Here’s something you might want to check out. A young filmmaker is producing a feature film that examines male experience of sexual abuse within the orthodox Jewish community.
I haven’t seen the film but have visited the website for Narrow Bridge http://www.narrowbridgefilm.com/. From his description and the website itself, the film appears to be about a religious young man in a new relationship who must come to terms with abuse by a trusted man in his childhood.
Have you seen the new young adult novel, Touching Snow, by M. Sindy Felin? It’s just been published by Atheneum.
The story is bluntly told through the eyes of a teenaged Haitian American girl, Karina, who chronicles her family’s suffering under her despotic stepfather. What I found particularly interesting was the examination of how culture and immigrant status play out in the lives of all the family members.
There’s also a very interesting side story that shows the young girls in the neighborhood navigating around–and sometimes making use of–the neighborhood pedophile who has a car.
Felin explores some very tricky areas. My only cavil is that the abuse is stopped when the abuser is murdered by his victims. Oh, yes, it is satisfying on an emotional level. (And this is not a spoiler. The book begins with the statement, “The best way to avoid being picked on by high school bullies is to kill someone.”) But you know that family is not really going to be better off in the long run.
Sigh. Sometimes there are no easy answers.
It’s been way too long since I posted here. What has absorbed me is my involvement in digital storytelling. This began as an invitation a year ago from Amy Hill of Silence Speaks to participate in a digital storytelling workshop.
Digital Storytelling gives ordinary people the skills to make short, personal QuickTime/DVD movies about their experience. What I find fascinating is seeing what people do when they have the power to communicate their inmost experience in video format without the mediation of editors, journalists, filmmakers, etc. The stories are incredibly moving and often reveal a great deal that gets lost in slicker productions.
Amy’s site, Silence Speaks, contains the stories of men and women, boys and girls, who are overcoming sexual, physical and emotional violence in their lives. The stories speak about facing racism, making it through foster care, being abandoned by family after reporting abuse. It’s heavy stuff, but also very inspiring. You might want to check it out.
home town
What I’ve done with it this spring is not abuse related. Working with a grassroots women’s health organization, another writer and I developed a program for cancer patients to help them tell their stories. We were fortunate in being granted the funds to bring the Center for Digital Storytelling to our small town for a three day workshop so that the participants could turn their written scripts into 3 minute movies.
If/when the stories go up on line, I’ll post a link for you here.
And, yes, what got me involved was my own cancer experience. I’m healthy now and very happy about it.
I just heard from Mindy, one of the Cybils organizers, about a new interactive book site for children’s and young adult literature.
And Strong at the Heart has its own page there.
At the Tandem Library Books site you can bring up four separate lists of recommended book in Texas state reading programs. (Strong at the Heart is on the Tayshas list for high school students.) Scroll down the column of book jackets and click to open a graphic that looks like a book with “pages” you can turn for a book description, author bio, and list of related books.
There’s even a way to rate the books you’ve read.
The books listed for the Tayshas include five I’ve written about on this blog and/or presented at literature conferences. Look for Sold by Patricia McCormick, Inexcusable by Chris Lynch, and Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin.
This is a fine way to learn about the latest and best books. And the different lists cover books for all ages.
As many of you know, I was a judge on the Cybils Awards this year. I also had the great good fortune to be asked to interview our nonfiction winner, Russell Freedman. His book, Freedom Walkers, is an awesome testimony to the power that ordinary people can have when they work together to overcome injustice.
I highly recommend it.
The interview ,”Telling the Story of History,” just went up this morning.
He is an delightfully modest and principled person, as well as one of the most important writers in nonfiction for young people today. My favorite part of our conversation is when he describes his passion for the forgotten people of Montgomery who organized and carried out the protest. That and his reaction to his fifth grade teacher, Tennessee Kent.
welcome
If you’re a visitor here from the Cybils site and your interest is primarily in books for young readers, scroll down for reviews or check out this blog’s books category. There’s also a page of recommended books for adults and teens and a recent SLJ article on stereotyping of survivors in young adult books.
This just in: I just opened a copy of the March issue of Play Therapy, a magazine for mental health professionals who work with children and teens.
There, on page 32, is a great review of Strong at the Heart in which a therapist describes using the book with her young teen clients.
With the author and publisher’s permission, I’m pasting the review in full below.
Jenner, Sheena, Tammy, Jonathan and all—when you read this, you’ll see the far reaching impact of telling your story!
the review
STRONG AT THE HEART: How It Feels to Heal from Sexual Abuse
By Carolyn Lehman, MA
Reviewed by Terry Abell, MEd, LMHC
This five star book is a pleasant surprise, easily read, and displays survivor photos. Chapters are written by survivors. This book presents diverse populations, including males, females, Euro, Latino, Native, and African American cultures, and discusses variations of abuses, including rape, abduction abuse by a priest, and scenarios involving family, date rape, and males abused by females.
Narratives include initial abuse, effects on survivors, and resolution. Sometimes, help was accessible immediately, sometimes not. Sad experiences were offered regarding pre-recovery. Disclosures of substance abuse, suicidal ideation and denial are presented honestly.
When I used this book with clients, I asked to read them a story, stopping to process at intervals. I first used this book with a female ninth grader recently assaulted by an adult male. I selected appropriate stores, which helped her finally acknowledge that the assault was not her fault. I also used this with a 12 year-old with a lifelong history of on-going abuse. We read stories and talked about ways these matched her story. It provided exposure to others who survived, moved on to heal and reach out. She is now in a safe, nurturing environment, making strides and ready for group work. This book provides a stepping-stone towards group.
