Synopsis: Shame is a powerful thing. It can weigh on your heart and mind, diminish your sense of self-worth, and impact the way you live in the world. But what happens when you share that secret burden?
Amy Ferris, Hollye Dexter, and the writers they brought together are all ready to let go of shame. In Dancing at the Shame Prom, twenty-six extraordinary women—Lyena Strelkoff, Teresa Stack, Monica Holloway, Nina Burleigh, Amy Friedman, Meredith Resnick, Victoria Zackheim, and more—take the plunge and say “yes” to sharing their stories. These brave writers, journalists, musicians, artists, directors, and activists have offered up their most funny, sad, poignant, miraculous, life-changing, and jaw-dropping secrets for you to gawk at, empathize with, and learn from—in the hopes that they will inspire others to do the same. Letting go feels good!
Freeing, provocative, and audacious, Dancing at the Shame Prom is about flaunting the secrets that have made you feel small so that you can stand up straight, let the shame go, and finally—decisively—move on with your life.
My Review: Dancing at the Shame Prom is an amazing collection of stories written by women. I swear, I could write a story a week!! It is so nice to know I am not alone in baring the "shame."
I loved at the end of each chapter/story, the author lets us know what they wish we take away from their story. This is so powerful. It is another affirmation of their stories and the shame they have carried.
Some stories are very funny while others are very serious (and deal with serious topics). No matter the story, you will be pulled in from the beginning all the way to end.
Dancing at the Shame Prom would make a great gift for all the women in your life. I think this would be fantastic to share with a circle of friends and discuss the stories and their impact.
Some of the stories I could add to Dancing at the Shame Prom would relate to some of the ways I treated my mother. Since she pasted away, I have had a lot of flashback to me being a nasty child and saying things that had to be hurtful. I wish I could discuss those with her now and let her know, just how nasty I know I could be. I would also write about the shame I feel in being a working mother and the fact that I can't be involved in with my kids school and after school life. I know it is reality, but I carry a lot of shame related to it. Amy and Hollye, keep me in mind for Dancing at the Shame Prom, Take 2!
Meet the Authors: Amy Ferris is an author, editor, screenwriter and playwright. Her memoir, Marrying George Clooney: Confessions From a Midlife Crisis (Seal Press) is Off-Broadway-bound. She has contributed to numerous anthologies, including He Said What, The Buddha Next Door, The Drinking Diaries, and Exit Laughing, and has written everything from young adult novels (A Greater Goode), to co-writing films (Funny Valentines and Mr. Wonderful). She has been both an editor, and contributing writer at the magazines Urban Refugee, Living Buddhism and Milford Magazine, and contributes regularly to iPinion Syndicate, and StyleSubstanceSoul.
Ferris serves on the Executive Board of Directors at Pages & Places Literary Festival in Scranton, PA, Peters Valley Arts, and the Education and Craft Center, and serves on the Advisory Board of The Women's Media Center. She is on faculty at The San Miguel de Allende Writers' Festival, and is a visiting teacher at UCLA (extension). Her number one goal, desire, and dream is for ALL women to awaken to their greatness, their beauty, and their power.
Hollye Dexter is a blogger and essayist, and the author of two memoirs. Her stories have been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Answered Prayers and Character Consciousness, as well as online at Fem2pt0, The Next Family, The Shape of A Mother, and BackPage magazine. She writes regularly for iPinion Syndicate and AOL Patch News.
Hollye Dexter is a blogger and essayist, and the author of two memoirs. Her stories have been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Answered Prayers and Character Consciousness, as well as online at Fem2pt0, The Next Family, The Shape of A Mother, and BackPage magazine. She writes regularly for iPinion Syndicate and AOL Patch News.
Dexter is a singer/songwriter with four albums out, and for the past decade has run workshops for teens in foster care through her award-winning nonprofit organization Art and Soul. In 2007 she was given the Agape Spirit award by Dr. Michael Beckwith (from The Secret) for her work with at-risk youth. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three children.
You can connect with Dancing at the Shame Prom (including Amy and Hollye) online at their blog, Facebook and Twitter.
Purchase It: You can purchase Dancing at the Shame Prom online at Amazon for $16.00 (Kindle version $9.76 and Prime members $11.68)
thank you for such a lovely & wonderful review!
ReplyDeleteThank you Jill! I am so glad you liked the book.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't worry, we all have regrets over the ways we behaved. I personally believe it's never too late to say I'm sorry and I love you- even if the person has passed away. You can say it in a prayer, or write it in a letter, burn it and let the smoke rise up to heaven. Even writing it in your blog, I'll bet that took some of the sting out of it. : )
And as far as being a working mom...my husband once said to his dad how fondly he remembered all the times they went fishing. His dad responded, "I only took you fishing once..." But to my husband, that one time made such an impact. Spending special time with your kids when you can is something they'll always remember.
xo