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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 11, 2002)
December II, 2002 Page A 7 e con tin u ed fro m F ront for her m other to find. “ S h e n e v e r r e a d th e m ,” D o u g la s s-A n d re w s sa id . “ S he d id n ’t w ant to violate my privacy.” W hen her attem pts to discretely clue her family into her secret failed, D ouglass-A ndrew s began w riting m ore and m ore as a w ay to distance h erself from reality. She said w rit ing w as therapeutic in that it gave her an arena w here she could co n trol the situations. A fter she graduated from M ount H ood C om m unity C ollege w ith a degree in journalism , she w anted to w rite books. But people told her she w ould have to support her habit until it could support her. So she w orked at a local new spaper in W ashington before getting a jo b at theSeattle-T im es. “I never did m ake it into the ed i torial departm ent there,” D ouglass- A ndrew s said. “ But I w as on my w ay to the top, starting at the very bottom .” She w anted to be a reporter, so she started by selling new spapers, w orking in the S eattle-T im es cu s tom er service departm ent and even tually in ad sales, but decided to w rite ‘From G hetto to G lo ry ’ in stead. “It’s a good thing I quit the T im es,” she said. “B ecause w riting this book has been the key to my sanity. L iving w ith m ultiple p er sonalities is a trip.” In the end, though, D ouglass- A ndrew s has the strength to look h er past, straight in the eye. She puts the seven other parts o f her c o n s c io u s n e s s in th e ir p ro p e r place, finds it in her heart to forgive her brother for the incest and learns to love, respect and trust herself, f T hat, said D ouglass-A ndrew s, is w hat ‘From G hetto to G lory’ is all about - the strength to go on and the ability to take som ething n ega tive and turn it into a positive. “People say I ’m a survivor b u t I d o n ’t like that w ord,” she said. “The w ord survivor sounds pitiful, like people should feel sorry for me. I Author Monique Douglass-Andrews is seen through a wooden fence that once held her neighbors barking dogs as she stares in discomfort at her childhood home and the place of her abuse. “Oh my god, its still the same - it never changes," she said. “My mama's curtains are still in the window and I bet there is still blood on the rug." PHOTO BY W YNDF. D Y F.R / T he P ortland O bserver A STORY TO TELL w anted som ething stronger, so I chose to call m yself an ‘overcom er.’ T his book isn ’t about ju st surviv ing - it’s about overcom ing.” D o u g la s s-A n d re w s said she d id n ’t w rite a book to have it sit on a shelf and collect dust. She w ants ‘From G hetto to G lo ry ’ to m ake a difference. She said she w anted people to read her experiences and to learn from them. “I decided if I could help ju st one person - 1 know that m ay seem like a sm all num ber -b y sharing my story,” she said. “T h en its alm ost like I d id n 't go through the abuse in vain.” So in betw een local and national book signing obligations, like a speaking engagem ent in the Bronx for as m any as 50,000 in attendance at the N ational C ouncil o f N egro W om en annual book conference, D ouglass-A ndrew s makes it a point to go w here she thinks people can m ost benefit from her story. ™ People say I ’m a survivor but I don’t like that word. I wanted something stronger, so I chose to call myself an ‘overcomer. ’ — Monique Douglass-Andrews, author o f‘From Ghetto to Glory. Ik O ne o f those stops happened to be a m eeting for Project N etw ork, a non-profit group in Portland that helps w om en recover from d om es tic abuse and drug and alcohol addiction. W hile in tow n visiting fam ily for Thanksgiving, she m ade an appear ance during a group therapy ses sion and was overw helm ed by the response to her story. “O ne w om an said, ‘Y o u ’re sav ing liv es,’ and I alm ost cried,” D ouglass-A ndrew s said. “T h at’s pretty pow erful. You never know how you are going to touch som e on e.” ,, The m ajor focus o f her speaking engagem ents is to let people who have been abused know that they are not alone. D ouglass-A ndrew s b ers’ will continue w here ‘From said the self-hatred and feelings