American Dreamer

Dream Pathways is seeking 100 volunteers (between the ages of 21-35) to participate in an online behavioral health survey. The sample survey will be used to assess needs for young adults living in underserved communities. If you would like to make a difference, here's the time to do it. To participate, please email [email protected] w/the subject heading: SURVEY VOLUNTEER. Thanks in advance for your support!

Excerpt # 1

“You know better than that Danielle! I’mma tear yo ass up when we get home,” my mom screamed from the driver’s seat.

“But Unique told me to do it!” I said hoping to get out of a whooping.

My sister, Unique didn’t say a word. She just sat there, knowing the punishment that was to follow for her convincing me to steal from the store.

“Alright yall go in that room and take off your clothes!” my mom said sounding like a slave master from one of those racists slave movies.

We did as our mom told us to do. Well, we didn’t have a choice. She would always say, “Either you sit here and let me beat you for what you’ve done or you go down there and let them crackas deal with you. Because if the white man get a hold of you, his ass gonna beat you worse than I beat you….he’s gonna put his foot in ya neck and spit on ya.”

Thinking about that type of punishment always put the worst fear in my heart. Even though I dreaded my mom’s beatings, I didn’t think for a chance of calling Child Protective Services on my mom (It was called HRS at the time). I feared that what she said about them beating me worse than she did was actually true. And I definitely didn’t want to take that option.

So, my sister and I just obediently lay on the bed in her room with only our underwear on. My mom came into the room with the extension cord. It was long and brown and she never used it for anything technological. My mom had an array of choice weapons to choose from. Some days it was the brown extension cord; other days we would get the black leather belt; and yet others we were beaten with a cable cord --either of the three was just as painful as the other.

“Wack!” sounded the belt as it hit our bear flesh. I felt like I was going to die. We never knew when my mom would end the beating. It always seemed like eternity. My mom would continue beating us, hitting us as hard as she could with the belt. I would think that my mom hated us, because it seemed like we got a beating for the slightest thing. I would always wonder did the other kids in school have to go through this type of punishment? Probably not!

My mom continued beating us until she grew tired. The more we cried and hollered, the more she continued to beat us.

“Shut up!” she yelled. “It hurts me worse than it hurts you.”

Then, why do you continue to beat us, I questioned myself in private.

The whooping finally came to an end. I felt so humiliated, afraid, and unloved. These feelings consumed me for a while – as long as my mom would continue to beat me. I didn’t know which pain was worse – the pain on the outside or the pain that grew from the inside. I wanted my mom to die. I always prayed (to God knows who) that my mother would never come home from work. I prayed that somehow she’d get into a car accident or die in her sleep. That’s how bad the beatings were. She would make sure that the beatings were a long-lasting memory, hoping to imprint a memory on us that we should not do anything wrong behind her back, or we would definitely await her punishment.

I remembered my sister and I having to wear turtlenecks to school one day in the summer after getting beat so bad. We had whelps all alongside our backs, arms, and necks. To keep the teachers and administrators from knowing about the beatings, my mom made us wear turtlenecks to school. I hated turtlenecks – but for her sake, I complied.

Excerpt # 2

I thought that after my mom left my dad when I was twelve back in 1996 that the beatings would end. But ohh, how wrong I was! My sister and I would get beat for everything! I remember my last beating before I ran away from my mom’s. I was 16 - a sophomore at St. Augustine High. It was maybe mid afternoon with a few more classes left for me to go. I was headed to class, walking down the hall when some guy, an upperclassmen came and pushed me. Being the girl I was, I wasn’t taking any mess, so I pushed him back. Before I knew it, the Dean for the sophomore class was standing right there in the hall, watching the whole thing.

“You come here,” the dean shouted at me. “And you, Mr. Jones, you need to head to class!”

How unfair! I thought to myself. I was being called to the Dean’s office when this guy, the same guy who started with me first was only sent to class. The Dean and I walked to his office and I was given a referral. Standard procedure was for the Dean to call the parent, so that’s exactly what happened. Oh shucks! Why did he have to call my mom?! Did he know the danger I’d be in if he called my mom?...especially while she was at work! Oh no! I was going to be in big trouble! I just sat there, patiently waiting for her to pick up the phone. The call was on speaker phone.

“Hello?” I heard my mother say on the other end.

“Yes, this is Dean Matthis calling from St. Augustine High School in regards to your daughter, Danielle Leach. She is being sent home on a referral for horseplaying in the hall between classes,” the Dean said without hesitation to my mother.

