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Award of Excellence
Brad Clift
The Hartford Courant
"Jessica and John: A Tragic Embrace"  

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Jessica and John met at a homeless shelter and embraced each other immediately, but not as tightly as their hold on heroin, or heroin's hold on them. In a story of small town heroin use, John and Jessica embody an addiction stronger than love, and go through life clinging to one another. Their slow dance ends with the sudden and unexpected death of John as a result of an infected needle. It took less than a week for the staph infection to race through his body, leaving Jessica alone, afraid and still addicted to heroin. They talked about getting clean, about moving away from the Hotel Hooker, about the future, within 10 days of this shared moment in a local river, John suddenly died of an infection from shooting with a dirty needle. The void left Jessica grief stricken and alone, and further down a path of a destructive lifestyle.
 
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