I intend to use this with survivor groups in the future. Many of our clients are exposed to abuse, directly or indirectly. This book is a great tool and should be added to any counselor’s arsenal.
The results are in. The Cybils—the blogosphere’s own children’s literature awards—have been announced.
Many of you know I was a judge on the nonfiction panel. We had five amazing books to choose from. Our discussion was deep and heartfelt. And in the end we all were happy to select Russell Freedman’s Freedom Walkers to receive this new award.
Here’s our description, as posted on the Cybils’ blog:
Non-Fiction, Middle Grade and Young Adult:
Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
by Russell Freedman
Holiday House
The story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott has been told many times by many different people and has almost become legend, but in Freedom Walkers, Russell Freedman is not sharing folklore or the iconic stories of civil rights heroes like Martin Luther King Jr. or Rosa Parks. This book tells how ordinary men, women and children planned and worked together to peaceably stand up against the injustice of the segregated transportation system—and won. Their heroism makes the reader ask, “Could I do this? Could I stand up to the threats? Could I walk to school every day for almost a year to make justice happen in my hometown?” Well-chosen historic photographs bring to life the American South of the 1950’s. The true story is gripping and well documented. This is a read-in-one-sitting kind of book, which will appeal to young teens up through adults.
Is this great book in your library yet? Check it out.
If you want to see a sweet film featuring a strong survivor, insight into the ways incest affects families through the generations, a sense of humor, and vibrant faith in the ability to face the pain of the past and heal, then check out Volver, by Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar.
Penelope Cruz plays Raimunda, a smart, attractive, and hard working single mother who lives in the city with her pre teen daughter Paula (the utterly convincing Yohana Cobo). Cruz’s character is from a small, claustrophobic town where–apparently–both her parents died in a fire.
The story is set in motion when Paula’s stepfather, Paco, tries to assault her. The girl grabs a knife to defend herself and in the struggle, Paco is killed. When Raimunda finds out what happened, her mother instinct kicks in (although you wonder why she put up with the louse for so long). She reassures Paula and sets out to protect her daughter by disposing of Paco’s body.
where sweetness lies
It isn’t as ghoulish as it sounds, because the focus of the movie is a loving look at the strengths of these and other ordinary Spanish women, their sisters, neighbors and friends. Yes, they lie, they cheat a little here and there, but they are up against a world that would run them over. For all the hardship, there is also deep commitment and the willingness to help each other through life’s travails.
In Spanish, “volver” means to turn—and also to return. There are many turns and returns, from the spinning wind turbines in the background as the characters make the journey from city to small town to city again, to the return of Raimunda’s mother, to the replaying of family themes down through the generations.
spoiler alert
There is also a wholly satisfying scene in which Raimunda confronts her mother for not protecting her from incest as a child. It is so very human in the pain, the guilt, the anger, and the capacity to reconnect after long estrangement. If this is an issue for you, you gotta see these women struggle through it.
temporary cynsations home
Cynthia Smith’s wonderful blog on children’s and young adult books has temporarily moved to her husband’s site. You can still read her interviews and insightful comments on the field.
The dynamite interview she did with me about Strong at the Heart is still accessible in her archive.
Do you know anyone who was abused at summer camp? I do. Experiencing sexual assault as a child is bad enough. Imagine being away from home for the first time, surrounded by strangers, and then being abused. What a nightmare!
Camp Safety Project has a new web site with information for camp administrators about how to reduce abuse by counselors and other staff, resources on healing, a page for parents, and best of all a page of sample policies that any organization that deals with children would be wise to put into effect today.
standing together
And out of Phoenix, Arizona, there’s a new survivor site called The Apple Orchard. Four survivors who met in a support group are starting a new non-profit to support others in their healing and raise awareness in their community.
Their motto is “standing stronger together.” If you check out their site, give them a howdy and let them know what you think.
Another organization founded by a survivor and reaching out to help others heal is The Emma Center in Arcata, California. Paige Alisen, who founded the organization, is a whizz at fund raising and grant writing. Her organization provides professionally lead support groups, a lending library, individual support, counseling assistance and other services. Paige’s dream is to start a retreat center for women where they can heal from trauma.
It is amazing the energy that is released when survivors heal, look around at our hurting world, and ask “So what can I do about it.”
Wednesday morning I grabbed a cup of tea, put a pile of books I hoped to talk about on my work table, and dialed in to Kathleen Brooks’ studio phone line.
A few minutes later we were launched into an hour long, intimate discussion about healing from abuse, role models, stereotypes of survivors, and the writing and publication of Strong at the Heart.
Our conversation was broadcast live on the Internet and is now archived at Kathleen’s Ethical Life site.
You can play the segments one at a time there. I had fun exploring her archive and listening to the voices of leaders in the child abuse prevention, treatment, and advocacy fields. The site is a treasure trove.
As an interviewer, Kathleen has a gift for putting guests at ease. She asked questions that I’d never been asked before.
If you are curious about the stories behind this book, legal issues around publishing survivors’ stories, or the stereotypes that can stand in the way of healing, you might want to check it out.
pretty girl
For a thrilling YA read, with an unforgettable survivor/hero, be sure to pick up Laura Wiess’ Such a Pretty Girl.
No stereotypes here. Fifteen year old Meredith is a complex and determined teenager who is furious that the man who molested her—her own father—is out on parole instead of serving his full sentence. Not only that, but her clueless mother wants him back in their lives!
Meredith is the antithesis of a passive victim. She has more than her share of challenges, but she never gives up and she finds allies in her struggle to protect herself and other kids. There is lots of action, suspense and danger before the stunning climax (don’t try this one at home, kids). Definitely a thriller.
