On the Origin of Girl Fight

Keywords

little league, shame, childhood

Abstract

As a child, and even into my teens, I was what you might call a crier. One day in little league I got hit in the crotch by a ball while running from first to second base, and I cried myself off the field, pretending I was hurt to mask the shame of getting out on an interference call. On the high school football field, I once let a goliath from the opposing team scare me so badly at the line of scrimmage that I jumped off sides twice in a row and then broke down in tears during the next huddle with my frustrated teammates. I cried during snowball fights and games of tag. I cried at the chalkboard when I didn’t know the answer, at the bus stop when the big kids pulled my ears, and at home when I didn’t want to vacuum the living room or help with the dishes. I cried when a girl no longer liked me, and once, as in the case of “Girl Fight,” because a girl still did. One of the most persistent emotional memories of my childhood is the frog-throated sensation of heat that rose to my ears right before I melted into sobs.

Original Publication Citation

"On the Origin of Girl Fight," Brevity Blog February 3rd, 2014. http://brevity.wordpress.com 3 ms. pages.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2014

Publisher

Brevity

Language

English

College

Humanities

Department

English

University Standing at Time of Publication

Assistant Professor

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