AFTER/WORDS by Jessy Easton

AFTER/WORDS by Jessy Easton

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Write the Hard Thing
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Write the Hard Thing (Weekly Substack LIVE)
Ten minutes. One prompt. A nervous system-safe space to write the thing that scares you.
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Jessy Easton
4
Chapter 16: A Prison Wedding
The One Who Leaves—playing the flower girl at my parents' prison wedding
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Jessy Easton
3
Silence Was My First Survival Skill
I spent my life hiding where I came from. Here’s what happened when I stopped.
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Jessy Easton
17
Chapter 15: Mother Infant
The One Who Leaves—the time I lived in prison with my mother
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Jessy Easton
4
The Quiet Surrender Of Loving What’s Here, Not What’s Missing (May Wrap-Up)
The never-ending duality of life, tending to the past, and silver linings
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Jessy Easton
6

May 2025

Chapter 14: The Mirage
The One Who Leaves—She had the chance to be my mother again. And still, she dragged her feet.
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Jessy Easton
5
What If the Point Isn’t to Remember It All?
Because making something is sometimes the only way to say: I’m still here.
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Jessy Easton
13
Chapter 13: Running with the Devil
The One Who Leaves—State police. Drug dogs. A stash in a sock. And my mom waiting seven hours in the Nevada desert.
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Jessy Easton
2
The Shape of Memory
A story about meth, memory, and the moment I realized the life I came from wasn’t okay—published in The Rumpus
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Jessy Easton
9
Chapter 12: Auntie Susan
The One Who Leaves—when Susan Atkins from the Manson cult was my "Auntie Susan"
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Jessy Easton
4
How Do You Celebrate a Mother Who Hurt You?
For anyone holding grief and love in the same hand this Mother’s Day
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Jessy Easton
14
Chapter 11: Room 318
The One Who Leaves—when Mom first found out her prison roommate was Susan Atkins from the Manson cult.
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Jessy Easton
4
© 2025 Jessy Easton
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