1.) In this project we interviewed people, mainly women, who had been involved in domestic violence. We had to create a stamp, a vignette, and write the script from the interview.
2.) I worked with Elise R. who worked hard and produced a very beautiful vignette. Garrett T. created a very professional stamp. And i wrote up the almost hour long script of people constantly talking, making sure to get everything everyone said down word for word.
3.)I thought we did very well. All of the work we produced was very nice and appealing to the eye and the mind.
4.) I did learn how to get partners to work a bit harder. As well as how not to take full control of the entire project.
2.) I worked with Elise R. who worked hard and produced a very beautiful vignette. Garrett T. created a very professional stamp. And i wrote up the almost hour long script of people constantly talking, making sure to get everything everyone said down word for word.
3.)I thought we did very well. All of the work we produced was very nice and appealing to the eye and the mind.
4.) I did learn how to get partners to work a bit harder. As well as how not to take full control of the entire project.
Script from Interview with Gabbe Rowland
Hello Gabbe, were from the school and we’re here to interview you correct?
Um, yeah. Yes.
So to start off, I’m Kristy Feather, this is Jake McGrath, Marcus Freeman, Fabi, and Elise Rivera. Before we ask any questions, can we record you, err, your voice and this discussion.
Yeah. Yeah thats okay.
So how’s your day been today?
It’s been good. Um, I just went to therapy and I have been- I work with an organization called break the silence against domestic violence. So, doing a little bit of work with that, so, staying busy.
Before we ask you any abuse related questions do you have anything that you don’t want us to ask, anything you don’t feel comfortable talking about?
Um, I don’t think so. I mean if there’s anything that comes up, I’ll just let you know, but, um, everything should be good.
Okay. So, maybe tell us a little bit about yourself, where’d you do to high school or college,... depending on how old you are.
Um, I live in Massachusetts on Cape Cod and I graduated high school in Bowmouth which is where I grew up and where I still live and where my abuse did happen.
How did you meet your abusive partner?
I met him on facebook. He came up as “someone you might know” and i recognized his name because we had mutual friends in eighth grade and i basically just sent him a friend request because I found him attractive and we started from there just talking online and texting and then eventually into dating.
How long did you date before it turned into an abusive relationship?
I started dating him in october of 2011, um he started serving a year sentence in county jail in the beginning of 2012 for the remainder of the year. And the physical abuse didn’t actually start until june 29th of 2013.
Who helped you get out of the abusive relationship? Who was someone that you could go to and who just helped you get out of the relationship?
I turned to my boss, who i was working for a family owned hotel at the time. And she knew- pretty much i would talk to her about my relationship, not the abusive part or anything negative, but she knew about my relationship in the fact that my boyfriend, at the time, had been in jail and our struggles and that sort of thing. So I turned to her to- she was the first person that I told about anything and I didn’t give specifics. I had just simply said that things were not good, and that in itself was enough for her to understand.
What type of abuse was it?
Was it verbal or was it physical?
Um, It started with the… like psychological, so mental abuse. Obviously because he was in jail for a year, so there was no physical contact between us. But I didn’t, uh, see that as abuse, I didn’t see anything until the actual abuse, i didn't see the emotional or mental abuse until after i left and educated myself on what type of abuse that actually was.
This one is more like i just want to know the answer, uh, what do you think are the signs of an abuser?
I would definitely say a big one is isolating you from your friends and family, thats what my abuser did, and he did it in a strategic way trying to hide that by including me in his family and his friends, so i was basically just looking at it as my family, my friends are getting replaced. That in itself is a huge red flag. I would say, drug use or criminal history. Or even, um, being a criminal in that moment, in that period of time, that was something that my abuser was. So that is just a few of them.
When did you first join Break The Silence?
I joined break the silence on october 20th 2013, it was ten days after I testified against my abuser for the first time and five days before my 25th birthday.
Did your abuser have any consequences?
Um, yeah he did. I, um- like i said i testified against him in october and he was sentenced to a year at that point because he had violated his probation and we had a jury trial last march where he was sentenced to 6 years. so he’s currently serving six years in a county prison, um, and he is currently in the process of trying to appeal that case right now, so.
During your, relationship with your abuser, was there any certain point where you felt safe or someone that you felt safe with?
Well, there were actually times where i did feel safe with him. Being that in an abusive relationship is not always bad there are good points. There are bad times as well, um i don't know if there was anyone specifically that i had that i could turn to that i felt comfort in. So not really, i guess.
through the relationships what were some, uh, i guess stories that you remember of the abuse?