“Ok, I’ll be there in a minute. I’m leaving my job now,” I heard my mother say before hanging up the phone.

Oh no! I thought. Here we go again. Another whooping – and it was for something I didn’t even do! I was ready for this one though. My mother arrived to the school in no time – just as I had imagined.

“C’mon let’s go. You gonna learn this time. I’m so sick and tired of y’all. I’mma show you though,” my mom rambled. She would go on like this every time she became upset with me and my sister. I had gotten used to it for a while, but this time – this time I made sure I had an escape plan. I made it my business that I would never let her hit me again. So the whole ride home, she was just going on and on, yelling at me and cursing. She acted as if I wasn’t a normal kid – as if it wasn’t a normal reaction to defend yourself if someone bothered or messed with you. I thought to myself – so, I’m getting in trouble just for defending myself? Oh heck no! This was just too much.

I was beginning to realize that I had a choice – a right to defend myself – a right to express myself – and be an individual – apart from who my mom forced me to be. I wasn’t going to be her little puppet – her little punching bag. I couldn’t stand her beating me for every little thing. I had to get up the nerves to rebel. And I did.

We pulled up into the yard of my mom’s house. I kept thinking to myself – oh no, not this time. I was sure I wasn’t going to let her beat me this time. I was getting old. I had reached an age where I knew that I was too old for whoopings. And it seemed that the whoopings didn’t serve a purpose - they only made me more rebellious.

We got out of the car and went into the house. I put my bookbag down. While my mother went to the back of the house to her room to look for a belt, I immediately walked outside of the house. With no set destination in mind, I was determined to get away from the physical, emotional, and mental abuse given to me by my mother. I had to go.

I could hear my mom calling me all the way from down the street, “Danielle! Where are you going?! Come back down here!” – she said as she stormed out of the house.

I kept in the direction I was headed. Not even at the end of the road, my mom had caught up with me. Damnit, I thought. I wish she hadn’t caught me. I really wanted to get away from her.

“Where are you going?” my mom asked – puzzled by my confidence to just get up and leave the house without her permission.

“I’m going to dad’s house. To stay with my daddy,” I said, trying to hold back my tears.

“Why?” she asked, as if she didn’t already know the answer.

“Because I’m tired of you beating me. I don’t think I should get a beating for what happened in school. He started with me first.”

“Well, ok. I’ll just hit you a couple of times and I’ll let you go. You can’t be walking down this street like this. You don’t even know where you are going and you gonna get killed out here like this.”

My mom did her best to convince me to return back to the house. And it worked.

So following her requests, I walked back to the house with her.

“Ok, hold out your hand,” my mother yelled.

“Smack!” went the belt as it hit the palm of my hand.

I jerked my hand back in reflex.

“Hold your hand out! I’m not done!” shouted my mother.

I reached my hand out reluctantly so she could hit me with the belt.

“Ouch” I responded. I began to cry. Although the whooping didn’t last long, it was the thought that hurt the most. It made me sick to my stomach to know that I was being treated like this – I felt like an old slave. But I was sure that this wouldn’t last long. I promised myself.

********

The strokes on the keypad were coming quicker and quicker by the seconds. I was determined to get my point across. Sitting at the computer in the dining room at my mom’s house, I typed a letter to my dad. The letter was nearly 6-8 pages in length. I had to let my dad know the truth and I made sure I expressed myself clearly and elaborately. I had to make the letter sound convincing – convincing enough for him to come and rescue me from the hell I was living in.

In the letter, I explained to him the difficulty I had staying with my mom and the rest of the family in St. Augustine. I told him about the harsh and unsafe living conditions – the rats, my cousins’ aggravation and my aunt’s resentment towards me; my unending love for him; and my desire to move back home. I hated living in St. Augustine with my mom. She was way too strict – I felt like I had no freedom.

When my dad received the letter I mailed to him, he didn’t hesitate on giving me a call. The conversation was weird because his first reaction was different than what I expected.

“Oh, you write very well! I didn’t know you could write so well!” my dad said in admiration.

I thought to myself, this letter is not about my writing ability, it’s about my need to get the hell away from St. Augustine!’ Then I realized that he didn’t get to see me go through grades 7 -10. Those years, my dad was left out of.

