Posts tagged stepfather
December 16, 2011 · Filed under My Book: BookMark, News, Personal · Tagged abuse, alcoholism, career, healing, inspiration, Jerry Sandusky, Mike McQueary, mother, optimism, pedophilia, Penn State, physical health, positive thinking, rape, relationships, self awareness, stepfather, therapy, trauma
Brutal news week.
I used to draw down a wall between my life and the news. As I anchored the news, reading about others’ pain, I didn’t feel my own. I was inured from the intrusions of decades of sexual abuse. I could focus on WhoWhatWhenWhereWhyHow and script the stories, read my own words, tell the story. That’s over. It’s actually been over for a few years until I could finally break down that inviolate partition. I was healed. I thought.
But this was a brutal news week. Read the rest of this entry »
May 6, 2011 · Filed under Personal · Tagged abuse, career, father, fearless, film, healing, inspiration, mother, movie, optimism, pedophilia, positive thinking, rape, relationships, self awareness, stepfather, storytelling, The Kings Speech, therapy
It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged. And, this is, in part, an apology for not having checked in. I’ve been making my own art, and making a living. I’ve been interviewing and reading – just haven’t written here.
I decided to take tonight “off,” and not produce the 30-minute podcastor, not prep for my next appearance on KOIN-TV’s Studio 6, not rework the last two chapters of my memoir. Instead, my housemate, who is leading me into learning how to “play,” watched with me the Academy Award winning movie, The King’s Speech.
The film struck me deep. Read the rest of this entry »
October 24, 2010 · Filed under Book Reviews · Tagged abuse, career, fearless, goals, happiness, healing, inspiration, law of attraction, manifest, optimism, passion, pedophilia, positive thinking, rape, self awareness, stepfather, trauma, wisdom, writing
Inspired Destiny: Living a Fulfilling and Purposeful Life
By Dr John F Demartini
Published July 15, 2010 (Paperback) Hay House
Of the dozens of Law of Attraction books I’ve read over my twenty-plus years of interviewing authors, Inspired Destiny is one of the best. Dr. John Demartini doesn’t lecture down from a mount. He draws from his own difficult beginnings: A dyslexic kid whom teachers told had no chance of succeeding in the world. As a teen, he ran off to be a surfer. The author of dozens of books, he was featured in the film phenom, The Secret.
A little secret from me to you: Read the rest of this entry »
October 17, 2010 · Filed under Book Reviews · Tagged abuse, beautiful, diet, fashion models, father, fearless, goals, happiness, healing, healthy diet, inspiration, media industry, positive thinking, relationships, self awareness, stepfather, trauma, workout
Rock What You’ve Got: Secrets to Loving Your Inner and Outer Beauty From Someone Who’s Been There and Back
By Katherine Schwarzenegger
Published September 14, 2010 (Hardcover) Voice
“When did life turn into a constant beauty pageant?” Katherine Schwarzenegger asks in her book Rock What You’ve Got. Smart book. Substantive. So before you start hearing her father’s voice saying “I’ll be back,” in your head, listen up. If you’ve got a daughter – maybe even if you just are a daughter – you’ll relate to a lot in her hot pink and purple book. I’m interviewing Katherine tomorrow about her book at my home studio.
Only two percent of women describe themselves as beautiful. Which may mean that those women are the models you see in fashion magazines. The average fashion model is over six feet tall and weighs far less than 120 pounds. The average American woman is five feet four inches tall and weighs 140 pounds. Less than five-percent of all women have the body they see in those mags. Read the rest of this entry »
October 11, 2010 · Filed under Author Interviews, Book Reviews · Tagged abuse, angels, dancing, fearless, fiction, happiness, healing, inspiration, mother, motherhood, novel, optimism, pedophilia, positive thinking, rape, relationships, self awareness, stepfather, storytelling, trauma, writing
Room
By Emma Donoghue
Published September 13, 2010 (Hardcover) Little, Brown and Company
If you have a five-year old, you know how pivotal that year is. A bridge between fantasy and reality, between playing with anything and going to school where you play with what you are given, between trusting just nearby adults and trusting an expanding world. Trust. What is really real.
Five is a touch-point. You remember being five in your own life. What happened then may have altered your direction in life. It did for me. It did for Jack, in this bestselling novel by Emma Donoghue. Read the rest of this entry »
September 12, 2010 · Filed under Events · Tagged fearless, happiness, healing, inspiration, manifest, optimism, positive thinking, self awareness, stepfather, the secret, transformation, trauma, wisdom, writing
The haunting sweetness of Nawang Khechog’s flute filled the Trinity Cathedral in NW Portland Friday night – he has opened for the Dalai Lama, and this night, he was opening for Michael Beckwith and Robert Thurman. When I walked in, finding pew near the front, I felt calm. A love bath. Even more so, when Beckwith walked onto the stage. His energy danced with merriment, and I smiled even more broadly just at his presence.
I’ve interviewed Thurman before – He’s fun! And, he’s Uma’s father, you know. But I haven’t interviewed Beckwith. Yet 
The evening danced with the words of two sharply intelligent men and the laughter they created. Read the rest of this entry »
September 5, 2010 · Filed under Author Interviews · Tagged abuse, angels, Church, damnation, father, fearless, God, happiness, healing, heaven, hell, inspiration, love, mother, passion, pedophilia, rape, relationships, religion, self awareness, spirituality, stepfather, trauma, writing
Time for Truth: A New Beginning
By Nick Bunick
Published September 1, 2010 (Paperback) Hay House
Angels abound! If you’re reading this, the odds are extremely high that you, too, believe in angels. Most of us do. I’ve seen angels most of my life. After a couple of years in the same writing group where I worked on my memoir, New York Times bestselling author Chelsea Cain signed one of her books to me: For Diana, who (almost) makes me believe in angels.
There are angels, but there is no hell. Nick Bunick told me in an interview recorded a few days ago Read the rest of this entry »
July 15, 2010 · Filed under My Book: BookMark · Tagged abuse, career, dancing, fearless, friendship, goals, healing, inspiration, love, manifest, passion, positive thinking, rape, relationships, self awareness, stepfather, storytelling, trauma, writing, writing group
A stack of my manuscripts – four versions – towers close to four-inches above my glass desk. The sheets of paper bear the brilliant scribblings from four dear friends in my writing group. Dubbed by Jeff Baker of The Oregonian “the hottest writing group in Portland.”
It’s a special night. Read the rest of this entry »
July 14, 2010 · Filed under Book Reviews · Tagged abuse, father, fearless, mother, optimism, self awareness, stepfather, storytelling, trauma, writing
Sh*t My Dad Says
By Justin Halpern
Published May 4, 2010 (Hardcover) It Books
I didn’t laugh as a kid. My daddy had been divorced out of the family, and he was replaced by a sadistic stepfather. I always wondered what it would have been like to have a fun father. And now Justin Halpern’s father comes along to show me. Sh*t My Dad Says is a short book that’s long on laughs. And there’s sh*t on every page. Funny funny sh*t. Read the rest of this entry »
July 5, 2010 · Filed under Book Reviews · Tagged abuse, inspiration, memoir, pedophilia, rape, relationships, self awareness, stepfather, storytelling, therapy, this boy's life, trauma, writing, writing group
This Boy’s Life
By Tobias Wolff
Published March 2000 (Paperback) Grove Press
For years I have not wanted to read This Boy’s Life. I already had an evil stepfather. What was the point of revisiting the grief through the eyes of another tortured stepchild?
Members of my writing group – according to the Oregonian – “the hottest writing group in Portland,” insisted that I read Tobias Wolff’s book. Read the rest of this entry »
