Hoda Kotb: “You can’t scare me.” (Book Review + More)
Posted by Anne Caroline Drake on November 11, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Hold on tightly to the things you love and get rid of the things you don’t. – Hoda Kotb Hoda Kotb, Today Show co-host, Dateline correspondent, and breast cancer survivor, has learned lessons that I think will help those of us who are wearing purple. It only takes one person to change your life. – Hoda … Read more
Filed under Book Review · Tagged with abuse recovery, Book Review, books, breast cancer, emotional abuse, emPOWERment, HodaKotb, Jay Blumenkopf, Kathie Lee Gifford, self-care, Today
Doris Buffett: Giving It All Away (Book Review + More)
Posted by Anne Caroline Drake on November 1, 2011 · 1 Comment
I am investing in people. – Doris Buffett What would you do if someone dropped hundreds of millions of dollars into your lap? If you are like Doris Eleanor Buffett, you will give it all away. During a dinner party at her younger brother Warren E. Buffett’s home, Bono suggested she write the story of … Read more
Filed under Life Rafts · Tagged with abuse recovery, activist, bipolar disorder, Book Review, books, Buffett Rule, child abuse, Depression, domestic violence, Doris Buffett, emotional abuse, emPOWERment, Giving It All Away, Jennifer Buffett, malignant narcissist, Michael Zitz, National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, NoVo Foundation, Peter Buffett, Philanthropy, survivor stories, Warren E. Buffett
Virginia Clinton Kelley: Leading with My Heart (Book Review + More)
Posted by Anne Caroline Drake on October 28, 2011 · Leave a Comment
I’m friendly, I’m outgoing, and I like men. – Virginia Clinton Kelley First Mother Virginia Dell Cassidy Blythe Clinton Dwire Kelley bubbled with life. She survived child abuse and domestic violence, but she did not survive breast cancer. She passed away on January 6, 1994. Over 3,000 people attended her funeral, and she was buried on Elvis’ … Read more
Dr. Robin L. Smith: The Truth About Great Marriages (Book Review + More)
Posted by Anne Caroline Drake on October 27, 2011 · Leave a Comment
I have known what it is to live a lie ~ to want so badly to keep a relationship that I made myself invisible. . . I would like to spare the pain of every woman who fears that she can have love only if she erases her needs and makes herself small. – Robin … Read more
Filed under Life Rafts, Uncategorized · Tagged with abuse recovery, Book Review, books, domestic violence, emotional abuse, emPOWERment, National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Oprah, Robin L. Smith, self-care, survivor stories, Therapy
Martha Beck: Leaving the Saints (Book Review)
Posted by Anne Caroline Drake on October 25, 2011 · 1 Comment
You can recognize enlightenment because it always tastes of freedom. – Martha Nibley Beck, Ph.D. Martha Nibley Beck, Ph.D. is a frequent Oprah contributor and has written several books. Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith is a memoir about the ritualistic sexual abuse she experienced at the hands of her … Read more
Filed under Life Rafts · Tagged with abuse of power, abuse recovery, Book Review, books, child abuse, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Depression, emotional abuse, emPOWERment, faith-based response to DV, Hugh Nibley, Joseph Smith, Leaving the Saints, Martha Beck, Mormon, National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, New York Times, Oprah, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, psychic numbing, PTSD, sexual abuse, survivor stories, Virginia Woolf
Michele Weldon: I Closed My Eyes & Writing to Save Your Life (Book Reviews + More)
Posted by Anne Caroline Drake on October 23, 2011 · Leave a Comment
I have won because I have won myself back. I claim me. – Michele Weldon Michele Weldon has survived domestic violence and breast cancer. She is passionately vocal about fathers who abandon their sons. She is an assistant professor at her alma mater (BSJ and MSJ), Northwestern University’s prestigious Medill School of Journalism. She speaks about … Read more
Filed under Life Rafts · Tagged with abuse recovery, activist, artist's date, Between Friends, Book Review, books, child abandonment, domestic violence, emotional abuse, emPOWERment, Everyman News, Huffington Post, I Closed My Eyes, litigation abuse, Medill School of Journalism, Michele Weldon, National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Nicole Brown Simpson, parental alienation syndrome, PAS, Sarah's Inn, self-care, survivor stories, The OpEd Project, Therapy, Writing to Save Your Life
Robin Givens: Grace Will Lead me Home (Book Review + More)
Posted by Anne Caroline Drake on October 22, 2011 · 1 Comment
Use your smile to change the world, don’t let the world change your smile! – Robin Simone Givens “Amazing Grace” is the theme of Robin Given’s compelling memoir, Grace Will Lead Me Home. Her maternal grandmother, Grace Turner Newby Scott, was amazing grace personified and a true phenomenal woman. She had deep faith and strength of … Read more
Filed under Life Rafts · Tagged with abuse recovery, activist, Book Review, books, child abuse, dating abuse, Depression, domestic violence, Eddie Murphy, emotional abuse, emPOWERment, faith-based response to DV, Grace Will Lead Me Home, Mike Tyson, National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Oprah, pit bull abusers, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, Rihanna, Robin Givens, self-care, sexual abuse, survivor stories
Katherine Graham: Personal History (Book Review + More)
Posted by Anne Caroline Drake on October 18, 2011 · Leave a Comment
The late Katharine Meyer Graham was one of the most powerful women in America. She ran the Washington Post media empire. After it exposed Watergate, President Richard Nixon resigned, and the paper won a Pulitzer Prize. She won another Pulitzer for her autobiography, Personal History. Her mentor was Warren E. Buffett, who was one of the first to invest … Read more
Filed under Life Rafts · Tagged with Book Review, books, child abuse, child neglect, emotional abuse, emPOWERment, Gloria Steinem, Katharine Graham, narcissist, narcissistic wounding, National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, survivor stories, Warren E. Buffett, Washington Post, Washington Post Company, Watergate
Charlotte Fedders: Shattered Dreams (Book Review + More)
Posted by Anne Caroline Drake on October 16, 2011 · Leave a Comment
John M. Fedders didn’t just shatter his wife’s dreams. He shattered the dreams of the middle class. He made it possible for the 1% on Wall Street to steal the money that the other 99% ~ the folks who live on Main Street ~ worked hard all their lives to earn. The protests against Wall Street greed … Read more
Filed under Life Rafts · Tagged with "family values" hypocrisy, abuse of power, activist, Book Review, books, Charlotte Fedders, domestic violence, John M. Fedders, John S. McInerney, litigation abuse, National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, NOW, pit bull abusers, Reagan Administration, SEC, Shattered Dreams, survivor stories, Violence Against Women Act, Wall St. vs. Main St.
Jeannette Walls: The Glass Castle (Book Review + More)
Posted by Anne Caroline Drake on October 11, 2011 · 2 Comments
It will work out in the end if you believe in yourself. . . education is a great equalizer ~ but also, hope and belief in yourself. And then you can get through just about anything. – Jeannette Walls Jeannette Walls had a pretty cool career as a gossip columnist for New York Magazine, USA … Read more


