My dad and I talked on the phone for about an hour, discussing the letter and its contents. He began to express to me how deeply sorrowful he felt about my living situation and agreed that he would allow me to come back home and stay with him. The agreement was for the remainder of my time in high school – this meant two years staying with my dad which consisted of my junior and senior years in high school. Woooopiiee! (was how I felt)

“So, when would you like for me to pick you up?” my dad asked.

“Well, I would like to do this when mom isn’t here. She would have a fit if she knew that I was planning to move in with you,” I suggested to my dad as we worked up a scheme to get me out my mom’s house.

“How about this weekend – when she goes to work?”

“Well, I guess I can do that. Will you be ready?” questioned my dad.

“Yes, I’m ready to go now,” I responded. “Just call me when you’re on your way and I’ll be sitting at the house waiting on you.”

“Ok…will do,” said my dad.

The deal had been sealed. I was finally getting the heck out of the dungeon and moving to a place where I could actually call home.

It was Saturday. Bright and early – my dad kept his promise. He pulled up in his off white 1996 two-door Infiniti. He stepped out of the car and I met him at the front door of the house. No one was home – just me, my grandmother, and my younger cousin, Marlon.

“American Dreamer - The Life of Danielle Unveiled” (an autobiography written by a Florida State University alumna) is the book that we’ve all been waiting for. Its malleable tone invites the reader to digest a memoir that is filled with gratifying ingredients of hope, inspiration, and truth. It tells the story of a college grad whose emphasizes the importance of having faith and hope in spite of the many denials and trials we come to face. While on her way to achieve the American dream, she discovered something vital to her existence and the well-being of all people that she shares within the pages of the book. Though she’s reached insurmountable heights and accomplished many great things, she asserts “Success is not measured by what you have done, but is attributed to who you will become.” Her story is a TRUE SUCCESS STORY!!

OVER 1100 PEOPLE HAVE PRE-ORDERED THEIR COPY OF AMERICAN DREAMER!! You can pre-order yours today by filling out the form below!

http://www.americandreamerbook.com/preorderyourcopy.htm

Over this past Easter weekend, Danielle wasn’t looking for any Easter eggs or making friends with no Easter bunny. Instead, she decided to take a trip to the Olympic Centennial Park in downtown Atlanta. This past Saturday, that’s where Danielle spent most of the day, walking around in the hot Georgia sun, randomly approaching women, men, and teenagers from all walks of life and begging them for one minute of their time to take the American Dreamer Survey.

The American Dreamer Survey is an assessment tool designed by Danielle Leach (author of American Dreamer), used to evaluate the views of various people concerning the American Dream. The survey is a very short survey that takes less than 2 minutes to complete. The focal question of the survey asks participants to answer the following: WHAT IS THE FIRST THING THAT COMES TO MIND WHEN YOU THINK OF, AMERICAN DREAMER?

Here are some of the responses:

Accomplished

Football

The Dream

Our President

Celebrity

Singer

Dance

Freedom

Unity

Pilgrims

Freedom

Hopeful

Before the book is sent to the printer, Danielle expects to conduct at least 3 more surveys that will take place in random public places in the metro Atlanta area. The main goal of her survey is to learn varying perspectives on the social construct of the American Dream and to see how these views impact each individual’s life and their decisions and motivations. The responses will be discussed (more in detail) in her upcoming book, American Dreamer due September 28, 2011.

STOP BY THE SITE WHEN YOU GET A CHANCE!

http://www.wix.com/officiallyher/americandreamerthemovie

LISTEN in to this EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with the author of the highly anticipated book, American Dreamer as she uncovers her reasons for writing this book, her inspirations for writing, and her biggest challenges in writing the book.

When God gives you a vision, it?s up to you to bring it to past. - Author D. Leach

1st: Visit www.americandreamerbook.com

2nd: SCROLL DOWN TO "MY MONTAGE" AND PRESS PLAY

I know you may already have a very good reason to purchase a copy of American Dreamer. But in case you haven’t, here are 50 more….

It’s a captivating autobiography, a book about Danielle’s life, trials, and triumphs.

It inspires, motivates, uplifts, and challenges.

It’s a real life testimony

It’s the author’s very 1st book

It’s tantalizing and stimulating

It takes you behind the curtain of a young woman who has found the courage to let you inside of her own personal life

It teaches you in the form of written expression some very valuable, but costly lessons the author has learned throughout her life.

It’s colored with a plethora of insights written by the author, a number of her favorite celebrities, and other authors, writers, and poets.

