Author: TheAyeshaSite

I am a Black Guyanese woman. I'm thirty nine years old. I went back to college to take Early Childhood Education classes. I want to get a second 48-credit BA degree in Early Childhood Education by 2021. I go to NJCU. I have a BA in Creative Writing from NJCU. I graduated from NJCU in August 2015. I transferred to NJCU from Mercer. I have my AA degree from Mercer in Humanities and Social Science since May 2007. I write poems, I write memoirs, I'm a blogger and I am taking a children's lit course. I love reading memoirs. I also do book reviews from time to time. My favorite poet is Emily Dickinson. I grew up in Ewing, New Jersey. I live in Princeton Junction with my parents!

Email from Edi Giunta (thank you)!

I got an email from Edi Giunta yesterday. A student of hers (as I once was) would like to interview me for her essay for her Women in Lit class. She has been looking for memoirs written by women diagnosed with Schizophrenia(that’s me). Edi asked if I was interested and I replied “Really? Oh thank you Edi for contacting me” “yes of course I am interested”. I’m excited! I just got the email from Edi yesterday.

Write and Publish my book length memoir Memories of Me by age 40

I am planning to write my book length memoir, Memories of Me, by the age of 40. I will read The Art of Slow Writing by Louise DeSalvo and The Art of Memoir by Mar Karr. Mary Karr has written like four or five New York Times Best-Selling memoirs. I found out she teaches at Syracuse in their MFA program in Creative Writing. I love Poetry and I love Memoir!

Recommendation from Edi Giunta!

Edi gave me a recommendation for Rutgers-Camden’s MFA in Creative Writing in Poetry program. I took two semesters of Memoir Workshop and Advanced Memoir Workshop with Edi Giunta! I feel like I am a part of the NJCU community for the first time since taking two semesters of Memoir with Edi. Memoirfest is coming up on May 7, 2016. I hope Thomas can give me a ride from Journal Square or from NJCU! If I go this may be my last time going to Memoirfest. Edi and Josh live in Teaneck, NJ and I live in West Windsor Twp, NJ.

Therapy and Writing

I had a one hour therapy session yesterday May 23, 2016. My therapist and I went over my treatment plan and goals. I also took a short survey about how I was feeling. I told my therapist about the difficult visual hallucinations that I’ve had for years and he recorded them in my treatment plan that is to be updated every three months at AAMH. AAMH stands for All Access Mental Health and is an mental health care agency. I am taking WRAP at NAMI right now and we have five more weeks to go of WRAP. We meet every Wednesday from 6pm-8:30pm! I am also studying my Driver Manual so I can take my Written Drivers Test this coming summer. I will be driving for the first time at age 35. We were supposed to write down ten things we liked about ourselves last week. I came up with exactly twelve things I liked about myself and I wrote them down on a sheet of paper. This week we Journaled for like 10 minutes and I enjoyed the Journaling exercise.

Writing myself into history

I wrote my Parents and Teachers as Allies presentation that I made a few changes to and published on http://www.nami.org in February 2016. I published Ayesha’s Story on http://www.nami.org in July 2013 as well. Then I took Memoir with Edvige Giunta my last two semesters at NJCU and I started writing my Schizophrenia autobiography. Oh man it is so awesome! I actually was writing myself into history in Memoir Workshop and Advanced Memoir. I became a memoir writer and found my voice as a writer. Edi recommended I read Jamaica Kincaid and I read Lucy and fell in love with the book. I am going to read Annie John after I finish reading The Woman Warrior. It’s a good book so far! The Woman Warrior is recommended reading in Edi’s Memoir classes.

My poem “My Enemy” was selected as a winning entry

My poem “My Enemy” has been selected as one of the winning entries of the 22nd Annual New Jersey Wordsmith Competition. My piece or an excerpt will be presented by members of the Unlimited Potential Theater Company during the Joyce Indik New Jersey Readers Theatre on Saturday June 18, 2016 at 2pm at the South Brunswick Public Library. I got an official invitation and directions were sent too. I’m excited!

DeSalvo’s The Art of Slow Writing was the book my memoir teacher Edvige Giunta recommended I use as a guide

Dr. Edvige Giunta was my memoir professor. I took her for two semesters of Memoir (Memoir Workshop and Advanced Memoir) and I had such a great experience during my last two semesters at NJCU.  Finally after taking Memoir I felt like I was a part of the NJCU community! I became a memoir writer at the age of 33 or 34.That was so cool! I think writing memoirs in Edi Giunta’s class my last two semesters at NJCU was the coolest thing I ever did. I have three process journals that I filled after classes were finished. I spilled the ink.  I have (My) Ayesha’s story and my Parents and Teachers as Allies presentation. I have written a lot about my life with my mental illness. All of these writings are a part of my Schizophrenia autobiography. I plan to publish my memoir Memories of Me by age 40.

NAMI.org published (My) Ayesha’s Story back in July 2013 and Ayesha (Me) as a Youth with Schizophrenia

I published Ayesha’s Story back in July 2013 on http://www.nami.org. I recently published Ayesha (Me) as a Youth with Schizophrenia on http://www.nami.org my part of the Parents and Teachers as Allies presentation.  Both my story and my Parents and Teachers as Allies presentation are a part of my Schizophrenia autobiography  as Edvige Giunta my memoir professor called my memoir. I wrote a 3,000 word piece in Memoir Workshop and a 4,000 word piece in Advanced Memoir. I got an A in Advanced Memoir and I shared my pieces at Memoirfests in December 2014 and May 2015. I went to Memoirfest again last December 2015. I plan on publishing my book length memoir by the age of 40. I love writing memoirs and poetry for children and adults. I’m a Poet and a memoir writer.