Strong At The Heart

I just got back from the most amazing three days! A friend and I went to Potter Valley, near Ukiah, California, for a workshop put on by the Center for Digital Storytelling.

We learned how to put together a 3-5 minute Quicktime movie using stills, video, voiceover and music. It’s going to take me a few weeks to get it all together, but I hope to post my story here.

My friend (also named Carolyn) told the story of her search for her grandmother, who died of breast cancer in the early sixties. She compared what she knew of her grandmother’s experience with her own early detection and cure.

The story I chose to tell was about how I coped with abuse as a child, how internalized stereotypes of sexual victims stood in the way of my healing, and how connecting with other survivors brought me through that to a deeper understanding of myself.

There is something so powerful about telling your story, putting words, images and music to it. Like Kelly in Strong at the Heart, I experienced that transition where you get a new perspective on your experience through the work of film making. (Her film, of course, was much longer and more professional. She received an Emmy for it.)

Other stories told in the workshop included a young woman’s search for her purpose in life, a love letter to a new bride, a poem that evoked the pain of homophobia in the African American community, and a lively story of four adult siblings who traveled around the country on Amtrak and got to know each other in a deeper and sweeter way.

Amy Hill is using digital storytelling for a very moving project with sexual abuse survivors called Silence Speaks. You can see other people’s digital stories at her site.

wikipedia revisited

Tony Sandal’s entry on literature dealing with pedophilia and sexual abuse is currently in a very good version, so I’m posting the link again. Just know that Wikipedia entries change and change, so there’s no guarantees. If you are looking for novels and nonfiction on these subjects it is currently a rich place to go.

Today is the launch of the first “blog carnival” I’ve participated in. You might want to check it out. Marj of Survivors Can Thrive pulled it together.

A blog carnival is a linking of blog pages on a related theme. In this case, child sexual abuse. You can find it at the carnival site index where you’ll find it under “Carnival Against Child Sexual Abuse. Or go directly to Marj’s site.

For the Carnival, she’s pulled together descriptions of about twenty five blogs and then provided links to particularly interesting posts. Catagories include Survivor’s Stories, Poetry, In The News, Healing and Therapy, Aftermath, and Advocacy and Awareness.

This blog is listed under Aftermath and the link goes to the discussion of the Black Oak Books event and what came afterwards, the discussion between a mother and a therapist that took place on this blog.

I’m still checking out the various sites. There’s some very good material here, including Dr. Deborah Serani’s excellent page of facts and tips for parents.

Marj will be doing a second edition in July, so if you have a blog yourself or know of one you want to nominate, be sure to contact her. Below the carnival entry (link above) you’ll find directions.

funny girl

A blog I want to nominate is the very funny–and very adult–Ethel’s Law by a survivor whose humor is biting, true, and occasionally over the top. This weekend Ethel’s entry is “Which Day Exactly ISN’T Father’s Day.” BTW, this is no fifth grader writing, no matter what she claims.

I just learned that Strong at the Heart has been listed in the 2006 “Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People.” This is a publication of the National Council for the Social Studies and goes to social studies teachers all over the US.

On their website, the list is described like this: “The selection committee looks for books that emphasize human relations, represent a diversity of groups and are sensitive to a broad range of cultural experiences, present an original theme or a fresh slant on a traditional topic, are easily readable and of high literary quality, and have a pleasing format and, when appropriate, illustrations that enrich the text.”

Lists from former years are downloadable, but 2006 is available to members only right now.

It’s a wonderful honor and will help Strong reach young readers. Thank you to the selection committe and the Children’s Book Council!

this saturday

On Saturday, June 17th, I’ll be the featured speaker the Humboldt County Library Authors in the Afternoon series. The event will be held at 2 pm in the at the Main Library in Eureka, California. I’ll show photos from the making of the book, tell how and why it all came to be, and share the backstories of some of the people in the book. If you are in the area, I hope you come by and say, “Howdy.”

Marisca Hargitay, the actress who plays Detective Olivia Benson on NBC’s Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, has a sexual abuse/assault survivors support foundation The Joyful Heart. The youth friendly website is rich with information. If you look under “teens” there are several self-help, other-help, and stay-safe pages. And they have a program for survivors to go to Hawaii and swim with dolphins!

Strong at the Heart is listed and linked on their home page with a very nice write up. Thank you!

The Joyful Heart site is graphically beautiful, with the sound of water in the background, but it takes a while to load.

wikipedia revisted

Whoa! I just got an education in Wikipedialand. My son Ben and I were Skyping (he lives nine time zones away) when he went to Tony’s Wikipedia article and found that in the last few days it’s been hijacked.

Here’s what I learned about Wikipedia. Anyone can post an article. And anyone who wants can edit that article in any way. I guess this works as an exchange of ideas if a group of historians are contributing information on their speciality. Or if micro biologists are comparing research. But when something political comes up it can become a battlefield of opposing ideas.

What is happening to the article and book list is that some pedophile apologists jumped on it and edited it to a totally different end. That started a posting frenzy. Tony’s been posting back. The article changes several times a day. But I can’t really recommend it anymore. I’ve taken down the link on the my blog post below, and added a cautionary note there, too.

If Tony sends me a link to his original article, which was excellent, I’ll post it here for you.

So if you are curious, go to the Wickipedia site, but bear in mind what’s going on. You can look at the history of the article to see how it is all unfolding. Do understand that it is no longer “survivor safe.” Some of the “consensual” adult/child sex stuff is creepy from the viewpoint of someone who knows what the long term damage can look like.

Last night I heard from a writer in the UK who just put up a Wikipedia entry referencing Strong at the Heart and linking to this site. Thank you, Tony!

His Wikipidia entry is an excellent descriptive overview of literature–mostly in English–that deals in one way or another with the sexual abuse of boys. Links take you to fuller descriptions and bibliographic information. [Be aware, this article has changed many times and may not represent Tony’s work anymore. 6/10/06]

The entry also has an extensive literature list with a broader scope, including the sexual abuse of girls, as well as films and nonfiction. There are excellent books on the list. Many were published for teens; no distinction is made between them and books written for adults. [Pro-pedophilia people have altered this article considerably. If you go to it, you may want to look under “history” and go to Tony Sandel’s versions. 6/10/06]

On a personal note, I’ve been holed up some, taking care of family matters (the house desperately needs new gutters and painting). I’ll be speaking at the Authors in the Afternoon series on June 17th at the main library in Eureka, California. There I’ll show some of the photos from the making of Strong at the Heart and talk about the back story of the book. I’m looking forward to this informal book discussion event with Humboldt County readers.