Hey, thanks for making BURN DOWN THE GROUND a New York Times Best Seller for the e-book. Yahooooooo!
http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/e-book-nonfiction/list.html
Sunday, August 16, 2015
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Thanks! And While You're At It...
Dad sent a card thanking me for the $50 I sent him for Christmas. But no "thank you" is complete without a request for more.


Ask and you shall receive, I guess, because I will definitely be buying him a copy of Humans of New York for his birthday. If you're not familiar with the book, check out the page on Facebook.



Ask and you shall receive, I guess, because I will definitely be buying him a copy of Humans of New York for his birthday. If you're not familiar with the book, check out the page on Facebook.
Friday, December 20, 2013
Minimums & Maximums - Tipping the Scales of Justice
Yesterday President Obama commuted the sentences of eight federal inmates, each of whom were non-violent offenders convicted of crack cocaine crimes. One commute was given to Stephanie George who received a life sentence in 1997 for letting her boyfriend hide crack in her home. The judge in her case expressed frustration at not having any choice in her sentencing.
"There’s no question that Ms. George deserved to be punished," said the judge. "The only question is whether it should be a mandatory life sentence... I wish I had another alternative... your role has basically been as a girlfriend and bag holder and money holder. So certainly, in my judgment, it doesn’t warrant a life sentence."
Yet a life sentence --the minimum-- is exactly what Ms. George received.
My father received twenty years with a possibility of parole in ten --the maximum-- for stabbing a woman five times and slicing her throat from ear to ear, nearly decapitating her. A repeat violent offender, he could be back on the streets as early as June 2014. If he serves his full term, June 2022.
I would like an explanation on how a man can be allowed to prey upon women, violently assault them with a deadly weapon and receive what amounts to a slap on the wrist when compared to Ms. George's crime and ultimate sentence. Every day, the news is filled with reports of men with past convictions of rape, molesting children and other heinous crimes who are arrested yet again for violent criminal acts. Why are they allowed three strikes and then some and still given an at bat?
Ms. George was one of eight commutations. According to Families Against Mandatory Minimums, there are at least 8,800 more federal inmates sentenced to mandatory minimum terms for crack cocaine crimes before the Fair Sentencing Act was put into action on August 3, 2010, who can appeal their sentences. While not all of those 8,800 deserve shorter sentences (drug crimes are not victimless) many do, especially when compared to offenders like my father.
The Scales of Justice are tipped. It is time for us to right them.
I wanted justice.
"There’s no question that Ms. George deserved to be punished," said the judge. "The only question is whether it should be a mandatory life sentence... I wish I had another alternative... your role has basically been as a girlfriend and bag holder and money holder. So certainly, in my judgment, it doesn’t warrant a life sentence."
Yet a life sentence --the minimum-- is exactly what Ms. George received.
My father received twenty years with a possibility of parole in ten --the maximum-- for stabbing a woman five times and slicing her throat from ear to ear, nearly decapitating her. A repeat violent offender, he could be back on the streets as early as June 2014. If he serves his full term, June 2022.
I would like an explanation on how a man can be allowed to prey upon women, violently assault them with a deadly weapon and receive what amounts to a slap on the wrist when compared to Ms. George's crime and ultimate sentence. Every day, the news is filled with reports of men with past convictions of rape, molesting children and other heinous crimes who are arrested yet again for violent criminal acts. Why are they allowed three strikes and then some and still given an at bat?
Ms. George was one of eight commutations. According to Families Against Mandatory Minimums, there are at least 8,800 more federal inmates sentenced to mandatory minimum terms for crack cocaine crimes before the Fair Sentencing Act was put into action on August 3, 2010, who can appeal their sentences. While not all of those 8,800 deserve shorter sentences (drug crimes are not victimless) many do, especially when compared to offenders like my father.
The Scales of Justice are tipped. It is time for us to right them.
~~~ EXCERPT FROM BURN DOWN THE GROUND: A MEMOIR ~~~~~
A few
days later, after the last ferry of Cuervo prize-winners was shoved off the
dock, I hitched a ride in a dinghy to the main island of Tortola and took a
taxi into town, where I borrowed a computer from a friendly shopkeeper. Knowing
there was some sort message looming in the universe addressed to me, I scoured
the web not knowing what exactly I was searching for.
Was Dad dead or in the hospital? My leg bounced, and I chewed my
fingernails. My father’s given name appeared in the Fort Worth Star Telegram with the grim headline, “Boyfriend Jailed
in Knife Attack”. The blood drained
from my face. I clicked the link and read the brief report.
BEDFORD - A man was arrested on suspicion
of stabbing his girlfriend Thursday night. A 45-year-old woman, who suffered
cuts to her neck and upper chest, was in critical condition Friday at John
Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. Her boyfriend, Theodore Crews, 55, was in
Bedford Jail on Friday with bail set at $100,000 on suspicion of attempted
murder.
