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Showing posts with the label sexual abuse

Daily Excerpt: Recovering from Domestic Violence, Abuse and Stalking (Romer) - Recovering from Domestic Violence, Abuse, and Stalking

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  Excerpt from Recovering from Domestic Violence, Abuse, and Stalking by Joanna Romer -  My Experience: Lauretta Avina              “I’m a huge believer in counseling, and I never used to be.”   When Lauretta Avina heard that her sister had been murdered by her boyfriend, she couldn’t believe it at first. “I felt disbelief,” she said. “I managed to walk next door to my neighbor’s house. I told him, ‘My sister’s dead!’” Lauretta said her sister, Franca Bars, who was 38 at the time of her death in 2006, had been going with her boyfriend David on and off for seven years. “I only met him once,” Lauretta told me. “He had an angry look. That was two months before the murder.” Despite the angry look, Lauretta said she would never have imagined David capable of murder. “My sister’s exact words were ‘He would never hurt me,’” Lauretta said. “A friend said later he was abusing her. I kick myself in the butt—why didn’t I question her? But my husband had been in Iraq and came home injured; I was

Daily Excerpt: Healing from Incest (Henderson & Emerton): Lies and Secrets

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  Excerpt from Healing from Incest : Lies and Secrets When I think about the lies my father told and all the unsaid thoughts and fears that were part of the air we breathed at our house, I remember a particularly frightening time when the truth was almost brought into the open many, many years before that session in Seanne’s office.   Mother and Father had come for my college graduation—a ceremony I had attempted to forego, perhaps to avoid having them come. But that same weekend my cousin had planned his wedding to coincide with the gathering of the families and friends for our combined graduations. I was involved in the wedding preparations, and Mother decided to ride along with me to a nearby city for the rehearsal. The truth was, she had an agenda that I couldn't have imagined. If I’d had any idea of her intention, I'd have been even more frightened and much more uncomfortable.   I sometimes had nightmares about Mother dying and me being forced to marry my fathe

Excerpt from It Only Hurts When I Can't Run (Parker): First Pain, excerpt 2

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People have been asking for -- IT ONLY HURTS WHEN I CAN'T RUN Gewanda Parker vividly describes  a tragic childhood, a triumphant emergence onto the adult stage, a promising future An empowering read for a challenging time, this book is nearly impossible to put down. Many, many favorable reviews, e.g., from MidWest Book Review: Critique: Impressively candid, exceptionally informative, and ultimately inspiring, "It Only Hurts When I Can't Run: One Girl's Story" is a compelling read from beginning to end. Very highly recommended for personal reading lists, as well as community and academic library American Biography collections. Find more reviews HERE . The beautiful cover was painted by the late beloved and vaunted Russian illustrator, Zhenya Yanovich. who has also illustrated other MSI Press books. Gewanda Parker today is a pastor at a church in Florida.  And now, here is a short exceprt: He said

Book Review: Blest Atheist

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An oldie but goodie...and the kinds of things that never change but always inspire. This is an amazing read. Even if you aren’t interesting in God or religion this book is inspiring and beautiful. Many lives have been changed through Mahlou’s work, and I think maybe will be changed by this book. This is a must read. Read the rest of the review by Katie at the I t's Time to Read blog .

Excerpt from It Only Hurts When I Can't Run (Parker): First Pain

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Excerpt: First Pain Through the years, Binta often told people I was her “first pain.” I assumed it was because I was her first born, but the more I thought about it, I was not her primal pain. She was in pain long before I came along. As a child, I recall her telling me many times that she was the “black sheep” of her family. By my observation, she was a copper-colored, smooth-skinned beauty with dark, inquisitive eyes and long, thick hair. Knowing her siblings as I do, she may have seemed like a prickly-know-it-all in her conversations with them.       Binta also made statements to me, questioning her parentage, saying, “My aunt I got named after is really my birth mother.” She never said why she thought that. Other times, she’d say about her mother, my Nana, Dia Mae Black, “She didn’t love me; in fact, I think she hated me. That’s the reason my family and me seemed like a poor fit.” How awful! What a mindset to have about your own mother and family members!       Throug

Book Review: It Only Hurts When I Can't Run (Parker)

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Wonderful book review -- fully merited -- for Parker's book by MidWest Book Review . Synopsis: "It Only Hurts When I Can't Run: One Girl's Story" is the personal story of Gewanda J. Parker. Abandoned, neglected and beaten by a mother who really did care about her but suffered from her own demons and addictions, left with friends and relatives, as well as placed in foster homes, molested and raped on more than one occasion, including by men considered upright, the little girl who grew up to become an educator, minister, and entrepreneur learned to survive by running away again and again. This heartbreaking and heartwarming story, told with courageous frankness, reveals a deep trust in God that, in the long run, promoted an unbelievable resilience, allowing a young girl, turned young woman, to forgive those who hurt her and to reach out to all those who hurt with a message of healing and hope. Critique: Impressively candid, exceptionally informative, and ultim

Book Review: 5 Stars for It Only Hurts When I Can't Run (Parker)

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A couple of years after the fact, we stumbled across a great book review by The Car's Maw at mypennameonly blog. Very appreciated is the 5-star review and the time taken to write it. I received a copy of this book from a Publisher’s giveaway on  LibraryThing.com  and the following is my honest opinion for the book. Although it’s not directly stated reading this book I got the sense the storyline is actually a poignant fictionalized memoir of the author herself as there too many key points which both Binta, the girl in the story, and the author share. While a purist might say this book needs to be edited to some degree, I feel the writing as is adds to the authenticity of the story being from the girl’s POV. Many other girls in the same position as Binta would have succumb to what the fates had in store for her, however the speck of faith she had in her heart and soul persevered and she survived. And having survived she herself, and like Lazarus rising from the dead, her