o f G hetto to G lory’ left o ff with the w orthlessness are com m on sym p second half o f Sookie’s life. The tom s for all victims, not ju st victims book will cross over from the auto o f incest. She said many people biographical style into the fiction d o n ’t have the courage to go on side o f literature. Inside S ookie’s and she likes to m otivate them to be head are millions of doors with what brave by relating her experiences to D ouglass-A ndrew s calls big chains theirs. and locks holding them shut. In “I have a lot in com m on with order to truly learn to love and trust these w om en,” she said. “They may herself, Sookie will have to open have turned to drug or alcohol abuse each door and explore the cham ber as a coping m echanism and I never inside. “It will be very powerful," Douglass- did that, but 1 abused my body by Andrews said. “I’m very excitedforthe sleeping with a lot o f m en.” D ouglass-A ndrew s likes to en new things ahead of me.” ‘From G hetto to G lory’ is avail courage people to go on - no m atter w hat - and to overcom e the situa able at all large national chain book tions in life that w ould rather hold stores and Reflections, on the cor ner o f K illingsw orth and M artin a person back. In her case, w riting has enabled L u th e r K in g Jr. B o u le v a rd . her to m ove forw ard and out o f the D ouglass-A ndrew s will be signing books at the Lloyd C enter Barnes darkness o f her past. D ouglass-A ndrew s, w ho now and N obles on Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. and lives in A rlington, W ash., is also at the Jantzen Beach Barnes and w orking on a new book. ‘Cham - N obles on M arch 13 at 7:30 p.m. $5 Cover con tin u ed fro m F ront m iddle son, takes to a life o f crim e and the youngest, D addy Bubba, tries his hardest to hold the fam ily together w ith sm iles and laughter. But even D addy B ubba c o u ld n 't save Sookie from D addy C h a z’s gravest crim e - repeated rape, m o lestation and em otional abuse that sent her into a dow nw ard spiral and opened the doors for the spirits - or dissociative identities - to com e in. The hom e that was once filled with fond m em ories o f Christm as tim e with pogo-sticks, drum sets, science kits and doll houses now fills up with darkness and what Sookie calls ‘The Ugly.’ The walls move like a pair o f breathing lungs. W hen they stand still, Sookie says they sweat. No am ount o f scrubbing can erase the bloodstains left by a dead dog under Daddy C haz'sbed. Little black fingerprints leave scratch m arks on the walls in the basem ent coal room. The house is alive. W hat lived inside that house m akes its hom e in S ookie’s mind. T he ghost o f an old w om an nam ed N ellie tells her that children had been m urdered and buried in the hom e. She tells S ookie that she can save the girls by sharing her body w ith them . So the floodgates open, and in com e seven girls - M oan, M ona, T he T w ins, T he M om m y Part, Blue and T he M ean Part. T h ese seven g irls stay w ith S ookie through her childhood, as she m akes friends from other fam i lies broken by abuse, alcoholism and addiction. T hey form a tight clo th es w earing a ll-g irls’ gang called T he T uff Cookies and Sookie explores juvenile lesbian tenancies. A fter adolescence, she becom es prom iscuous, graduates from high school and has a child. S ookie gets a degree in jo u rn al ism from M ount H ood C om m unity C ollege and m oves aw ay from O r egon, virtually cutting o ff all co n tact w ith her fam ily. But no m atter how far she runs, S ookie cannot escape her past. In her daughter she sees al 1 the i tnper- fections in her self. The M ean Part o f S ookie’s m ind tries to drow n her daughter in the bathtub one night, other tim es she ju st locks herself in her room and cries. In her quest to cleanse herself o f the pain, Sookie unknow inglyjoins a cult and m arries a m em ber o f the church. He m akes her throw away all o f her belongings because he said the devil was in all of them. The church com m ands them toquit their jo b s, utilities get turned o ff and S ookie’s husband tells the m ort gage com pany he c a n 't pay his hom e loan because h e 's w aiting on a check from his father - m eaning his Father, G od in heaven. She