It was written in love and sincerity

It strengthens and empowers and touches the soul

It’s a dream come true

It’s filled with hope and determination

It was written and inspired by life

It’s a highly anticipated autobiography

It is an easy-read tailored to people who’ve struggled with regret, forgiveness, rejection, and oppression

It carries many deeply rooted, philosophical meanings and undertones - one of which consists of defining the "American Dream."

It imitates art

It’s warm and inviting

It induces positive change

It’s one in a million

The writing 1st began in a hotel the author was staying in up in Atlanta, Georgia after losing her apartment and ended in a hotel in Jacksonville, FL after the author experienced a power outage in her condo

It was written to help the author overcome past hurt and pain and deal with pass loss, rejection, and setback

It’s the story of an American Dreamer

It’s worth sharing with someone you love

It has some very special tokens of love and priceless jewels that can only come to be appreciated when you pick up the book and read it

It liberates, heals, and transforms

It takes you on an adventure of highs and lows

It’s filled with secrets and taboo experiences.

It doesn’t compare to the rest on any level. It’s unique and one of a kind.

It’s a faith-based story

It’s one that will challenge you in more ways than one

It makes for a great afternoon or late evening read

It connects you with the mind of a great philosopher, legendary, humanitarian

It’s a miracle*

It was inspired by God

It took a whole year to complete

It was typed up on a computer not owned by the author

It was handwritten first, then typed.

It’s a story about the will of God

It’s pure and all-natural

It was written during one of the author’s most difficult times in her life

It reads sacrifice, perseverance, and determination

It’s a success story

It’s a tear-jerker….(crying is good for the soul!)

It’s purifying and refreshing

It’s the birth of a multi-faceted vision

It’s marked by self-discovery and self-affirmation

It makes for a great gift

It will go well with the rest of your books in your book collection

It comes signed with a customized autograph from the author

It makes for a good family trophy to be past down from generation to generation

Because I’m a woman of my word and promise that you will be richly blessed by the contents that lie within its cover.

http://americandreamerbook.com/

Copyright by Danielle Leach All Rights Reserved

IF YOU WANNA DONATE TO A GREAT CAUSE, HERE'S THE PERFECT PLACE TO DO IT>>>> UBAWA is currently accepting donations for our 1st Annual Book Fair. This fair is unique because it features a host of authors from all across the united states who are either up and coming authors or pre-existing, well-established authors. Your contribution of any amount will help authors promote their books, get noticed, and reach their goals of becoming a great successful author. Our fundraising goal is to raise $1000 to cover the costs of 10 selected authors to attend our 1st Annual Book Fair. $100 covers the cost of one author booth at the fair. We thank you for your donation and support! All donations of any amount will be appreciated!

http://www.theofficialauthorscorner.com/apps/blog/show/6166644-support-ubawa-s-annual-book-fair-

So you know I am working to get my book, American Dreamer in at least two additional languages? Here's what this one company said when I inquired about their services:

Hi Danielle, Thank you for your prompt response. We can take care of your book in both Spanish and French at a discounted rate of $4000 USD. That's only $2000 per language. This quote is based on an estimation of 77,000 words. We will provide you with a native speaker for each language request. The quote given includes translation, proofreading, and editing. We can give your book the professional touch that you need. Let us know if you want to get started. We can set you up with a payment plan if needed. We are prompt, professional, and provide outstanding customer service. We have translated numerous books, and are confident that we can do an outstanding job on yours! We hope to hear from you soon in regards. Have a wonderful day.

Best Regards,Customer ServiceProfessional Translations, Inc.

Heyyyy everybody!! I hope all is well! I just wanted to share with you all the list of all the authors and keynote speakers who have already signed up and reserved their booths at the 1st Annual UBAWA Book Fair:

**KEYNOTE SPEAKERS**

K.L. Belvin from Rochdale from NY

Greatest Poet Alive from Chicago, IL

Brian Peay from Charlotte NC

Lacha' J. Mitchell from Durham, NC

Angela Wilson

** FEATURED AUTHORS**

George Carter

K.L. Belvin

N.S. Ugezene

Eva Miller D

Celes Mickle

Danielle Leach

Angela Wilson

Brian Peay

Lacha' J. Mitchell

Greatest Poet Alive

SIGN UP TODAY!!

http://www.theofficialauthorscorner.com/ubawabookfair.htm