I
thought back to Thursday night. I was partying with a charismatic billionaire
in his world, while my world was falling apart.
My heart
sank, but there were no tears. I was stoic and contemplative. My mind didn’t
race to wonder what happened, why or how. I knew he was capable. It was wishful
thinking that what Dad had done to Mom was a fluke. I had pushed aside any
worries that his troubles with women were beyond what he described in his
letters, choosing to believe that he wasn’t dangerous. But I was wrong. The
only thing missing were the gruesome details.
When I
flew home to New York, I returned to my full time job at the law office.
Arriving at my desk that first day, I acted as though everything was business
as usual. I was shell-shocked and the routine kept me from collapsing.
Throughout the day, my mind flashed images of a bloody attack on Helen or
replayed the scene of Dad attacking Mom. When I slept, my sleep was fitful.
For
years after Dad had attacked Mom, I had nightmares of murderous rampages. My
dreams were a horror movie, where an unknown villain would stalk and butcher
people. I would be the sole survivor, on the run, hiding in terror of being
slaughtered. Other times, I dreamed I had killed someone years before and
hidden the body. Now, the cops knew about my dark secret and were following me.
I woke up feeling consumed with guilt and fear.
Both
nightmares haunted me on a regular basis. It had been thirteen years, ten
months and twenty-six days since Dad had snapped. The repressed trauma was as
alive as if my memories had gotten a stiff snort of smelling salts. My
subconscious was screaming for help because I seemingly could not.
I was overwhelmed
with anxiety and concern for Helen. I needed to know more than what the
article in the paper had told me. What exactly had Dad done to Helen and, more
importantly, was she okay? I hoped that finding out the details would allow me
to move on. Nervous, I called the Bedford police station and introduced myself.
“Hi, I’m
calling about a case I read in the Star
Telegram.” My voice shook as I gave the officer Dad’s name and listened to
the click, click, clicks of his keyboard as he brought up the case on his
computer.
“Oh,
yeah, this one. The officer on scene busted down the door and found him on top
of her stabbin’ her.”
Just
like when I interrupted Dad straddling Mom that night.
“So what
can I do you for?”
“Um,
well,” I cleared my throat. “I, uh, what about Helen? Is she okay?”
I rubbed
my neck and tried to loosen my shirt that felt uncomfortably close to my skin.
“What’s
yer relationshee-ip?”
“Oh, um,
well, Theodore…” I said, awkwardly repeating Dad’s formal name as it was
written in the article. “The man who did it…Theodore…he’s my father.”
“I see,”
he paused, weighing the situation that was presenting itself to him. “Well,
last I heard she was in the hospital and might not make it. She pretty much
lost all her blood.” He spoke bluntly, clearly someone who had seen more than
his fair share of crime scenes and had lost the ability to buffer the brutal
truth. “If the officers didn’t get there when they did, we’d be lookin’ at a
murder case.”
Unable
to muster enough air behind my voice to make a word, I squeaked, “Oh.” I rubbed
my lips together in a poor attempt to press away the trembling tension that was
building up.
“He damn
near decapitated her.”
The
disturbing news surged through me, but the angry tone in the sergeant’s voice
caught me off guard. Did he think I was
calling to defend my father? He made me feel as though by being related to
Dad, I had helped plunge the knife into Helen’s neck. The judgment I perceived
in the officer’s voice made me want to set him straight. I fought back the
swelling emotions. “It wasn’t the first time.”
“What’s
that? Yer gonna have to speak up, Ma’am.”
“He did
it before. Back in August 1988…in North Richland Hills. Look it up.”
I didn’t
want my father to slip through the legal system’s cracks unpunished. If they
knew a case existed with a similar modus operandi, they would realize they were
dealing with a repeat offender and sentence him accordingly.
The
embedded splinter of anger and betrayal had risen to the surface. Ratting out
Dad’s past brutality against women to an officer extracted the anger all
together. A sense of clarity and calm blanketed me, soon followed by guilt. I
knew Dad would finally be punished, but at what cost? Helen’s life was in the
balance and I, his own daughter, wanted him to pay not only for what he had
done to Helen, but for what he had done to our family.
Labels:
criminal justice,
current events,
incarcerated,
inmate,
jail,
justice,
law,
news,
politics,
prison
Thursday, October 24, 2013
My Deaf Family's Domestic Violence Story on Lifetime
Many months ago, I was cast in a docu-drama pilot called “Family Secrets” for the Bio Channel. It never aired & I thought it was dead in the water.
But…lo! It is scheduled to air this Sunday, Oct 27 on Lifetime Movie Network (LMN) at 10PM EST and again at 2AM Monday, Oct 28.
Since it’s a pilot, it doesn’t even have a logo or show page on Lifetime’s website, but the description and name matches what we filmed.
