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A little background...

This is the diary I kept during a very interesting period in my life. I think you'll find most of what need to know about me in the diary itself. But maybe a little background would be helpful. Here's a short bio as it might have read when the diary starts, in August 1998:

Cheryl ___, 29 years old, born and raised in Atlanta but got out of there fast as soon as she could. She studied philosophy in college, then tried psychology in graduate school but dropped out. Wanting to try psychology again, but in a hands-on way, she is currently back in school, in an MSW program, studying to be a therapist. In the mean time, to support herself she works as a writer and editor, mostly of technical documents, especially computer manuals. She lives in an apartment near campus with Sammy, her boyfriend of 8 years.

I had a pretty uneventful life back then. I've always tended to live in my head. I read a lot, I sit around talking a lot, I'm very analytical. But my outlook was changing. I had realized in my own process of therapy that the reason I lived in my head wasn't because doing so was the most evolved stance for a human being to take, but because I had withdrawn there after the brutality of adolescence, especially after my first sexual experience and betrayal at the hands of a priest who was a friend of my father's. I was starting to realize that it was great fun to do things with my body, to take it running and feel the pain and get stronger, to dress it up in sexy clothes, to walk in a cool breeze on a summer evening.

My relationship was seriously stuck in the past, and was keeping a lid on my newfound bodily pleasures, and in August it reached the point where I left Sammy. My life got very interesting within a month or so, as if the cork had been popped out of the champagne bottle. A catalyst was the sexuality class I took that semester, taught by a fascinating woman whose professional and personal lives both center on her obsession with sex. She took me under her wing and encouraged me to explore my own sexuality, not only by taking several lovers (I imagine I would have managed that myself) but also by taking a turn as a sex surrogate.

But all that is in the diary. I haven't seen any reason, though, to edit out all the other things that happened, the mundane and bizarre details of everyday life, my experiences as a neophyte therapist, my musings and opinions. It's all of a piece, I think.

If you have comments or questions, please e-mail at cherdiary@yahoo.com. Below there's a form that allows you to very easily send me an anonymous comment. I'd love to hear from you.