. Phillips fought back and ultimately received an honorable discharge, battlefield distinction and medical retirement from his combat-sustained injuries. The legal battles were only one front in his personal war. The other required years of rehabilitation and therapy, which helped him put down his story in his own words. Phillips chronicled his background, the Iraq incident and his post-service struggles in the book, 'The Fifth General Order: A Memoir of War, Resilience, and Redemption.' He recently spoke to Military Times about the process of writing the book and what he hoped it would convey. Editor's Note: The below Q&A has been edited for length and clarity. Q: When did you decide to write a book about your experience? A: So, it kind of started in treatment. I put myself through a 20-month intensive outpatient program, and what my logic behind it was, I spent 20 months in the brig devolving, so I need 20 months to really reverse that. That was my logic. And what the doctors had me do during those modalities was basically just make a list of chronological traumas and go through all those combat events, all those legal events that I couldn't get out of my head. Toward the end of treatment, after I got all that, the book became the logical corollary. Q: What did you learn while going through the process of writing and publishing the book? A: I had to learn, and step by step — just like in the Marine Corps — adapt and overcome, and figure out how to get it edited and get it published. I've gotten a lot of great feedback from Vietnam veterans being really inspired. A lot of them didn't have their stories told. I've had a lot of Iraq veterans reach out on top of the ones that I served with, and they're really inspired. Q: Beyond legal reforms to the Uniform Code of Military Justice or military prosecution, what do you think your story highlights for the military to consider? A: Well, the way I see it is, the Pentagon systemically perpetuates corruption by silencing scandals. They circumvent congressional oversight by forcing veterans into plea deals with not the best legal representation. I mean, they've kind of weaponized the UCMJ to circumvent congressional oversight, and Congress needs to be a lot more aware of what's actually going on. Is it a winning strategy? No. Q: Much of this struggle was on your own, but did you have support while battling these charges and the aftermath? A: I mean, that's the only reason why I really survived, was between my mother, my father and my platoon commander. If they hadn't reached out to their congressman, who reached out to their Pentagon official, I never would have left solitary. That's when things really started changing. They really were my rocks and saved my life. They were the wrench in the socket for the Pentagon. Q: Based on your experience, what advice would you share to current service members? A: Never waive your rights to legal representation, ever. Always make sure an interrogation is recorded with a video, or at the very least, an audio recorder. Those are very, very simple things because it's what you can prove, right? Those things could serve as the bedrock for court martials and trials, and if they're not recorded, it's their word against yours. If a veteran is ever, or a service member is ever, facing an avalanche like what's happened to me, the one thing that — if I could go back retrospectively — I would say is, never keep your mouth shut. Always speak. Don't let them bully you into keeping quiet or being humiliated by a smear article. Just keep talking, keep reaching out to reporters, just go get it out there as much as you can so that there's oversight.
New York Times
02-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Tiny Love Stories: ‘Breathing Felt Like Betrayal'
Sinew and Silence After my son died, I forgot how to be human. Breathing felt like betrayal. Food, impossible. The floor was the only place that made sense. Then Lindy arrived: retired racer, all sinew and silence, a greyhound built to fly. He couldn't fix me. But he was fully present in my grief, a sentinel to my stillness. Lindy wasn't a therapy dog, but a witness. Nudging me with his snout, acknowledging my pain with a wordless knowing. He let me break. He made me breathe. — Mark E. Paull An Expanded Family One morning, while I was making rounds as a medical resident, a handsome nurse asked me out. Shayne was a gift of warmth and comfort when life was cold and punishing. He took me bowling; a few months later, I was pregnant. We would have two other children, get married, move to Ohio, Florida and back to Vermont before I found the courage to tell him I'm a lesbian. I have a girlfriend now. Shayne does too. We're family and next-door neighbors. Our tweens groan that we're 'so weird,' but agree that no one has more love than we do. — Britt Olmsted Filling the Blanks In the past 15 years, I've lived in 12 homes. Each spot has had bare walls. I buy art but don't hang it. What's the point when living alone? But last year, I met you at a dinner party. For some time now, you've been coming over to my apartment, and I to yours. I drive the highway between us and think: This is starting to feel like home. I look at my art and start mapping it onto the walls. Next time you come, could you help me put some up? Home, I believe, is a two-person job. — Florianne Jimenez Poetry in the Park My toddler, Hugo, believes in a world where toast feels disappointment, socks miss each other in the wash and the moon follows us home out of loyalty. He creates whimsical stories about puddles filling his boots, the wind lifting his hair. I used to think I was good with words, but his are better. More imaginative, joyful, less afraid. He makes poetry out of breakfast, errands, the walk in our local London park. I used to want to teach him everything, but now I just want to listen. — Naomi Couper See more Tiny Love Stories at Submit yours at Want more from Modern Love? Watch the TV series; sign up for the newsletter; or listen to the podcast on iTunes, Spotify or Google Play. We also have swag at the NYT Store and two books, 'Modern Love: True Stories of Love, Loss, and Redemption' and 'Tiny Love Stories: True Tales of Love in 100 Words or Less.'
