I Have Arrived Before My Words: Autobiographical Writings of Homeless Women - Softcover

Pugh, Deborah; Tietjen, Jeanie

3.23

13 ratings by Goodreads

9780964712423: I Have Arrived Before My Words: Autobiographical Writings of Homeless Women

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0964712423 ISBN 13: 9780964712423

Publisher: Charles River Pr, 1997

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From Kirkus Reviews:

An anthology of homeless women's writings that offers a glimpse of inner lives rarely seen. This collection grew out of the editors' experiences as participants in WritersCorps, a division of AmeriCorps, President Clinton's community service program. WritersCorps offers writers a small stipend and the opportunity to teach at-risk youth, substance abusers, and others whose stories are seldom heard. Pugh and Tietjen, clearly very gifted teachers, ran writing workshops for homeless and incarcerated women in Washington, D.C.; some of the memoirs produced in those workshops are offered here. Despite the hardships she has faced, Georgia's clearest memories, drawn from her rural southern past, are almost idyllic--she remembers, for instance, making pancakes that met with her tough grandfather's approval. Gayle writes about her crack addiction. Ann, who has been diagnosed as manic-depressive, writes of how it felt to be discharged from the US military. Hers is perhaps the most engaging piece, because she writes frankly about her often unnerving behavior. Dionne is the poet whose lyrics provide the anthology's powerful title. She is in prison, HIV-positive, and recovering from drug addiction and sexual abuse. Angie has struggled with both mental illness and physical disability while raising three sons. The women's narratives all provide the solid beginnings of stories, but most leave numerous questions unanswered. The editors realize this, and have tried to fill in the holes with their own lengthy, somewhat intrusive interpretive essays, which add biographical information about the writers; we end up hearing too much of Pugh and Tietjen's voices and not enough of the homeless women's. But despite some awkwardness in presentation, these stories deserve the attention of anyone interested in the power of autobiography to redeem a life. -- Copyright �1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly:

Through the federally funded WritersCorps program, Pugh and Tietjen conducted writing workshops for homeless women in Washington, D.C. Here they describe both their experiences and present the autobiographical writings of five such women. Although Pugh and Tietjen are too often under the spell of graduate school parlance, when they simply describe the daily goings-on at their makeshift meetings they are delightful and warm. "Nothing lifts the heart more than seeing these women bent over their notebooks, with no motivation other than the act itself, unselfconsciously following the thread of thoughts they themselves invent. There is head-scratching, murmuring out loud, sudden bolts for a cigarette, humming-what music!" A useful introduction to and discussion of each woman's history and character follow every personal essay. Unfortunately, three of the five homeless women's writings are of little interest. "Ann," for example, is too crazy for words, and instead of evoking admiration or sympathy, readers will pity her meanderings. Pugh muses: "Ann's story waits for her courage to internalize and express her mania as both burden and gift." Readers witness only its burden. The two who make the book worthwhile are "Gayle," an irrepressible, indomitable crack addict ("He slapped me and I slapped him back, and as I turned to run, he pulled out his gun and shot me in the back. As I fell to the ground, I said, God forgive him for he knows not what he's done... I forgave him enough to go back to him and as far as to go and pick out rings to get married"), and Dionne, who writes her clear-headed and sad story as letters from prison. Though uneven and remarkably unrevealing about the state of homelessness, this book should be useful and illuminating to anyone who teaches writing.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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