On September 11, 2001 New York fell under a nightmare. Our beautiful World Trade Center was the target of a terrorist attack. Many of our native New Yorkers and so many people from all over the world were killed that day, three of them were my dear friends.  For months there was nothing else on the news but the clean up of debris and bodies found at “Ground Zero.”

From the day that the Towers fell I wanted to go and help. Our NYPD and FDNY needed volunteers bringing food to them while they worked. During the Christmas holiday on the Rosie O’Donnell show a Police officer told the audience that more help was needed.  I called the number at Nino’s 911 and put my name down. As I approached the area for the first time I felt a deep hurt fill me that day. Our magical monolith Twin Towers was gone, a hole in New York that can never be mended—the fantasy those buildings held gone forever.  I proudly worked there for 25 hours.  Within the dim there was so much fellowship and hope. My final stint was in February, 2002. I did not go down to Ground Zero again until 2005 when some friends of mine from Boston came and I took them there. They were humbled.

In November I met Ronnie Colombo a Broker down in Wall Street. We were vendors at a Holiday Fair, Ronnie sold his hand painted glass art and I my books. Ronnie purchased a book and fell in love with the story. What I did not know was that Ronnie had embarked to his clients at Ground Zero to bring my books to them and Manhattan. His friends Harry from Naturally Delicious and Sam from Café Gusto liked the idea to have me at their Bistros for a signing. Both felt that it would be a great event to boost business.

Today I went home to Ground Zero, my hope now is to bring back the fantasy Downtown and to Naturally Delicious owned and operated by Harry Hersel. I was tickled seeing my poster taped to the front door.  The graphic created by my friend Nathan Brown of Round Table Companies, made me feel like a celebrity. Harry greeted me with open arms and after lunch I set up my table in a cozy corner of the eatery, on the side Harry set up a coffee and cake bar for my guests—Yummy!

We started at 2:00 PM and at 2:15 I had a line waiting for me to sign books, they were Harry’s clients who had enjoyed lunch this afternoon.  What surprised me was that one of my Facebook friends came out to see me. Chris Morabito came from Staten Island, with his Mother. He carried my first two books in his backpack for me to sign and then purchased my third book. It was an remarkable feeling—I have fans! Although humbling it makes me know that my hard work for excellence in writing and literature is paying off. The other was Melanie from MySpace; she purchased all three books at once. It was great to meet them in person.

I was glad that I had my assistant Barbara with me. She organized my table, my books and kept things moving while I spoke to my guests, signed books and spoke to Chris about writing. He is a brilliant young writer who will be in my position one day. I read some of his work and gave him some comments about storyboarding, character bibles and research. Keep writing Chris—I am proud of you.

Anne an old friend came to see me and we chatted awhile after the crowd wound down.  It was an amazing day.

Harry I want to thank you for an incredible experience, one I will take with me for the rest of my life.

In the past few weeks, I have been interviewed on several shows on Blog Talk Radio. I have also been featured in The Queens Ledger and interviewed for The Queens Chronicle (due out this week). All of these interviews have centered on my published titles, my Excalibur Reading Program, and my advocacy for the prevention of abuse and violence against women and children. Speaking against abuse is never easy, especially if you are a victim.

I admitted to each of my interviewers that I had been abused in the past and was also a victim of sexual assault. It took me years of therapy and writing my first book, The Quest for Excalibur, to be able to reveal the truth about my past.

My passion is writing; it has been my constant panacea to get me through my past, present, and my future. But in the past few weeks, with the holidays coming and talking about my past, I have been haunted by the ghosts of my childhood and have been suffering from a severe case of writer’s block. Being an avid writer, this has been a torture to my soul.

The other day, I attended my weekly Weight Watchers meeting. I have been a lifetime member of Weight Watchers for 31 months now. I hav lost 97 pounds on the program and have made some wonderful friends. Within the fabric of the meetings, I have found a great source of positive support through the Team Leaders and receptionists every week. I always say that Weight Watchers and my character, Arianna Lawrence, have helped me become the powerful woman I am today. It is through them that I have found a great deal of discipline to attain my goals in life.