returns to the house that haunted her childhood and confronts each room and the memories that fill them, symbolically putting each of the seven girls in her head back where they came ■» tjk from. A fter she leaves her husband, Sookie gets hooked up with a small fam ily-run new spaper. S h e’s w rit ing, doing w hat she loves and for several years it seem s like a good jo b until her publisher seduces her. Faced with setback after setback, S ookie decides to reconcile with her m other w ho she had pushed aw ay for so long. W ith the help o f her m om , m any prayers, lots of Donations Save ‘Harlem Song’ (A P)— More than $.300,000from a variety o f public and private sources has com e through for the N ew Y ork m usical revue “H arlem Song,” allow ing the production to com plete its engagem ent this year at the historic A pollo T heater and return next fall for a three-m onth season. “ Happily, n o w ‘ H arlem S ong' is paying for itself, or close to paying for itself,” producer John S chreiber said. f » e r e 'X '° U 6S' Show Time: 9 pm L a st m o n th , S c h r e ib e r a n nounced the show , a history of H arlem told in song and dance, w ould have to close unless more m oney w as forthcom ing to keep it running. E ven though “H arlem Song" has been seen by over 70, (MM) theatergoers, it suffered substan tial financial losses since opening last A ugust. T he producer said the new infu sion o f cash cam e prim arily from tw o sources — the U pper M anhat tan Em pow erm ent Zone and the N ew York City Investm ent Fund, a private fund. T he E m pow erm ent Zone, a co l laborative effort by city, state and the federal governm ent to provide funding to business enterprises and cultural institutions, cam e aboard first, S chreiber said. “W e hope Harlem Song' will be the first resident com pany at the A pollo T heater for the Perform ing A rts," Schreiber said. therapy and a m an w ho loves and marries her, she is finally able to disclose the truth about Daddy Chaz to her shocked fam ily. Sookie then does w hat many abuse victim s cannot do - she lets her brother back into her heart for the good she know s is in him and not ‘The U gly’ that caused him to violate her. She returns to the house that haunted her childhood and co n fronts each room and the m em ories that fill them , sym bolically putting each o f the seven girls in her head back w here they cam e from. In terestin g ly en o u g h , S o o k ie and her d a u g h te r S h u g a m ake a trip to the M u ltn o m ah C o u n ty L ibrary to rese arch h e r hom e on N o rth east 19lh A v en u e. She fin d s a 1947 copy o f T h e O reg o n ian w ith an obituary and picture o f N ellie, a w om an born in 1859 w ho had lived in the house for 37 years. N ellieattended the H ighland B ap tist C hurch and m em b ers told S ookie the o ld w om an had seven g ran d ch ild ren - all g irls. W ritten with a fresh narrative and the help o f a ‘loving g h o st’ who coaxes Sookie to keep telling her story w hen she would rather close the book, w hat From G hetto to G lory' does best is show readers no m atter how bad life may seem, there is alw ays a reason to go on. Doors Open at 8pm Every Thursday Starting Nov. 1 4 Featuring The Repravation Bond & Master of Ceremony — Wonc Poets inlet esled til ut Bookies performing call $03 353 3247 k A ¡it’isït’fiuf. h J C U S Í l l ’ j i s . j f SS I Y Vo.on production KOGNITOS TftECiMB UPCOMING EVENTS F R ID A Y , N O V E M B E R 2 2 N D @ lls O O P M OCEAN 503 BIND F R ID A Y , D E C E M B E R 1 3 T H @ lls O O P M F R ID A Y , D E C E M B E R 2 7 T M @ lls O O P M « A C A D IA N B A LLR O O M IB S , N E A lb e rt« c o v e r S t.o o FOR M O R E IN F O LO C O N TO W W W .50FB T F.P PF B B .C O M 3rd Annual Exclusive New Years Groove (1sthetive entertainment for the distinctive crowd 25 and older/9:00 pm thru 2:00 am Featuring the live di: ' j uesday. December 31st Tickets in advance $30 Geneva's Hair Salon, ReNdWions Book Store and SEI also Available at all ($) SAFEWAY i JX » » ? and Live performance from the World Reknowned. Jazz Ensemble 200?^ This is a benefit for the national award winning h n n n f i l fre n I h n Full h r and Bettet i Center 1er M f Ertoncement 3070 N Xortv *ve Portland OR eeel act U3 5M4M1
