On
Mar 5, 2025
This First of Many Blog Posts By Anthony Curtis
Poems & Literature
Half Life – A Memoir of a Set a of Twins Broken apart
Like two metals melded together to create an alloy stronger than either were alone, twins form a foundation of support for each other that can withstand even the worst ofchildhoods. But what happens when one is torn from the mix, leaving the other overlystiff and brittle? Half Life explores this question and the larger existential and systemic mysteries swirling around threatening to destroy all that is left behind.
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When my twin sister Angel died at nineteen, I lost more than a sibling, I lost half of myself. Her death creates the negative space that drives my search for answers to twohaunting questions: Why her, and not me? Who am I, now that half of me is gone?
This isn’t just another trauma memoir, it’s about resilience. Through structural innovationto explore how trauma shapes identity, how systemic failures perpetuate cycles ofpoverty and abuse, and how unexpected friendship can be more sustaining than bloodties.
What happens when grief isn’t respected?
Is meaning found, or made?
Can we leave the things that harmed us in the past?
Can we leave the things that harmed us in the past?
Quote from Professor of Anthropology and Childhood, Faculty of Wellbeing and Languages The Open University, UK Editor in Chief, Childhood Studies, Oxford Bibliographies, Oxford University Press
"From the first page it completely captured me. I read it in one sittingand then when I received the second part, devoured that too. Thewriting was immediate and alive and made me feel as if I werealongside you watching things unfold."
Prof. Heather Montgomery
Author of Familiar Violence: A History of Child Abuse (2024).
Take A Peek Inside Half Life
Hi, I'm Anthony Curtis. Life has a way of breaking us open and putting us back together differently. In "Half-Life," I share my story of loss, healing, and discovering who we truly are in our darkest moments.
Chapters
1-4
In these opening chapters, I trace not just my own history but the complex web of trauma that defined my family, starting with my father Leo Curtis. These chapters lay bare not just the origins of our family’s trauma, but also establish Angel and me as co-protagonists in a story of survival. Through both explicit narrative and painful implications, I show how Leo’smanipulation and abuse created deep wounds that would echo through our lives, while highlighting the unbreakable bond between twins forced to navigate a childhood dominated byfear.
Chapters
6-11
These chapters trace our journey from 1986-1989. The arc begins by exploring how Angel and I processed our trauma differently through our contrasting types of intelligence. Throughout these chapters, Angel's story evolves from my protective twin to someone forging her own connections and identity within our expanding family, while I retreat further into myself. Our experiences begin to diverge, she adapting and growing while I struggle with an emerging inner darkness.
Chapters
12-16
Our move to Hilliard in 1989 marked a pivotal shift in our story, offering stability we'd never known. While Angel flourished, making friends with fellow misfits and maintaining her connection with our mother through letters, Leo's carefully constructed facade began to crumble through a series of health crises, DUIs, and failed ventures. The arc traces not just Leo's fall, but my own confrontation with the darkness I feared might be his legacy in me.
Chapters
17-20
These chapters track the critical period when Angel and I, both finding success in our own ways, began to grow apart. Angel embraced our small-town Southern life, her "HOWDY!" becoming her trademark. Meanwhile, I rejected everything about our rural community, throwing myself into hip-hop culture, defining myself against everything I associated with Hilliard. The peak of this divergence came during our junior year, as I pursued inappropriate relationships and basketball glory while barely noticing Angel's engagement to James or her own achievements in drama and work.
About The Author
Who is Anthony Curtis?
Anthony Curtis grew up in the rural South, navigating a childhood defined by instability, poverty, and resilience. The death of his twin sister at 19 marked a turning point, shaping the trajectory of his life and inspiring a profound exploration of grief, identity, and meaning. From the Army to a Montana pawnshop to the Jeopardy! stage, his journey has been anything but conventional. Each chapter of his life has deepened his understanding of the human condition, offering him a unique perspective on survival, belonging, and transformation.
Anthony’s story is one of contradictions—a product of hardship who built a career in finance, a self-described introvert who boldly shares his most vulnerable truths. Hiswriting blends emotional honesty with sharp philosophical insight, challenging readers to confront their own assumptions about grief, resilience, and the systems that shape our lives. His debut memoir serves as a lens into the experiences and reflections that havedefined his path. Curious and thoughtful, Anthony’s work invites readers to explore thecomplexities of the human spirit and the enduring search for connection.
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