http://www.iamconstance.org/
http://www.iamconstance.org/
I am Constance and this is my story…
I was a typical 13-year old girl in my small and poor village. My life was filled with helping my mother and siblings, doing chores, and spending free time with my friends. Lucky to be in school, my time was also spent doing homework for the simple education I was getting.
One day, at the market, I noticed a man in elegant clothes talking to some friends of mine. I was curious; why was a man of such elegance in our little village, and why he was talking to my friends? As I waited for the lady to give me my change, I became aware that I was staring at him. I was shocked when I realized that he was walking towards me. He introduced himself as a factory owner and he was looking for young women to work for him in the city. He mentioned that the women working for him loved what they were doing and made a lot of money doing it. I was very interested in what this man was saying. He ended his proposal by telling me that he was leaving in two days to begin training his factory recruits and if I didn't accept, I would be passing up a chance of a lifetime.
I went home and asked my mother what she thought about the proposal. She didn't seem to like the idea at first but when she realized that the money I would be sending her would be a great help, she gave me her blessing. The next day, I said my goodbyes and I packed up the few things I had and waited for the night to pass. I was ready for my new life.
The next morning, a van pulled up to my home and I was escorted in. I was alone with three large men. There were no windows and we sat in silence. I finally got the strength to ask my boss where I was going to stay and what kind of factory I would be working at. He didn't answer me and just turned the radio on. I became scared, but remained silent.
After a while, the van stopped. I was escorted into another van with a large, impatient driver. My boss followed me into the van and spoke with the driver. He said he would be followed to the motel and that he had an hour to do what he had to do. The driver gave my boss a roll of what seemed like American money and shook his hand. My boss counted the money and told him to enjoy. I don't know why, but I felt numb all over.
My boss got out of the van and waived the man and me goodbye. We drove in silence before he pulled into a motel parking lot. He walked me up some stairs and led me into a room. I was terrified because I knew he was about to harm me in the worst way. He began to touch me and started to unbutton my blouse. I slapped his hand and ran towards the door. The door was locked. I could not get out. I started to fight him off. I kicked, I punched, I scratched, I cried, and I screamed, but his strength was greater than mine. He slapped me and dragged me by the hair to the bed. He tore my clothes and covered my mouth as he began to rape me. I felt so much pain. With every move of his body, the pain grew. I was crying and screaming, but it did not seem to bother him. My entire body felt numb and the sweat flowed down from the man's forehead and onto my face. I felt so hurt, so dirty, so helpless, so betrayed…I wanted to run far away, far enough to escape what was happening. Once he got off of me, I noticed blood all over the bed and on him. I leaned to one side and vomited on the motel floor. I couldn't stop shaking. He told me it wasn't that bad, and that I would eventually get used to it. I hated him so much, but I hated my boss even more. I wanted to kill them both.
The man finally opened the door and I ran out. My boss was waiting outside the door and grabbed me. I tried fighting him off but I didn't realize I was so very weak. He threw me back into the van. I couldn't stop crying. I asked him why he lied and why he would allow something like this to happen. As I waited for a response, all he said was, "You'll get used to it."
In the days that followed, I tried "getting used to it". I tried to stop feeling. I tried to convince myself that I hadn't done something to deserve this. I tried to convince myself that I wasn't going to die here in this place. And I tried to convince myself that God had not forgotten about me.
They send me off with different men most of the day and most of the night. The men don't ever really talk to me. They don't care that they are hurting me. And they don't care that they are killing me.
Some of the men have cameras and they take pictures of me even though I'm not smiling. Some of them bring video cameras and they film all of the horrible things that they make me do and that they do to me. I want to ask them, "When you watch this will you ignore the part where I'm crying? Will you fast-forward, rewind; edit the parts when I'm not? Or maybe they won't even show my face?"
And who else is going to watch it? Why would they want to? And why wouldn't they come help me if they saw…
______________________________________
this is the link to the artist who created a song for Constance:
http://www.mrjmedeiros.com/
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Wonder Woman comic gets first female on-going writer
Wonder Woman Gets a New Voice, and It's Female
Chris Pietsch for The New York Times
Gail Simone in a comic-book store in Eugene, Ore., near where she lives. More Photos >
"I was a hairdresser until a couple of years ago," Gail Simone said. "It took me a long time to admit that I was a professional writer."
