–TRIGGER ALERT–

Full disclosure: the victim of this story is the same age today as I am. Full disclosure: I am a circus teacher, working with kids her age and younger. Full disclosure: when I was 16, like her, I was taken advantage of by a man who was my mentor, teacher, and one of my personal heroes. Waking up to the New York Times’ exposé of Barry Lubin (AKA the beloved Grandma of Big Apple Circus) having admitted to taking pornographic photos of a 16-year old teenage girl was devastating on multiple levels. I have spent the better part of that day trying to wrap my head around the hurt I was feeling, the shock, the sickness, the betrayal, the anger, and grief. I want to be clear: no industry is clean of men who abuse their power. In every environment where a person wields authority over another, there will be those who grow...