I’m honestly terrified to watch it because they have re-enactments by non-Deaf people and, well, re-enactments are usually kind of cheesy to begin with.
I’m mostly worried about having my story in someone else’s creative, editorial hands. Who knows how they’ll piece together my words and spin it? We shall see this Sunday! And if it’s truly go
d awful, well, it will make for a fun story to tell on stage.

I’m mostly worried about having my story in someone else’s creative, editorial hands. Who knows how they’ll piece together my words and spin it? We shall see this Sunday! And if it’s truly go
d awful, well, it will make for a fun story to tell on stage.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
CODA Author Kambri Crews at Mid-Manhattan Library in NYC
I’m giving a presentation / reading / performance at the NY Public Library on 8/21. Free! ASL interpreted! Click here for the Facebook invite. Or here for the library’s page . Here is the press release. Hope you can make it.
CODA Author Kambri Crews
at Mid-Manhattan Library
Author to Give Presentation, Sign Books & Answer Questions About Her Memoir
Author to Give Presentation, Sign Books & Answer Questions About Her Memoir
New York,
NY — The New York Public Library Mid-Manhattan
Branch is pleased to welcome Kambri
Crews, author of Burn Down the Ground:
A Memoir (Random House) on August 21st at 6:30PM. Crews will
read and tell stories from her memoir, take questions from the audience and
sign books. The event is free and will be interpreted in American Sign Language.
Kambri
is a comedic storyteller and author of the highly
acclaimed new memoir Burn Down the Ground. Kambri will chat about
her unconventional childhood living with deaf parents in a tin shed in rural
Texas (Crews is not deaf), and her attempts to reconcile that harrowing
childhood to her present life—one in which her father is serving a twenty-year
sentence in a maximum-security prison for attempted murder.
Crews’s
memoir has received praise from Publishers
Weekly, Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, Glamour, ELLE magazine, and Library Journal, whose review states,
“While there’s plenty of memoir fodder in the hearing-child-of-two-deaf-parents
subject, Crews’s story has heartbreaking depth and complexity.
With insight into her father’s feelings about deafness, his über-Christian family’s response to his violence against the women in his life, and the culture of the deaf community, this is a rich read.”
With insight into her father’s feelings about deafness, his über-Christian family’s response to his violence against the women in his life, and the culture of the deaf community, this is a rich read.”
A renowned
storyteller and public speaker, Kambri has performed on The Moth, Risk!, UCB
Theatre, Gotham Comedy Club and given speeches at Illinois State
University, Rutgers, University of Oregon, DeafHope, and many other schools,
colleges, venues and events. Learn more about her at www.kambricrews.com
Aug 21 @ 6:30PM
NY
Public Library - Mid-Manhattan Branch
455 5th Ave.
455 5th Ave.
New
York, NY 10016
FREE!
Books will be available for purchase for $20. Credit cards or cash accepted.
PRAISE FOR BURN DOWN THE GROUND:
"Poignant and
unsettling." —Kirkus Reviews
"A compelling
testament to the strength of the human spirit.”—Booklist
"Crews' account
(the title refers to lighting brush on fire to clear out snakes) is as
well-paced and stirring as a novel. In her fluid narrative (she's also a
storyteller on the side, a gig that helped her develop this book), Crews
neither wallows in self-pity nor plays for cheap black-comedic yuks. Instead,
this book stands out for what matters most: Crews' story, bluntly told." —Elle
magazine
“Harrowing…A remarkable
odyssey of scorched earth, collateral damage, and survival." —Publishers
Weekly
###
Tuesday, July 09, 2013
I Performed a Medley of Songs in ASL
I sang an ASL medley of all the songs featured in stories on "The Soundtrack Series". Fast forward to 2:55 if you want to skip to the ASL.
Runnin' With the Devil by Van Halen (Watch my ASL interpreted story about David Lee Roth.)
Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks
Corner of the Sky from Pippin
How Soon is Now by The Smiths
Epiphany from Sweeney Todd
Vogue by Madonna
I Want You to Want Me by Cheap Trick
Runnin' With the Devil by Van Halen (Watch my ASL interpreted story about David Lee Roth.)
Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks
Corner of the Sky from Pippin
How Soon is Now by The Smiths
Epiphany from Sweeney Todd
Vogue by Madonna
I Want You to Want Me by Cheap Trick
Labels:
american sign language,
ASL,
sign language,
storytelling
The Gospel of David (Lee Roth)
I told a story on the Soundtrack Series about how David Lee Roth was my unconventional life coach when I was 14 and spending my summer living in a one room tin shack in Texas.
It's ASL interpreted, too! I hope y'all enjoy it.
It's ASL interpreted, too! I hope y'all enjoy it.
Labels:
american sign language,
ASL,
sign language,
storytelling
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