Street roots
April 13, 2012
7
Write
makes
might
A talk with author and
abuse survivor Davonna
Livingston about her work
to help empower other
women to confront and
overcome their pasts
BY JAKE TH O M A S
STAFF WRITER
"There's Ibis culture about keeping It quiet, and it's wrong. I understand that
hen Davonna Livingston was just 14
years old she and her mother fled
lit some cases it can destroy families. Bat you're an adult and you need I© be
Stockton, Ga., which she describes
able to stand up and say, "This happened to me and It's who I am and I didn't
as being just “left of the middle of nowhere.”
ask lor it." It helps them get some confidence back."
With only a pillow and a change of clothes
— D AVO N N A LIVINGSTON
they boarded a bus at midnight for Portland,
leaving behind her father, whom she
decided to use
what happened with them, it creates a
describes as abusive.
writing to figure out
whole new way of looking at it. Rather than
J.T.: Tell me how writing is different than
Livingston went on to get a degree in
myself by figuring
seeing it as an obstacle, they can see it as a
other therapies.
English from Portland State University and
out other people.
way of empowering themselves. They know
worked as a technical writer while also
I started interviewing a series of women
they have this power that they didn’t know
D.L.: I think partially, the way we do it,
dabbling in poetry and short stories. Several
the women work on their own and write in
who were in prison. I wrote them and told
they had.
years ago she started having panic attacks,
their own words, and it gives them a chance
them I had this idea of putting a book
which she discovered were related to the
to be heard. And I know that for me it’s
J.T.: What prompted you to get involved
together, and I asked if they would like to be
trauma she went through as a child. Seeking
incredible. It’s one thing to know your life,
with this project?
a part of it. All of them said they would love
to dig deeper to get at the roots of what she
but it’s completely surreal to see your life on
to help.
was going through, Livingston began
a piece of paper and to see it interpreted.
D.L.: I love to figure out what makes
So I started putting this book together,
reaching out to women in prison who’ve
other people tick, and I wanted to know why And women have full control on what does
and in the process I could tell how much it
su ffe red sim ilar e x p e rie n c e s an d b e g a n
and d o e s n ’t go in to th e ir sto rie s . A nd I to ld
it was that my growing up coming from
was helping me by helping them. It gave me
documenting their stories for a forthcoming
them that I would never judge them on
abuse, I grew up and went to college, and I
something to focus on, something to get out
book, “Voices Behind the Razor Wire,”
knew so many women who were abused that anything, and, given the depths of the stuff
of bed in the morning for. So by the end of
they’ve told me, I would imagine that
which will be released this fall.
didn’t go that way. Some went to prison.
that journey, I realized, that I was a
they’re coming pretty clean with me. But,
Now Livingston, 43, plans to reach more
They had very troubled lives and some
completely different person for having done
again, it was put to them, it was up to their
people who’ve made it through a traumatic
became alcoholics. I wanted to know why I
this. And I realized what an impact it had on
comfort level, and everyone that I work with
experiences by launching a new nonprofit
had gone that way and why so many had
the women I interviewed. So I started
is anonymous.
organization called Changing Perceptions.
gone the other way.
working with women in Portland, and I still
That sense of anonymity allows them to
Housed in First Presbyterian Church in
work with women in prison.
get everything out and it gives them a way
downtown Portland, Changing Perceptions
J.T.: What drew you to prison populations?
What I do is start out by asking them a
of purging some of these things that they’ve
will lead participants through a series of
series of really benign questions, really
held onto for so long that have just been
self-exploration writing workshops meant to
D.L.: I had heard lots of stories from
innocuous questions: Where were you born?
wreaking havoc in their bodies, because you
confront their past and rebuild their
someone I knew who works at a prison. I
How many siblings do you have? That kind
can only expend so much energy pushing
knew that if I was looking for a group of
confidence.
of thing. It’s hard to talk about these sorts
this stuff down until you realize you can’t
women who were abused, I knew that a
of things with people you don’t really know,
hold it down anymore. And once you get rid
Jake Thom as: I was hoping you could
prison was a good place to start, and they
so it’s nice to have an icebreaker before you
of it, you ask yourself why you ever walked
talk a bit about your background and how you
are kind of a captivated audience for lack of
get into the details. Then we start to talk
around like that trying to keep secrets like
got the idea fo r this nonprofit.
a better term. So I looked for women I
about what happened. And over time they
that.
identified as having been abused who had
meet with me or I get a letter from a woman
D avonn a L ivingston: I’m a writer. I ve
been in for a couple years and had accepted
in prison, I put more of their story together,
J.T.: Have you heard any stories that really
been working as a writer for years, and I’m
that this is where they were and had a
and I send it back to them.
stand out?
also a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. A
couple more years to go because I wanted
The premise is that most people are
them to complete the program. And since
couple of years ago, I started having issues.
willing to have suffered, as long as it wasn’t
I started having really bad panic attacks and
then we’ve moved into doing the people on
for nothing, and so when you can give the
See WRITE, page 9
never really knew why, and I was trying to
the outside.
women or the men something to do with
figure out what was going on with myself. I
W
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It matters who's in charge.
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