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July 21, 2004
Books - And I'm Just Getting Started
During my incarceration in 1984 onwards - one of the most important things I got to do in jail was to read. On average, I read three books a week. The first book I read was: "Is There No Place On Earth For Me?" by Susan Sheehan. It is a story about a mentally ill girl and her struggles. I related to this story for many reasons - mostly because I really felt that I had head problems other than just alcoholism. Although, I didn't have a clinically defined illness as this girl had in this book, you can relate or identify with the difficulties people experience when you yourself feel similar confusion.
Shortly after reading of this book I read an article that appeared in the Hartford Courant's Northeast Magazine [Hartford Connecticut] that made quite an impression on me. The article was about Author Louise Armstrong and her book "The Home Front: Notes from the Family War Zone". Also mentioned was her first book, "Kiss Daddy Goodnight". Ms. Armstrong had successfully written the first book by a woman indicating the fact of her being a victim of sexual child abuse. She was heralded as "the first walking, talking incest victim". And I respected that and wanted to be the first male to disclose the experiences of being a survivor as well.
Not only did I need to read and learn and see articles like this, I needed to write to people - and I wrote to a lot of people - sometimes receiving positive reinforcement for my wish to write a book. Most of the time I never heard back from people.
In February, I had written to the Executive Director of the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse in Chicago and now in March I received one of the most helpful replies in my whole life. I received a packet of information from Joy Byers (her real name) Assistant in Public Awareness. The information was super helpful. I felt really encouraged. One of the most interesting pieces of material was about a program called PIP - The Parents in Prison Program.
Parents in Prison is an inmate organization housed at the Tennessee State Prison for Men. Through a series of educational courses and special events, the organization provides an innovative approach to strengthening families and developing parental skills and commitments during a father's incarceration.
I am creating links - under Books - that you will find - on the right side pane of this page. And from there - I am going to have a seperate page - to first - illustrate - the books that I read while in Prison - and secondly - links to more specific books about Sexual Child Abuse - Victims of Sexual Child Abuse and naturally - stories and books about the Male Victim of Sexual Child Abuse.
Posted by Nealus at July 21, 2004 08:17 PM
Comments
Hi
Like you I have been through all this crap, I was lucky I never ended up in jail and like you i am trying to write a book about my dysfunctional upbringing, my grooming and my abuse and a lifetime of addictions and mental healt problems. Spread the word and educate the public is the only way to go.
You can catch up with me via my blog site entitled "Male Survivor Of Childhood Sexual Abuse" and that can be found at
http://www.waltonhop.blogspot.com
Your comments would be welcome
Dan
Posted by: Dan at July 23, 2004 02:26 PM
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