The Mirror
The woman who wrote, "Men seldom make passes at women who wear glasses," understood the power of the mirror. You can’t bear to look, but neither can you look away. As our reflection in the mirror changes, it fascinates and frustrates. Our writers in this month’s issue confront the faces staring back. Appearances may only be skin deep, but these reflections go clean to the bone.
Nothing To See Here
Word Count 347
I wish I knew what I looked like then—as a surly, withdrawn teenager caged in an iron brace, rising from my leather-girdled pelvis to my chin, tilted upward by a padded bar. Traction pads on either side locked onto the frame, training my S- curved spine to erectness. Without the brace I listed to one side; with it I moved like a robot. At the time the brace was a miracle intervention, since the only other treatment for my severe scoliosis was surgery, to implant a steel rod.
I wore the brace for four years, from ages eleven through fourteen, with an hour off to bathe each day.