Surviving

In a stunning parallel to our own times, this memoir of the late Sixties and early Seventies, Surviving: A Kent State Memoir, explores the turbulent era of the War in Vietnam, domestic violence, and a young woman’s triumph in face of great danger and great loss.

In an era as divisive as today’s, she witnessed one of the events that became a turning point in public sentiment toward the War in Vietnam. On May 4, 1970, Ohio National Guardsmen fired on students protesting the invasion of Cambodia, killing four students and injuring nine. Standing thirty yards in front of the Guard when they began firing, she escaped with her life.

This uplifting journey follows her from her years as a naïve Catholic schoolgirl through her time at Kent State to her development as a journalist and mother.

She heals in the weeks following May 4, as she awaits the birth of her baby. Her due date nears but problems arise as her husband becomes increasingly violent. Rejected by her family and without societal protections against marital abuse in place today, she is on her own. In an unexpected turn of events, she is freed from danger, only to have to learn to survive on her own.