Interview with Aleja founder of Stay Strong and Stand

I called Aleja and asked her for an interview that I could post here on  my blog for you all.  She is the author of  "All I Can Do Is Stand" and founder of  'Stay Strong and Stand'.   Her bravery is inspiring and this is her story.

Me:         How old were you when the abuse began?

Aleja:     I was 6 months old.  My mother left my siblings and I alone in an apartment and didn't return.  When the police found us they took us to the New York Foundling in Manhattan.  I had pneumonia. 

                When they found my mother she gave up all rights to me and my siblings.  They separated us,  having different families adopt us.  At 40 years old I still don't know who they are.
                Then at 2 I was adopted by a deacon and deaconess and that was when the nightmare began.

Me:         What did they do?

Aleja:     They would physically abuse me and mentally as well.  They would dress me nice, but only feed me when the felt like it. They would call me names like retard, idiot, and liar. 

Me:         So they basically only cared about what people saw?

Aleja:     Yes. 

Me:         How did you get through what your adoptive parents were doing?

Aleja:     I realized I was blessed with a voice.  Singing made all the trauma and abuse bearable.  When I would sing I would cry, which was a relief.  I also became active in church.  I joined the choir, attended bible study, excreta.  I even started writing.

                I also learned to sleep with one eye open.  As I got older I wasn't as scared.  I would stay with friends.  Though they weren't very good friends.  My boyfriends were crack heads, drug addicts, and abusers as well.
                I also would drink.  A lot.  I eventually got up to drinking about a half-gallon of liquor a day.  I did try to drink a lot of water to compensate because I was still trying to be conscious about my health.

Me:         What caused you to stop drinking?

Aleja:     I went to the doctor and he gave me clean bill of health even after all of my drinking.  It made me realize that God had been taking care of me.  There was no other excuse.  It made me realize that there was something important I had to do in my life.

Me:         You mentioned you started to write.  At what age did you first write?  What was it?

Aleja:     I started writing in High School.  It took me 4 years to write my book and when I graduated I got my writings in a book.  It was amazing to have that.  Then one day I went to go take a bath and when I got done my book had disappeared.  I didn't write again until I was 25.

Me:         What did you write then?

Aleja:     I wrote "Being Alive".  It was my first poem I had written after my book had been stolen.  In 2006 I wrote "Only The Strong Can Survive" it was published by America Published.  They also published other book of my poetry, "Beautiful Poetic Strategy and Recovery" in 2008. 

                They didn't get it out very well so I decided to become a self-published author.  Since then I have published 8 more books on my own.

Me:         Can you tell me a little bit about your family?

Aleja:     My daughter is going to college in Wisconsin.  I unfortunately went through a hard time and my grandmother had to take care of her when she was younger but I still tried to be there for her. 

                One day she broke her foot while at school.  I gave everything I had including my rent money to be there for her.  She is my daughter, I was just being a good mother.  My grandmother thought I was an idiot for doing that.
                The rest of my family was around when they found out I published my first book, but when they realized that I didn't make a lot of money off of it they all disappeared again.

Me:         Is there anything you wish you could say to those reading this or those going through something similar?

Aleja:     Yes.  Find out what your purpose is.  Find out why the enemy wants to destroy you.  When it comes down to it be the winner.  Don't let the destroyer, destroy you.

Me:         Thank you so much for doing this interview.

Aleja:     Thank you for calling me.

Stay Strong and Stand My Story

I met Author Aleja Bennett through Book Blogs.  She is an abuse survior to check out her story please log on to http://www.facebook.com/StayStrongandStand#!/StayStrongandStand/info as for me this is mine and I will be the first to admit it isn't as bad as others but it's bad enough that I should have taken a stand.
 
I was in the 4th grade, my brothers in 5th, they both shared the same teacher.  He was an old, overweight, disgusting pig of a man.  He was very aggressive to his students or at least to my brothers by grabbing so tightly to their arms he would leave bruise marks, yank them by their ears,  and literally throw them out of class.  Now, I don't know how many other students he treated that way.  Anyway, one day I went to go meet up with my brothers and he waved me to come into the class room.  He placed his hands down my back pocket of my jeans.  It freaked me out but I didn't say anything.  Shortly thereafter, I left the school with my brothers.

The next day was the best day for my brothers.  He didn't say or do anything mean to them all day.  After a while things got back to the way they had been before and once again I stopped by to pick up my brothers thinking it had been a onetime occurrence.  While waiting for my brother to get their bags from the hallway he again told me to come to him and again put his hand down my pocket.

I didn't know what else to do.  I was afraid to tell anyone, afraid they  would be angry at me for being stupid and I didn't want him to treat my brothers the way that he did so I continued to go back. Over and over again the process would play and the days after that I was there he would treat my brothers better.  So to make my brothers lives a little better I started to frequent there often.

Slowly he progressed forward to place a hand in my front pocket, then later he slipped a finger down the waist of my jeans in the back.  Luckily school got out before things got worse.  I prayed every day that summer that I wouldn't get him as a teacher and the Lord heard my prayers.  From that day forward I was able to avoid him and that room until I left the school after my 6th grade.

I heard when I was in 9th grade that he lost his job and (rumor had it) they had locked up his worthless butt because someone had finally spoke up.  I hadn't been the only girl he had done that to. Nor do I fear I was the worst.  There had been at least 2 others before someone had spoken up. 

Looking back at it and knowing what I know now, I do everything in my power to let younger girls know, that it's not okay.  When people do that it's not okay.  That if they are ever placed in a situation like that to tell an adult.  I was afraid of my parents when I was going through it but I could have gone to another person of authority like the principle.

When I finally told my parents they were horrified that I hadn't told them.  Both of my parents were angry at him and hurt that I didn't trust them enough to tell them back then.  My dad was ready to drive all the way back there and inform them (probably not in a good way he was that angry that someone had done this to his daughter and his sons) of what had happened, but I told him that he had already been taken care of.  As I said before I know what I went through wasn't as bad as some others.  I can't imagine what others have gone through in their lives, but what I went through it's bad enough.

If you are ever in that position or have ever been in that position don't be afraid to speak up.  Even a little evil, is still evil.

 
 

Scarecrow Vampire Teeth Giveaway!

So I've been trying to think of a giveaway for Halloween, because what other day can you have so much fun with? :) Finally, I decided on giving away a pair of Scarecrow fangs!

I myself have a pair of these and love them!

They come with a kit so you can custom fit them to your teeth!

I will be doing a drawing on the 19th for the winner.

To be entered is easy.

If you like my facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/J-Ann-Novels/472457432774684 page that is one entry, for every person you send that likes my page and tells me you sent them is another, each blog you follow is adds another, and if you comment on either blog that is also an entry.

So lots of ways to enter you name a ton of times. Good luck!

YAY!!!

I just want to thank everyone who like J Ann Novels on Facebook.  It now has 100 likes and 2 lucky winners!  They were Bebe Balocca and Pamela Reddy!  Let's keep it going!

Poll Games!

For the month of October there is a poll for who you hope Angelina ends up with.  I am curious for everyones answers.