Though awareness about eating disorders has been aroused in the past few years, it doesn't always hit home until it affects someone you love. A recent New York Times article titled "A Mother's Loss, a Daughter's Story" explores the tragic story surrounding the death of a 19-year-old who died from complications with bulimia, and her mother who is now making a documentary about her daughter's life.
The article opens with Andrew Avrin, Melissa's brother, as he gets interviewed for the documentary, which is now in the editing stages. The writer portrays Andrew having a difficult time explaining that his family never kept food in the house, that he could bring no leftovers home. The reporter includes an instance where Andrew said caught Melissa out digging through the garbage looking for food:
Once, he explains, in the middle of a bitterly cold night, he looked out the window and saw Melissa on the curb, going through the garbage. "I went outside and I yelled her name," he recounts in the interview, his voice breaking. "Just the way she looked at me -- it was so empty, vacant. It was a deer in the headlights, but that doesn't even explain it.
The writer in this story did an excellent job portraying the emotions of the family, sharing some heartfelt direct quotes from Melissa's brother, mother and father. This article is more of a feature than a news article, and she used creativity, adjectives and description in really painting a picture for readers. She also used quotes to let the family describe just how tough their situation at home could be:
Ms. Arvin wrapped the fridge in locks and chains, hid her purse and made sure to never leave money lying around. "It didn't have to be junk food -- if she wanted to go on a binge, it could be a dozen eggs," Ms. Avrin said of Melissa. "Anything that wasn't nailed down, she would eat."
The reporter included an entry from Melissa's diary entry, which was the inspiration for her mother to make the film to give some insight to who Melissa was.
Though this article did a great job at portraying dynamic the family and the documentary that they are making called "Someday Melissa," however I think the article could have been a bit better if it focused a bit more on the statistics and wide-spread issue of bulimia as a whole. Melissa should definitely still be the focus of the story, but by including just one or two statistics or facts, the story could have raised awareness and connected with more people.
I think the author tried to do this in some part, but still could have done more. There is a link under the first instance of the word "eating disorder" to the National Eating Disorders Association website, a group dedicated to "providing education, resources and support to those affected by eating disorders."
The writer also included Ms. Avrin has learned a lot about eating disorders -- "how their seriousness has been underestimated, their treatment underinsured, their deaths underreported." It would have been important for the writer to include some of this information here, since I'm sure it will be stated in the documentary about eating disorders.
The statistics are haunting: 4% of college-age women have bulimia (Eating Disorder Clinic). They also report that on average, a person with bulimia will binge on food 11 times within one week.
Approximately 7 million women, and 1 million men, struggle with eating disorders and without treatment, up to 20% of people with serious eating disorders die (Bulimia.com).
Just by having a long, feature article about the issue in the New York Times is encouraging, however the fact that the writer says this is important is not enough, she needs to show it. She could have used Melissa as the tree to represent the forest and given readers at least a taste of the scope of people suffering from bulimia. Because, according to the article, that's what Melissa's mother is trying to do.
She is trying to find a way to find purpose in her pain and to make something good, an awareness for other people, by documenting her daughter's life in this heartfelt film.
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