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Event
An Intimate Evening with Dr. Niama Williams: A Rise From Homelessness Wearing The Grace of God
The multiple sufferings of post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, suicidal ideation and a history of suicide attempts paired with the stressors of abuse, homelessness, poverty and unemployment have given edge, teeth, and truth to my creative work. I write from deep within the experience of a survivor of trauma who has both earned degrees and suffered multiple humiliations in shelters and on the streets. I write with the voice of a survivor and I tell the many stories of survivors that I came to know during my two years of homelessness.
Long Beach, California, has proven healing to my psyche and spirit; the determination of its librarians and social service agencies to help me stabilize solidified my recovery. A habitual user of the computers in The Center of Long Beach, located within the internationally known Retro Row beginning at Fourth Street and Cherry Avenue, I could think of no venue more fitting than the Art Theatre for "An Intimate Evening with Dr. Niama Williams: A Rise From Homelessness Wearing The Grace of God."
I will read from three phases of my creative work: enduring childhood trauma/meeting the doctor; homelessness and the women I met there; and finally, claiming my gifts, my future, and my life with no apologies. I will begin the evening by reading work that describes the relentless trauma I endured as a child as well as the handsome psychiatrist who alleviated all of that horror and who continues to haunt and pursue me from deep within the spiritual realm. The second set of creative pieces will relate some of the horrors and plenty of the strong, vital women who survived homelessness with me while residing in shelters and transitional housing. I will end the evening with work signifying a pivotal breakthrough allowing me to claim my life, my sanity, and my spiritual gifts and leave behind the multiple diagnoses of mental illness that had scarred my self-perception since age 19.
Completion and recognition as well as acknowledgement of my rise from homelessness and poverty is the controlling vision of "An Intimate Evening," and I, as the artist, thank those of you who support it by continuing to create my vital work and providing a DVD of the evening once our videographer completes the final edit. Mr. Cameron Taylor of Cameron Taylor Photography will be recording the event for posterity; his services are enthusiastically reviewed on Yelp.com, and his blog is literary writing of the highest order, a rare combination within a photographer/videographer.
Thank you again to all who actively support "An Intimate Evening," and may all of your dreams come to beautiful fruition!
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LocationArt Theatre of Long Beach (View)
2025 East Fourth Street
Long Beach, CA 90814
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 17 |
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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