In this blog post, I want to focus on one particular story I read on Salon.com that has stayed with me for the past few months. In my feature writing class last semester, my professor had us read a story called, “The monster inside my son.” It actually leads in with a mention of Trudy Steuernagel, a political science professor here at Kent State University who died after her autistic son beat her to death. The story ran in March. The author, Ann Bauer, delves into her own personal experience with autism. Her grown son is autistic, and she writes about his attack on a young woman and her feelings through the entire ordeal. It’s a very compelling story and also somewhat sad.
Of all the stories Salon.com offers, this kind is my favorite to read. The stories about politics – what bill was passed when, whose party we’re blaming now, which politician is cheating on his wife – are the stories most people come to the Web site to read, but stories like Bauer’s are the ones they’ll remember.