Well you mean specifically things that happened to me?
well, like the most, dramatic parts of it.
Um, well like I said a lot of my relationship was him behind bars. And it was the last week he turned violent against me. He injected me with heroine against my will. He beat with with a belt during broad daylight. He strangled me in the bedroom. He forced me to perform in-human sexual acts on his dog. Those are some of the big things besides the belittling and the fighting and he would hit me across my face when were driving or- some of the typical things. But those are just the main things that he did.
During what point in your life did this happen? During college, right after high school, when you were going into a career, when did it happen?
This just happened. I have been out of my abusive relationship in july it'll be two years. I don’t think there any big monumental things going on in my personal life at the time. But like i said it was fairly recent.
Did he have any other criminal record?
He did, he has been getting in trouble with the law for a long time. When I first met him, the very first night we hung out, he had told me that he had filmed him and a previous girlfriend having sex and she - this is his story - she was claiming that she didn't know about it. And that’s what he was doing the year in jail for. That’s what he was doing the year in jail for, that i dated him for.
When you were a child - so before this happened - was there any there any other forms of abuse going on around you in possibly another family or your own?
No, I didn’t. I grew up in a house; my parents are still married I didn't see any violence. Obviously every couple is going to have their arguments, in a healthy way and that is the most i ever saw in my family, and i never saw anything in any of my friends family’s when i went to their houses or sleep overs that sort of thing. So violence or domestic violence was not something that i was exposed to at all.
You said it had good points and, just like, was it always at a good point at the beginning and then began turning to a domestic relationship?
There were good points and bad points in the rof the relationship, specifically, like when he was in jail we had to learn how to have a relationship through communicating and just talking to each other through a phone and a glass window, letter and that sort of thing so i got to see a different side of him. Like i said the physical abuse did not start until the tale end of the relationship.
Is there anything else that you can tell us that you think would be good for us to know?
Just for you guys to know that if you do find yourself in an abusive relationship as you get older or even now, that there is help for you. there are many people who want to help you just ask for help. People are always willing to. And just to know that you're not to blame for the abuse and that there is a better life out there and you'll get that.
Did any of your friends or family know about the abuse?
No, they didn’t. I had pretty much been cut off from my family. The very first thing he had done before actually physically assaulting me was he destroyed my cell phone, so I had no means of communication with anybody. People would text me and call me and just assumed “oh shes busy” or “oh she’s mad at me” or something. They didn’t know it all.
Was it hard to get out of the abusive relationship? Did he threaten you in any way?
I left multiple times. The first time I left him was a few months before the physical abuse even started I had gotten a restraining order against him and I had felt really confident and strong that i was able to stay away, but I was unfortunately kind of sucked back into a relationship with him just by believing that he was sorry and that he would change; and that the only reason he was acting this way was because he was on drugs. That was my first attempt in leaving, when I tried this last time after he had turned violent against me for a week I had never realized that I needed to be in a safe place that if I simply left and when back to my parents house or maybe stayed with a friend i would eventually cave and go back to him and I did not believe I was strong enough to actually leave. So I actually tried to get into a women's shelter at that point I was unsuccessful and ended up staying with a friend and luckily he was arrested the following day, that kind of gave me a bit more strength to stand on my own two feet without him.
When did he start taking drugs?
He was using drugs prior to our relationship he’s an addict and he does have a problem and I believe he realizes that to some degree.
Do you have anything currently keeping him away from you, other than the fact that he was arrested?
I do. I have a current restraining order that is in place until 2020. Which is- as of right now he’s due to be release in 2019 so it'll give me a year of protection since he’s out if he does get out at that point, that I can extend it if I choose to, which I will.
Before he forced you to do heroin had you ever done drugs with him?
No never. I dont even smoke cigarettes. I don't do anything. So that was a huge point for me, because I had been in a relationship with him obviously and I had seen him doing drugs before and he never pushed it upon me never forced it always spoke very highly of me to his friends that I was the one that didn't do drugs and didn't judge him for it. So him using that as a weapon against me was a huge red flag for me that I didn't see at the time, that I didn't see because I was so wrapped up in his world.
Before anything ever happened with him did you ever think in your head that something might go wrong from him being on drugs?
No, I believed him when he always made himself out to be this great person who just happened to do drugs. I believed that he would never do any wrong to me or to our relationship.
Did he ever talk down to you or make you feel bad about yourself or did he just isolate you from your family and do other things to you?
