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Air Dates: June 13-19, 2022

Struggling with the demands of a newborn daughter and special-needs son, Melissa Bond developed insomnia. Her doctor prescribed benzodiazepines, but addiction followed.

Bond is a narrative journalist, poet and mother of two children, one who lives with Downs Syndrome.  She has served as Associate Editor and Poetry Editor of the Wasatch Journal, a long-form magazine serving the Intermountain West.  She has written several chapbooks of poetry and has performed at the National Poetry Slam in Austin, Texas and Portland, Oregon, at Kingsbury Hall, the Rose Wagner, the State Room, among others.  Bond blogged and became a regular contributor for “Mad in America” during the years of her dependence on benzodiazepines.  She was interviewed on ABC World News Tonight and has been featured on the podcasts “Risk,” “IGNTD,” and “The Addiction Podcast.”  Her forthcoming book, “Blood Orange Night,” recounts her multi-year struggle with accidental benzodiazepine addiction, will be released by Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books in July, 2022.

On this episode of “Story in the Public Square,” Bond describes finding the courage to write her account of her addiction to benzodiazepines.  She said, “I discovered that this was the story of hundreds, of thousands of people.”  She adds, “even though it feels like an act of courage, it feels like the only gift I can give to help make a difference.”

“Story in the Public Square” broadcasts each week on public television stations across the United States. In Rhode Island and southeastern New England, the show is broadcast on Rhode Island PBS on Sundays at 11 a.m. and is rebroadcast Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. An audio version of the program airs Saturdays at 8:30 a.m., 5:30 p.m. ET, and Sundays at 2:30 a.m. & 2:30 p.m. ET on SiriusXM’s popular P.O.T.U.S. (Politics of the United States), channel 124. “Story in the Public Square” is a partnership between the Pell Center and The Providence Journal. The initiative aims to study, celebrate and tell stories that matter.