In My Own Words

<p><em style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Synopsis:</em><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> The author's story of domestic violence including testimonies from women sharing their stories of survival. It features other women who are brave enough to share their personal stories of survival in their own words. I did not edit their words grammatically incorrect or not it remained as stated. It is raw but all very real. Some women chose to use their real names and others a pseudonyms.</span></p><p></p><p><em style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Autobiography:</em><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> Upon the windowsill of her room looking out at all the people coming and going city buses that went by on the street where she grew up she listened to the sounds of the children playing below her window. At night she would gaze at the stars from the view of her window and imagine herself in a perfect setting of Bedford-Stuyvesant where she grew up roller-skating around the circle of the projects then relaxing in the circle on the benches listening to smooth jazz on her favorite radio station. Music jazz and calypso were deep within her spirit. Shereema was not like the other neighborhood children; she loved music and writing. Shereema loved listening to her great-grandmother tell stories of growing up in Barbados. Shereema's grandmother was born in Barbados but grew up in New York City. At sixteen she won a scholarship to the Julliard Music School.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Shereema would write stories of peace and harmony as a child imagining the world to be a better place.</span></p><p></p>