Yeah, he definitely did talk down to me. There was a point in our relationship when I was pregnant and I did miscarry. I remember my mom actually trying to reach out to his mom to create a relationship since our families weren’t connected either because he drew a wedge between everyone, but i remember my mom talking to his mom about how our relationship was, and his mom saying “he doesn’t look down on her as much as he looked down on previous girlfriends”. So, he obviously looked down on me
Do you think the experience has changed your view on the world or on men?
oh, absolutely, yes! I, unfortunately don't trust many people. I am very sceptical. When people tell me something I like to see the actions followed by it. I mean, men specifically, I haven't dated since this incident just because I’ve learned what an unhealthy relationship is, so i have high standards for what my next relationship should be and a healthy relationship of course.
Did he ever use other weapons? Has he ever left bruises or scars on you or your face severe enough to the point where you need to hide them?
When he hit me across my face he did leave bruises across my eyes and my cheek and everything. As I mentioned before he beat me with a belt across my rear end. But only his hand or the belt no other weapons.
Has he ever sexually taken force; raped you?
Yes. That is something that is took me a while to actually grasp that I was raped. Because when I went to the policies station at the beginning of trying to recover and heal from everything, I didn’t believe that I was raped. But I was.
Has he tried to make contact with you since you’ve left him?
No. He did send an anonymous letter to my friends husband trying to justify what he did. it was not addressed to me, but ultimately he did it in a way that he knew I would find out about it. But nothing directly to me.
Do you have any therapy animals?
No I don't, the incident with the dog- it was a pitbull, and I used to really love pitbulls, I mean, I’m sure I’d be fine with pitbulls or dogs in general, but after that incident I didn't want to go near the dog. Even picking up some of my belonging from his house, the dog came running outside and I didn’t want to be near it, so I think for me right now dogs, or animals, for me are like a trigger right now.
Did you in the beginning, when the abuse started, did you realize you were a victim of domestic violent relationship, or did you think it was just fighting?
I didn’t think I was a victim. I do remember during that week that he was abusing me that this wasn't a relationship should be I knew that what he was doing to me was wrong it wasn't until after leaving that I realized that at that point I was a victim of domestic violence.
What do you think his motives for domestic violence were?
I think he craved power and control. I mean, he had just gotten out of jail, he was unemployed, he lived with his grandparents so he wasn't stable on his own, and it felt like that he saw me as someone who could succeed on their own, I could go out and have my own place and not depend on my family for financial help, I had my own job, things like that that I think he was jealous and he didn't know how to respond in the appropriate way so he turned to violence.
I just want to clarify; he lived with you?
Well, he lived in a basement apartment in his grandparents house and I lived with him. So I lived in his family’s household.
When did you move in with him?
I moved in to his house right around the time he went to jail. That, I believe, was also a power and control aspect. He wanted me to live under his roof because he even he wasn’t there his family could report back to him if they chose so, if he wanted them to. But I would actually stay there for weeks leading up until he went to jail.
Did his family ever notice “things”?
I believe that they do, they have never admitted to it, they have always taken his side on everything, and supported him, and turned their back on me, but I believe that they know what type of person he is and what he’s done to me.
Has he ever overdosed on heroin?
I believe he has.
How often did he do it?
I believe he’d only done it - for the time I dated him - only once.
You said you go to therapy right?
Yes.
You also said you never told anyone about it, so does that mean you were kind of a quiet keep-to-yourself kind of person?
Well I didn’t tell anyone during the actual relationship or doing the actual abuse was going on but I had been in therapy since I left him, I feel like that’s crucial in my recovery and I - pretty much ever since my trial was finished - I went very public with my story. That way my community could know what I went through and how I got through it.
Thank you so much Ms. Rowland. We just want to tell you we appreciate you telling us this story, we know that it can be sensitive subject and we just thank you for being so thorough with us and allowing us to ask you questions.
Oh, no problem! Good luck on your project.
Thank you.
Vignette
Unbreakable
Gabbe is unbreakable. In Massachusetts on Cape Cod, Gabbe can go through pain, torture, and isolation and will not break. Over time the controlling and the abuse became too much. The attackings were eventually too severe to be ignored any longer. She was still unbreakable even when it was too much to bare.
Her relationship with her abuser started off like a lot of abusive relationships. She found him attractive and became friends with him. They started dating soon after; it was something she thought was love. She knew he wasn’t the best for her because of his obsession with drugs, such as heroine, and his criminal record. He was a criminal for filming him and his ex- girlfriends being intimate. He was also charged for forcing Gabbe to be intimate with his dog.
