Mary’s back, and the world’s a better place

Mary Lucia is coming back to The Current after more than six months of trying to put a stalker where he belonged.

The chances are good you know the story by now.

She writes on The Current’s blog:

Current Shoppers,
As many of you know, I took a leave from work in April to deal with an ongoing stalker that has turned my world upside down for nearly two years.

After multiple trial postponements and legal curve balls of which I have no control, I’m a little heartbroken to say this has gotten far more complicated than I could’ve imagined. Thus, it is still ongoing. Because of that, I can’t really talk about the case. Man, silence is not always golden nor empowering.

I can say that I don’t think I’ve worked harder in my life than in these last six months.

I’ve never been a “Why me?” person. In fact, if anything, I’m a “Why NOT me?” type. What makes me so damn special that horrid things shouldn’t happen to me? Believe me, I’ve never lost perspective that someone always has it worse than me. How you deal with this trauma is what is important. Character building and all that crap.

I’ve realized I’m strong, but I’m not that strong. I’ve needed help and still do in order to be the person I know I am capable of being.

I’ve been on a never-ending quest for inspiration. In my time away, I’ve consumed books like air as that is as close to meditation as I can get. I will always be interested in other people’s stories. All nonfiction. Biographies of people who are creative and somewhere along the line got the stuffing knocked out of them, maybe fell from grace but found a way to creatively reinvent themselves. Throw in an insane upbringing and inevitable chemical-dependency problems and you’ve got me hooked!

I won’t lie, I’ve been knocked around quite a bit and been forced to accept things I still find unacceptable. I’ve felt lost and powerless. But I’ve tried to keep a sense of curiosity about my life. Believe me, gallows humor doesn’t hurt either. I’ve always said the day I stop finding humor in the darkness is the day I cash it in.

After much careful thought, even though this whole drama is far from being over, I’m returning to work and genuinely feel excited to reconnect with my buddies at The Current, and of course with you my friends, the listeners.

As Bob Plant said, “Been a long time since I rock and rolled.”

Thanks as always for your kindness and thoughtfulness.
Your friend and mine,
looch

Maybe someday she’ll be able tell her story and share her experience; maybe she won’t. It’s not an unusual story, as we’ve seen time and time again.

There’s a criminal justice system indifference — starting with a good many police officers — who view women being stalked as a nuisance call. The world is full of stories — incredibly tragic stories — of how difficult it can be for a woman to be taken seriously in the system.

In a 2009 study from the Department of Justice, 20 percent of people who reported being stalked say police took no action.

I’m not going to tell Mary’s story; it’s hers to share, not mine. But here’s a nod to female cops and female prosecutors and advocates who “get” things that their male counterparts sometimes don’t or can’t. They’re cops and prosecutors and advocates who run headlong into a system that’s not designed to accommodate them.

It’s a different world for women just trying to live their lives and mind their own business. It shouldn’t be.