Ms. Simone was talking about her rise from hairstylist to online commentator to professional comic-book author. This month she added a new title. With the publication of issue No. 14 of Wonder Woman, which hit stores two weeks ago, Ms. Simone has become the regular writer of that amazing Amazon's super-adventures, published by DC Comics. She is the first woman to serve as "ongoing writer" (to use the industry's term) in the character's 66-year history.
It's an assignment that will only increase Ms. Simone's profile. It's also the latest move by DC Comics to push Wonder Woman, the company's third-ranked hero, behind Superman and Batman, into the spotlight.
During a telephone interview from her home in Florence, Ore., Ms. Simone was effusive when discussing Wonder Woman. "She's just the best kind of person," she said. "She was a princess who didn't need someone to rescue her. I grew up in an era — and a family — where women's rights were very important, and the guys didn't tend to stick around too long. She was an amazing role model."
From early on, Ms. Simone said, she was an avid reader, her habit aided by unreliable television reception. The shows that made it through were "boring, or golf," she said. The first comic books she remembers came from opposite ends of the spectrum: wholesome Archie and the creepy House of Mystery.
"I was able to skip a lot of English classes by challenging the courses" and showing that she had already mastered the material, Ms. Simone said. One of her favorite classes was conducted during a teacher's free period. "He would assign me reading material like 'The Hobbit' and ask me to a write a story using that style and my own," she said. Ms. Simone graduated from high school when she was 16.
At the University of Oregon, which she attended for two years in the early 1980s, her majors were creative writing and theater. She credits the theater studies with improving her craft. "You had to know your character inside and out, from the time they were born, even if you were only playing five minutes of their lives," she said.
In 1999, during what she described as "a rough patch," she was advised to try something creative. She went down a list: "I can't draw. I can't really sew. Well, I used to write." This led her to create "Women in Refrigerators," an online chronicle of the suffering experienced by female comic-book characters. The site (unheardtaunts.com/wir) garnered attention, which led to a modestly paid humor column on comicbookresources.com, a Web site that was read by many industry professionals. Still, she didn't give up her day job.
"I was broke and starving and basically needed to figure out a way to make a living," she said. "Hairdressing was still a creative type of career." Growing up poor taught her to have a backup for artistic pursuits that would not earn her enough money.
In relatively short order she began writing The Simpsons for Bongo Comics, which led to the humor book "Killer Princesses" for Oni Press. That begat Marvel's Deadpool, about a wiseacre mutant mercenary, and Birds of Prey, an all-female team for DC Comics, which naturally led to an encounter with Wonder Woman. Ms. Simone said she enjoyed writing that character more that almost any other. Still, it was a challenge.
"Any time you take these characters that have been around for 50 or 60 years, especially when you come, as I did, from hairdressing, it's really daunting," she said.
Unlike Ms. Simone's relatively straightforward rise to the top, Wonder Woman's recent history has had some bumps. Her comic book was restarted last year by Allan Heinberg, a television writer best known at the time for "The OC" on Fox but who now works on "Grey's Anatomy" on ABC. But the five-part story line, which began in June 2006, was plagued by delays and only recently concluded in September as a special issue.
Next was Jodi Picoult, a top-selling novelist who contributed a five-part story line that was tied to a separate comic-book mini-series about an attack on the United States by Wonder Woman's people, the Amazons. The book shipped on time but shed some readers.
Despite the complaints, Ms. Simone believes that fans will better appreciate the spectacle and literary touches of Mr. Heinberg's and Ms. Picoult's stories in collected form. (The collected version of Ms. Picoult's story went on sale two weeks ago.)
Still, Ms. Simone acknowledges the frustrations of the delays and false starts. "It's really important to get some energy and velocity into the book," she said. "We plan on being on time."
Ms. Simone's first story line will involve a previously unmentioned attempt on Wonder Woman's life on the day of her birth, and is planned for four issues. It will be illustrated by the husband-and-wife team of Terry and Rachel Dodson and will be followed by a two-part story illustrated by another artist to allow the Dodsons to keep pace with the book's monthly publication cycle.
"We have the first year and the second year mapped," Ms. Simone said. "I plan on being around as long as they'll have me."