She knew she needed to get out, but every time she did, she’d get sucked back into a relationship with him. There was almost no hope; she didn’t believe she was strong enough to leave. She then stayed with one of her friends and her abuser got arrested the next day. Gabbe was able to give herself a bit more strength to stand on her own two feet without him. She is now living a life with her continuing restraining order from her abuser until 2020, and is going to therapy. Gabbe is also working with the organization, Break The Silence against domestic violence.
By Garret Tang, Kristy Feather, and Elise Rivera
Hello Gabbe, were from the school and we’re here to interview you correct?
Um, yeah. Yes.
So to start off, I’m Kristy Feather, this is Jake McGrath, Marcus Freeman, Fabi, and Elise Rivera. Before we ask any questions, can we record you, err, your voice and this discussion.
Yeah. Yeah thats okay.
So how’s your day been today?
It’s been good. Um, I just went to therapy and I have been- I work with an organization called break the silence against domestic violence. So, doing a little bit of work with that, so, staying busy.
Before we ask you any abuse related questions do you have anything that you don’t want us to ask, anything you don’t feel comfortable talking about?
Um, I don’t think so. I mean if there’s anything that comes up, I’ll just let you know, but, um, everything should be good.
Okay. So, maybe tell us a little bit about yourself, where’d you do to high school or college,... depending on how old you are.
Um, I live in Massachusetts on Cape Cod and I graduated high school in Bowmouth which is where I grew up and where I still live and where my abuse did happen.
How did you meet your abusive partner?
I met him on facebook. He came up as “someone you might know” and i recognized his name because we had mutual friends in eighth grade and i basically just sent him a friend request because I found him attractive and we started from there just talking online and texting and then eventually into dating.
How long did you date before it turned into an abusive relationship?
I started dating him in october of 2011, um he started serving a year sentence in county jail in the beginning of 2012 for the remainder of the year. And the physical abuse didn’t actually start until june 29th of 2013.
Who helped you get out of the abusive relationship? Who was someone that you could go to and who just helped you get out of the relationship?
I turned to my boss, who i was working for a family owned hotel at the time. And she knew- pretty much i would talk to her about my relationship, not the abusive part or anything negative, but she knew about my relationship in the fact that my boyfriend, at the time, had been in jail and our struggles and that sort of thing. So I turned to her to- she was the first person that I told about anything and I didn’t give specifics. I had just simply said that things were not good, and that in itself was enough for her to understand.
What type of abuse was it?
Was it verbal or was it physical?
Um, It started with the… like psychological, so mental abuse. Obviously because he was in jail for a year, so there was no physical contact between us. But I didn’t, uh, see that as abuse, I didn’t see anything until the actual abuse, i didn't see the emotional or mental abuse until after i left and educated myself on what type of abuse that actually was.
This one is more like i just want to know the answer, uh, what do you think are the signs of an abuser?
I would definitely say a big one is isolating you from your friends and family, thats what my abuser did, and he did it in a strategic way trying to hide that by including me in his family and his friends, so i was basically just looking at it as my family, my friends are getting replaced. That in itself is a huge red flag. I would say, drug use or criminal history. Or even, um, being a criminal in that moment, in that period of time, that was something that my abuser was. So that is just a few of them.
When did you first join Break The Silence?
I joined break the silence on october 20th 2013, it was ten days after I testified against my abuser for the first time and five days before my 25th birthday.
Did your abuser have any consequences?
Um, yeah he did. I, um- like i said i testified against him in october and he was sentenced to a year at that point because he had violated his probation and we had a jury trial last march where he was sentenced to 6 years. so he’s currently serving six years in a county prison, um, and he is currently in the process of trying to appeal that case right now, so.
During your, relationship with your abuser, was there any certain point where you felt safe or someone that you felt safe with?
Well, there were actually times where i did feel safe with him. Being that in an abusive relationship is not always bad there are good points. There are bad times as well, um i don't know if there was anyone specifically that i had that i could turn to that i felt comfort in. So not really, i guess.
through the relationships what were some, uh, i guess stories that you remember of the abuse?
Well you mean specifically things that happened to me?
well, like the most, dramatic parts of it.
Um, well like I said a lot of my relationship was him behind bars. And it was the last week he turned violent against me. He injected me with heroine against my will. He beat with with a belt during broad daylight. He strangled me in the bedroom. He forced me to perform in-human sexual acts on his dog. Those are some of the big things besides the belittling and the fighting and he would hit me across my face when were driving or- some of the typical things. But those are just the main things that he did.