However, even powerful women and heroes in stories have their moments of weakness, and these past weeks have been mine. One of my friends at Weight Watchers knew that something was wrong by my silence at the meetings. I expressed to Ronnie that between the interviews, the pending holidays, aging parents, and dealing with my husband’s worsening depression, which is abusive in its own right, I have not been fairing well at all. The other day, after the meeting, Ronnie put a gift bag in my hand and told me that it was “something to cheer me up.” When I opened it, I cried. It was the “Infinity Empowering Necklace and Bracelet” from AVON, which they created with Reese Witherspoon to help raise awareness for Domestic Violence. (I am wearing it now as I write this.)

Writing about Arianna helped reveal my truth. My character also helped support me in my weight loss. As I wrote about Arianna’s beauty and courage, I wanted to be more and more like her: a desirable yet noble role model who could fight her demons and quest for the cause of her family and herself. In the past, when I needed to make extra money to help my children and support my writing, I sold AVON. After receiving this gift, I remembered the joy I had connecting with women and selling AVON.

I visited the district office to find out more about the jewelry and found that my friend Marie was now the Director. I was overjoyed to see an old friend. We spoke of my achievements as an author, my Excalibur Reading Program, and my advocacy for children and women of abuse. That day I received another gift: Marie invited me to talk at her district meetings to help me connect with mothers and other women. The stipulation was that I had to be reinstated as an AVON representative. That day, I proudly went back to selling AVON. If through my writing and this gift, I can help women attain their goals, then AVON, Angelica Harris, and Reese Witherspoon have done their jobs well.

Look, another gift… I am writing again and my passions are on fire!

November 10th was a day of honor and a blast at my alma mater, St. Sebastian’s School. It has been 38 years since I graduated from the school and 17 years since I moved away from Woodside, Queens.

Before I left the house I was nervous about seeing my 7th Grade teacher, Miss Mildred Hoglin. She was a great teacher but she was oh so strict. I arrived at the school around noon and was greeted by the Principal, JoAnn Dolan. She escorted me in the auditorium and about 5 minutes later, there she was, Miss Hoglin with her 8th grade class. It was as though 38 years had never passed at all. Miss Hoglin had not changed; she still held that stern expression and carried herself tall and stately. My stomach felt a knot form, but I took a deep breath and smiled. We both walked towards each other for a warm embrace. She kissed me on the cheek and said, “You have no idea how proud I am of you!” In that instant, all my doubts that I have held about my soul and myself just melted away.

I began my program and for the next 40 minutes I looked into the faces of such wide-eyed children who were having just as much fun as I was. The kids were having a ball answering my questions and asking their own. At 1:45, Holly Tsang, the reporter from The Queens Ledger, came and started taking photos of me conducting my program. I felt like a celebrity. It was an amazing feeling! Before the kids left for their next class, I signed some autographs. I also gave Miss Hoglin a signed copy of Excalibur Reclaims Her King with a special ‘thank you note’ inside.

After the students left the auditorium, Holly interviewed me for almost an hour about my books, my passion for writing, and my childhood and the hardships that befell me growing up (you can read her article here). She was especially interested in my Excalibur Reading Program. After I explained the program curriculum Holly told me that The Queens Ledger and the Glendale Register will be sent to do a full layout on my program and the store as soon as it opens.

November 10th, 2009 will always be a special day for me. At St. Sebastian’s School, I was home again, and through the seventh and eighth graders in front of me, I was a child again.

Angelica’s recent trip to St. Sebastian was featured in the The Queens Ledger :

Empowering youth through reading & writing

Angelica appeared on Hope for Healing on November 17 to talk about child abuse and her latest book. Listen here!

Here is a lovely blog post Gayle Crabtree made about the Hope for Healing show.