Vocabulary - How you get unstuck

Treadmill — “I spend hours at the gym, walking on the treadmill until I can’t lift my legs.”

a machine used for walking or running in one place → caminadora.

Squawk — “The people who squawk the loudest about such things have almost never had to get over anything.”

to complain or speak loudly and noisily → quejarse / protestar ruidosamente.

Chanting — “There are women who have spent their days chanting daughter, daughter or son, son silently to themselves.”

repeating a word or phrase over and over → repetir / recitar continuamente.

inquire — “Call your local hospitals and birth centers and inquire about support groups for people who’ve lost babies at or before or shortly after birth.”

to ask for information → preguntar / averiguar.

Figment — “Read Elizabeth McCracken’s memoir An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination.”

something imagined or created by the mind rather than real → producto de la imaginación.

fierce — “That place of true healing is a fierce place.”

powerful, intense, and emotionally strong → intenso / poderoso.

glimmering — “It’s a place of monstrous beauty and endless dark and glimmering light.”

shining faintly or intermittently → resplandeciente / que brilla tenuemente.

seeps — “Every now and then one of the questions I get seeps its way into my mind.”

gradually enters or spreads into something → filtrarse / penetrar poco a poco.

roving — “Their dads were in prison or unknown to them or roving the streets of our city strung out on drugs.”

wandering from place to place without a fixed destination → vagando / deambulando.

strung out — “Their dads were in prison or unknown to them or roving the streets of our city strung out on drugs.”

exhausted or severely affected because of drug use → agotado / afectado por las drogas.

addled — “Their moms were young used and abused drug-and-alcohol addled women who were often abusive themselves.”

confused or impaired, especially because of drugs or alcohol → aturdido / afectado por drogas o alcohol.

deemed — “The twenty-some girls who were assigned to meet with me as a group and also individually were deemed ‘at highest risk’ by the faculty at the school.”

considered or judged to be something → considerado / juzgado.

harrowing — “My mission was to help the girl youth succeed in spite of the unspeakably harrowing crap stew they’d been simmering in all of their lives.”

extremely distressing, painful, or disturbing → angustiante / desgarrador.

stew — “My mission was to help the girl youth succeed in spite of the unspeakably harrowing crap stew they’d been simmering in all of their lives.”

a mixture or situation of unpleasant things → mezcla / situación problemática.

simmering — “My mission was to help the girl youth succeed in spite of the unspeakably harrowing crap stew they’d been simmering in all of their lives.”

continuing to exist or develop intensely beneath the surface → desarrollándose / acumulándose.

Boulder — “The theory was that if they liked to pull the weight of their blossoming girl bodies up a faux boulder with little pebble-esque plastic hand- and footholds then perhaps they would not get knocked up.”

a large rock used for climbing → roca grande / bloque de roca.

Scoffing — “They were distant and scoffing, self-conscious and surly.”

showing that you think something is ridiculous or unworthy of respect → burlón / desdeñoso.

Surly — “They were distant and scoffing, self-conscious and surly.”

bad-tempered, unfriendly, or rude → malhumorado / hosco.

Varnished — “They were varnished in layers upon layers of girl lotions and potions and hair products that all smelled faintly like strawberry gum.”

covered with or coated in layers of something → cubierto / recubierto.

Fag — “They thought I was a total fag for thinking that by ‘gay’ they actually meant gay.”

an offensive slur used against a gay man → marica / homosexual (insulto ofensivo).

Ghastly — “Ghastly, horrible, shocking, sad, merciless things.”

extremely horrible, frightening, or unpleasant → espantoso / horrible.

Merciless — “Ghastly, horrible, shocking, sad, merciless things.”

showing no pity or compassion → despiadado / sin piedad.

Compel — “Things that would compel me to squint my eyes as I listened.”

to force or strongly cause someone to do something → obligar / impulsar.

Clusterfuck — “The sort of sorrow that spirals so tightly into an impossible clusterfuck of eternal despair that it doesn’t even look like a spiral anymore.”

a chaotic, extremely complicated, and disastrous situation → caos total / situación desastrosa.

Despair — “The sort of sorrow that spirals so tightly into an impossible clusterfuck of eternal despair that it doesn’t even look like a spiral anymore.”

a complete loss of hope → desesperación.

Ingratiate — “Getting to know her was like trying to ingratiate oneself with a feral cat.”

to try to make someone like or accept you → ganarse el favor de alguien / congraciarse.

Ranted — “She did this because she couldn’t take staying inside, where her mother ranted and raved, alcoholic and mentally ill and off her meds and occasionally physically violent.”

spoke angrily and at length → despotricó / se quejó airadamente.

Raved — “She did this because she couldn’t take staying inside, where her mother ranted and raved, alcoholic and mentally ill and off her meds and occasionally physically violent.”

spoke wildly or angrily, often without control → despotricó / habló de manera exaltada.

Slashes — “She pulled the sleeves of her hoodie up and showed me the slashes on her arms where she’d repeatedly cut herself with a razor blade.”

long cuts or marks made by something sharp → cortes / heridas.

Rack — “A D-cup rack and the rest of her model-thin.”

breasts, used here as vulgar slang → pechos / senos.

Raged — “…the hooded girl with no face slept in the falling-down woodshed in the alley while her mother raged.”

behaved or spoke with extreme anger → se enfurecía / estaba furiosa.

Gospel — “It became my gospel. It became the thing I said most because it was the thing that was most true.”

a personal principle or belief treated as unquestionably true → principio fundamental / verdad incuestionable.