During what point in your life did this happen? During college, right after high school, when you were going into a career, when did it happen?
This just happened. I have been out of my abusive relationship in july it'll be two years. I don’t think there any big monumental things going on in my personal life at the time. But like i said it was fairly recent.
Did he have any other criminal record?
He did, he has been getting in trouble with the law for a long time. When I first met him, the very first night we hung out, he had told me that he had filmed him and a previous girlfriend having sex and she - this is his story - she was claiming that she didn't know about it. And that’s what he was doing the year in jail for. That’s what he was doing the year in jail for, that i dated him for.
When you were a child - so before this happened - was there any there any other forms of abuse going on around you in possibly another family or your own?
No, I didn’t. I grew up in a house; my parents are still married I didn't see any violence. Obviously every couple is going to have their arguments, in a healthy way and that is the most i ever saw in my family, and i never saw anything in any of my friends family’s when i went to their houses or sleep overs that sort of thing. So violence or domestic violence was not something that i was exposed to at all.
You said it had good points and, just like, was it always at a good point at the beginning and then began turning to a domestic relationship?
There were good points and bad points in the rof the relationship, specifically, like when he was in jail we had to learn how to have a relationship through communicating and just talking to each other through a phone and a glass window, letter and that sort of thing so i got to see a different side of him. Like i said the physical abuse did not start until the tale end of the relationship.
Is there anything else that you can tell us that you think would be good for us to know?
Just for you guys to know that if you do find yourself in an abusive relationship as you get older or even now, that there is help for you. there are many people who want to help you just ask for help. People are always willing to. And just to know that you're not to blame for the abuse and that there is a better life out there and you'll get that.
Did any of your friends or family know about the abuse?
No, they didn’t. I had pretty much been cut off from my family. The very first thing he had done before actually physically assaulting me was he destroyed my cell phone, so I had no means of communication with anybody. People would text me and call me and just assumed “oh shes busy” or “oh she’s mad at me” or something. They didn’t know it all.
Was it hard to get out of the abusive relationship? Did he threaten you in any way?
I left multiple times. The first time I left him was a few months before the physical abuse even started I had gotten a restraining order against him and I had felt really confident and strong that i was able to stay away, but I was unfortunately kind of sucked back into a relationship with him just by believing that he was sorry and that he would change; and that the only reason he was acting this way was because he was on drugs. That was my first attempt in leaving, when I tried this last time after he had turned violent against me for a week I had never realized that I needed to be in a safe place that if I simply left and when back to my parents house or maybe stayed with a friend i would eventually cave and go back to him and I did not believe I was strong enough to actually leave. So I actually tried to get into a women's shelter at that point I was unsuccessful and ended up staying with a friend and luckily he was arrested the following day, that kind of gave me a bit more strength to stand on my own two feet without him.
When did he start taking drugs?
He was using drugs prior to our relationship he’s an addict and he does have a problem and I believe he realizes that to some degree.
Do you have anything currently keeping him away from you, other than the fact that he was arrested?
I do. I have a current restraining order that is in place until 2020. Which is- as of right now he’s due to be release in 2019 so it'll give me a year of protection since he’s out if he does get out at that point, that I can extend it if I choose to, which I will.
Before he forced you to do heroin had you ever done drugs with him?
No never. I dont even smoke cigarettes. I don't do anything. So that was a huge point for me, because I had been in a relationship with him obviously and I had seen him doing drugs before and he never pushed it upon me never forced it always spoke very highly of me to his friends that I was the one that didn't do drugs and didn't judge him for it. So him using that as a weapon against me was a huge red flag for me that I didn't see at the time, that I didn't see because I was so wrapped up in his world.
Before anything ever happened with him did you ever think in your head that something might go wrong from him being on drugs?
No, I believed him when he always made himself out to be this great person who just happened to do drugs. I believed that he would never do any wrong to me or to our relationship.
Did he ever talk down to you or make you feel bad about yourself or did he just isolate you from your family and do other things to you?
Yeah, he definitely did talk down to me. There was a point in our relationship when I was pregnant and I did miscarry. I remember my mom actually trying to reach out to his mom to create a relationship since our families weren’t connected either because he drew a wedge between everyone, but i remember my mom talking to his mom about how our relationship was, and his mom saying “he doesn’t look down on her as much as he looked down on previous girlfriends”. So, he obviously looked down on me
Do you think the experience has changed your view on the world or on men?
oh, absolutely, yes! I, unfortunately don't trust many people. I am very sceptical. When people tell me something I like to see the actions followed by it. I mean, men specifically, I haven't dated since this incident just because I’ve learned what an unhealthy relationship is, so i have high standards for what my next relationship should be and a healthy relationship of course.
