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[quote=Anonymous][quote=shan1212]I'm really not about anybody being "cancelled" -- I think their just desserts are having their actions exposed. I do think they've caused harm to the disabled community with their dismissal of life-saving organ donation, and they should work hard to remedy that.

One thing that really drew me to this story was how I relate to Dawn's trying to repair her fractured relationship with Sonya. I once had a situation where I was obviously the aggrieved party, where a stranger really did me dirty, but most people would have advised not to contact the person who hurt me so as not to "give her any power." But to me, asking for a small, concrete act by this person to help put things right really meant a lot to me, and they were grateful for the chance to do so. If they weren't willing, or were too buried in shame, I would have had to accept that. It's not getting away with it just because you don't lose every single thing in your life over your bad choice. You have to wrestle with that and find a way to look yourself in the mirror again.

I would not be surprised if these has been some of the hardest days of Sonya Larson's life. She was so deeply invested in the narrative of her being the aggrieved party, and she leaned on friends to bolster that POV whenever she felt it slipping. Now the rug has been pulled and they've all been exposed. She's branded a bully and a plagiarist, and her safe space of her BFF writing group is falling apart. I'm not saying she's the victim, but it's possible (and I think important for my humanity) to keep the humanity of people in mind at all times. That's something Dawn continued to do even she was gaslit and bullied, and that's why there's so much sympathy for her. She never fought fire with fire.[/quote]

This is a good take, except that I don't think Larson is losing her BFF writing group at all. They are circling the wagons instead.

One writer, Becky Tuch, offered an apology of sorts that essentially ignores the court documents that show her doing worse and being more actively involved than her apology makes it sound. There has either been silence or overt defensiveness from the others. Not a peep has come out of GrubStreet even though they largely ignored an HR complaint and their instructors were mocking their writing students and continue with that (see Steve Almond's smarmy essay). As an aside, I genuinely do not understand how any vulnerable learning writer could trust that organization going forward. It makes me wonder what other inappropriate instructor behavior is regularly swept under the rug and excused.

No writing group is being lost. They are okay with this behavior, and they've squarely got Larsen's back. [/quote]

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