Welcome to the House of Salt & Story. I’m historian and writer Alexandria Love, and I’m inviting you into a space designed for reflection and free thought in a world deafened by constant noise. Here, we don’t just recount history; we examine the grit required to survive it.

To christen this space, we turn to a story of beauty, betrayal, and a refusal to disappear.

In 1917, Grace Fryer secured what looked like the American Dream: a job painting watch dials with radium. It was the "miracle element" of the age—a substance that promised vitality and made her skin glow in the dark. But by 1927, the miracle had decayed into a nightmare. Grace could barely walk. Her jaw was shattering. And the company that poisoned her was betting on the timeline—counting on her to die before she could testify.

This is the story of how Grace Fryer turned her own disintegrating body into evidence. It is a look at the legal battle that rewrote American labor law and the haunting legacy of the "Ghost Girls"—women whose fight was so fierce, and whose exposure was so absolute, that their graves still trigger Geiger counters ninety years later.

Step inside. The history is heavy, but the light is undeniable.

A pinch of salt to hold what lasts,
A tale to carry what time forgets.