Did he ever use other weapons? Has he ever left bruises or scars on you or your face severe enough to the point where you need to hide them?
When he hit me across my face he did leave bruises across my eyes and my cheek and everything. As I mentioned before he beat me with a belt across my rear end. But only his hand or the belt no other weapons.
Has he ever sexually taken force; raped you?
Yes. That is something that is took me a while to actually grasp that I was raped. Because when I went to the policies station at the beginning of trying to recover and heal from everything, I didn’t believe that I was raped. But I was.
Has he tried to make contact with you since you’ve left him?
No. He did send an anonymous letter to my friends husband trying to justify what he did. it was not addressed to me, but ultimately he did it in a way that he knew I would find out about it. But nothing directly to me.
Do you have any therapy animals?
No I don't, the incident with the dog- it was a pitbull, and I used to really love pitbulls, I mean, I’m sure I’d be fine with pitbulls or dogs in general, but after that incident I didn't want to go near the dog. Even picking up some of my belonging from his house, the dog came running outside and I didn’t want to be near it, so I think for me right now dogs, or animals, for me are like a trigger right now.
Did you in the beginning, when the abuse started, did you realize you were a victim of domestic violent relationship, or did you think it was just fighting?
I didn’t think I was a victim. I do remember during that week that he was abusing me that this wasn't a relationship should be I knew that what he was doing to me was wrong it wasn't until after leaving that I realized that at that point I was a victim of domestic violence.
What do you think his motives for domestic violence were?
I think he craved power and control. I mean, he had just gotten out of jail, he was unemployed, he lived with his grandparents so he wasn't stable on his own, and it felt like that he saw me as someone who could succeed on their own, I could go out and have my own place and not depend on my family for financial help, I had my own job, things like that that I think he was jealous and he didn't know how to respond in the appropriate way so he turned to violence.
I just want to clarify; he lived with you?
Well, he lived in a basement apartment in his grandparents house and I lived with him. So I lived in his family’s household.
When did you move in with him?
I moved in to his house right around the time he went to jail. That, I believe, was also a power and control aspect. He wanted me to live under his roof because he even he wasn’t there his family could report back to him if they chose so, if he wanted them to. But I would actually stay there for weeks leading up until he went to jail.
Did his family ever notice “things”?
I believe that they do, they have never admitted to it, they have always taken his side on everything, and supported him, and turned their back on me, but I believe that they know what type of person he is and what he’s done to me.
Has he ever overdosed on heroin?
I believe he has.
How often did he do it?
I believe he’d only done it - for the time I dated him - only once.
You said you go to therapy right?
Yes.
You also said you never told anyone about it, so does that mean you were kind of a quiet keep-to-yourself kind of person?
Well I didn’t tell anyone during the actual relationship or doing the actual abuse was going on but I had been in therapy since I left him, I feel like that’s crucial in my recovery and I - pretty much ever since my trial was finished - I went very public with my story. That way my community could know what I went through and how I got through it.
Thank you so much Ms. Rowland. We just want to tell you we appreciate you telling us this story, we know that it can be sensitive subject and we just thank you for being so thorough with us and allowing us to ask you questions.
Oh, no problem! Good luck on your project.
Thank you.
Vignette
Unbreakable
Gabbe is unbreakable. In Massachusetts on Cape Cod, Gabbe can go through pain, torture, and isolation and will not break. Over time the controlling and the abuse became too much. The attackings were eventually too severe to be ignored any longer. She was still unbreakable even when it was too much to bare.
Her relationship with her abuser started off like a lot of abusive relationships. She found him attractive and became friends with him. They started dating soon after; it was something she thought was love. She knew he wasn’t the best for her because of his obsession with drugs, such as heroine, and his criminal record. He was a criminal for filming him and his ex- girlfriends being intimate. He was also charged for forcing Gabbe to be intimate with his dog.
She knew she needed to get out, but every time she did, she’d get sucked back into a relationship with him. There was almost no hope; she didn’t believe she was strong enough to leave. She then stayed with one of her friends and her abuser got arrested the next day. Gabbe was able to give herself a bit more strength to stand on her own two feet without him. She is now living a life with her continuing restraining order from her abuser until 2020, and is going to therapy. Gabbe is also working with the organization, Break The Silence against domestic violence.
By Garret Tang, Kristy Feather, and Elise Rivera