Dispatches from the Intersection: A Journey Through Systemic Struggles and Self-Discovery

Tangle of chains, police tape, cords and medical tubing (photo AI generated)

I once believed that the systems designed to help me were my salvation — institutions of recovery, social services, and the justice system. But over time, I came to realize something profound: I became who I am not because of these systems, but in spite of them. Dispatches from the Intersection is a reflection on my life — a mosaic of childhood, addiction, incarceration, reentry, relapse, recovery, and motherhood. The lessons I’ve learned are not the ones that were prescribed to me. They’re the ones I fought for, scraped together from the chaos of systemic failures.

This is the first dispatch of many, a look back at the intersections of my past where trauma, resilience, and transformation collided.

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Growing up, I was constantly told that I was broken and needed fixing. The systems in place to “help” people like me — people caught in cycles of addiction, poverty, and incarceration — often did more harm than good. The more I tried to fit within these systems, the more alienated and invisible I felt. But the one thing the system couldn’t take from me was my ability to learn and grow from my own experiences.