Domestic Violence Awareness month: Free Spirit.

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Ive tweeted, facebooked & yammered here about the many welcoming & interesting people Ive met since our move.  Joshua Safran is a prime one example.  Ive invited him here today to chat about his memoir, Free Spirit, because I wanted you *all* to meet Joshua Safran, too.  His story is an important one and one rarely told from the male perspective.

 

Carla is my friend and neighbor, and asked me to help her observe Domestic Violence Awareness Month this October.

For the 1 in 4 women and children who have experienced it, no explanation may be required.

For the rest, the mixture of family and violence can sometimes be unapproachable and mysterious.

The best I can do is tell you a little about my story and the work I’m doing to help raise awareness and break the cycle of violence.

As a boy I watched my mother battered and abused at the hands of my alcoholic stepfather countless times.

For over 30 years I couldn’t speak about the horror of those experiences or my own shame in not standing up for my mother.

Instead, I became a lawyer and began advocating for woman like her.

In 2011, the film Crime After Crime about my team’s 7-year legal struggle to free a woman from prison for killing her batterer went to the Sundance Film Festival and debuted on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

What the film didn’t show, however, was the courage that my client gave me to tell my own story.

Now, I’m excited to announce that my memoir, FREE SPIRIT: Growing Up On the Road and Off the Grid(Hyperion/Hachette), is officially available to the world, and the critical response has been wonderful.

Yoav Potash, the producer/director of Crime After Crime, and I are also thrilled to share this incredible and one-of-a-kind short film we made together for FREE SPIRIT.

(MizFit note: The book Free Spirit? Phenomenal. The book trailer? Amazing & unlike any Ive ever seen.  The subject matter? Adult.  Not for kids unless youre prepared to launch some tough, important conversations.) 

 

As we observe National Domestic Violence Awareness Month this October, please keep Crime After Crime and FREE SPIRIT in mind.

The goal of both projects is to create a bigger, more powerful national conversation about stopping family violence, to educate the uninformed about the cycle of violence that rolls on from generation to generation, and to give hope and healing to those who are still struggling to free themselves. 

(MizFit note: Crime After Crime can be streamed from Netflix & FREE SPIRIT is widely available at bookstores or libraries.)

 

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Comments

  3. I like to look at this as a issue that involves women and men. Times have changed and as economic positions have changed and pressures have changed, as we have changed, violence is done by men and women to each other and their families. I worked as a Social Worker and from my personal experience I know women who were abusive to their husbands and their families. I like to focus on this as a human issue.

    • You said it. I see the same thing in my profession as a RN. In no way is any form of domestic violence okay but women on men violence is an untouched subject.

  5. i’m gonna be honest, i never realized those stats were so high! thank you for sharing this so maybe we can do something about it!

    • We hope so! The trailer was a mostly volunteer endeavor with a cast and crew of over 100 over 6 days in 12 locations. We hope to attract a studio or funding to tell this story on screen as well as on the page. J

    • I laughed at your comment, Jody, and then I watched the trailer.
      Holy crap is right 🙂
      Very powerful.

  12. Thank you for sharing your story and giving some male voice to the issue. And if I see David Sedaris’ name in the same sentence as yours…well, then I must buy it! ; )

  14. Wow – a real eye opener and need more people out there to raise awareness for this! It could save many lives and eliminate alot of pain and suffering (both physical and emotional) that goes along with it!

  16. I’d seen you talk about this before, Miz, and added it to my list to get.
    Now that I’ve seen the trailer I will buy today.
    Wow.

  18. I completely agree that domestic violence goes both ways. We recently had at our church leave his wife because he was being abused.
    How amazing is your friend?! Thanks for sharing.

  19. Stories as awful as this that have the ability to turn around and become something positive and inspiring are truly beautiful to me. Thank you for sharing this inspirational piece.

  20. Where as many people fall to the crutches of their pain, its nice to see you came out strong advocating such measures. It much reminds me of the strength of Gavin de Becker in his book I just read, “The gift of fear”.

    I am a victim of domestic violence for 5 years. I remember being the one put into jail during a 4th of July incident because it looked like I was hurting him even though the witness didn’t see him gripping me in a choke hold. He was very good at his game.

    But I am stronger from that incident. And not one I tell often. I have found forgiveness. And often donate to the DM shelter as they completely saved my life, not just physically, but emotionally.

    And now, I am very aware of how I am with my relationships with people and making sure I have self confidence. Because its completely a cycle I need to break and hopes that my children will never face it.

    Well this was probably way more of a comment than one leaves on a blog. But I am glad Miz and yourself raising awareness. Thank you.

    • I emailed you privately–but didnt want to leave this unremarked upon here either.
      thank YOU for being brave enough to leave this comment as Im confident youve helped others by virtue of doing so.

    • Thank you for sharing your story, Christine, and for helping to tear down the wall of silence that surrounds this issue. Your children are blessed that you have ended the cycle.

  21. I was once kicked in the head by an ex-boyfriend. I’m talking about one of those Kung-Fu roundhouse-type of kicks. I literally saw stars, just like they do in the cartoons. That is extent of domestic violence against me: I refused to stick around and allow myself to be subjected to anymore of that crap.

  29. Absolutely gripping trailer, this sounds like a phenomenal book. This type of education and awareness is crucial for reaching out and changing the way people think about violence and in turn, how they treat the victims. Awareness will create more resources and help for those struggling to get out.

  30. I have not experienced violence, but I had a friend in college who was hit by her boyfriend and I remember the long talk we had about how that was not okay. She ended up marrying him a couple years later and I don’t know what became of them.

  31. So glad you are sharing in this important topic. Joshua’s perspective is important and I’m glad he’s giving it. His details are enthralling. I’m ashamed to say that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to give mine. I tell what I can as I can. It’s all any of us can do.

    • Thank you, Jasmine – and thank you for telling your story as you go. For what it’s worth, I found telling my whole story a surprisingly healing process and very liberating.

  33. I like that this is from the male perspective… it’s not something that you see very often.
    It’s definitely something that we need to be aware of and shared.

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