"I read it in snatches, my brain jamming."
— Couzin-Frankel, Jennifer
Author
Date
July 8, 2016
Metaphor
"I read it in snatches, my brain jamming."
Metaphor in Context
Choosing her words carefully, she chronicled my sister's death, cautioning that real life is far more ghastly than in the movies. "While I do want to help, I don't want to go so far to the other side that I'm not helping at all," she wrote. Her message arrived as I stood on a subway platform in Washington, D.C.
I read it in snatches, my brain jamming. "This really happened," I thought. "She really did this. She's really gone." The train swayed while I hung on.
Even as tears dripped onto my jacket, I felt oddly relieved. Dwelling in the present, which I had fought for so long, was turning out to be survivable. And at first that was largely thanks to the security guard who had carted me there.
I read it in snatches, my brain jamming. "This really happened," I thought. "She really did this. She's really gone." The train swayed while I hung on.
Even as tears dripped onto my jacket, I felt oddly relieved. Dwelling in the present, which I had fought for so long, was turning out to be survivable. And at first that was largely thanks to the security guard who had carted me there.
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Jennifer Couzin-Frankel, "After a Suicide, a Security Guard for the Heart," New York Times (July 8, 2016). <Link to NYTimes.com>
Date of Entry
07/11/2016
