by sumac | Jul 31, 2014 | The Mechanics of Apology, True Crime Apologies
In April 2012, as Steve and Paula Alarcon were sleeping, someone fired five shots through the bedroom window, hitting them in the legs. Steve Alarcon wasn’t able to walk for months. Paula Alarcon did better, once the risk of bleeding to death was past. It was...
by sumac | Jul 25, 2014 | Personal Apologies, The Mechanics of Apology
Hello, strangers! May I have your attention? I was a huge jerk, and I’m so sorry. I will do anything, anything, to show how sorry I am. I will humiliate myself in front of the whole world – that’s you. Yo, sir! See how I am groveling and eating dirt? You...
by sumac | Jul 21, 2014 | Youth apologizes
This happened at a women’s restroom at a highway gas station in Utah. Three stalls. Our protagonist, thinking the handicapped stall is empty, opens the door. It is not empty. “Oh! I’m so sorry!” says our protagonist and closes the door instantly....
by snarly | Jul 17, 2014 | Academic apologies, Institutional Apologies
Four days ago, the New York Times ran a devastating account of the horrific mishandling of a sexual assault incident at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. The long, extensively reported piece is a difficult read, but an essential one. Today’s New York Times...
by sumac | Jul 16, 2014 | Institutional Apologies
It’s no fun having to visit your kid in jail. It’s even less fun when instead of seeing him, you get locked into a steel-doored concrete room and forgotten. Farad Polk had been visiting his son, who’s awaiting trial (drugs), every Saturday at...