In 2004-2005 I was living in Newport, Rhode Island, waitressing, slowly driving myself crazy and drinking myself to death. I took it upon myself (and someone actually hired me) to terrorize the town and vent my misery. My mouthy little opinions appeared in a local weekly paper, creatively named, Newport This Week. I called my column Gephyrophobia: Fear of Crossing Bridges, because no one ever left the island.
It ran for 20 weeks. I was paid $50 a column. In that time, I went through 3 editors, received countless angry letters and mortified my family. It was a blast and probably the only thing that saved me.
I’m archiving the column and all the subsequent Letters to the Editor online just because I can. It’s good to remember where you came from. Go ahead and laugh at how miserable I was (I do) and if you’re in a similar rut know this:
if I can get out—you can too.
