In the Booth with Ruth

In the Booth with Ruth – DublinCallGirl

January 12, 2013 // 13 Comments

I worked as an escort for nearly five years from my early twenties. During this time I was very open minded about the whole thing, and very much on the side of it being empowering and a confidence booster. The effects it left me with I still struggle with every day. I made my choice. I can live with and conquer the consequences. However, I cannot sit by and see women and girls get exploited who made no choice to be there, or were lured, coerced or otherwise exploited and taken advantage of...

In the Booth with Ruth – Christine Stark, Author & Visual Artist

January 11, 2013 // 0 Comments

I loved to write at a young age. In elementary school, I wrote pages and pages of stories, such that one of my teachers finally limited me to one sheet per story. When I filled up both sides, I just went on looping the story in the margins. Also, since my parents were not fit to parent, I basically looked to stories to teach me about the world, about how to be in the world, as I did not want to be like my parents...

In the Booth with Ruth – William Eberle, Anti-Human Trafficking Advocate

January 10, 2013 // 4 Comments

It is my view of this problem that too often these people find themselves with little to no hope for bettering their situation. I realize that this is my view and doesn't necessarily reflect everyone's reality, but it is what motivates me. I remember a time when I had lost hope and it was through the caring of friends and family as well as my faith in God that I found hope again...

In the Booth with Ruth – Dina Leah, Survivor of Sexual Exploitation and Anti-Exploitation Author

January 10, 2013 // 9 Comments

Sex was so much the currency of my life that I didn’t even think about it. I just assumed that this was the price of my independence from an abusive home. Unfortunately, the price I ultimately paid was not just counted in physical trauma from violent rapes, but ongoing psychological trauma that has followed me throughout my life and made normal intimate relationships impossible, since sexual contact triggers my Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and I dissociate—my consciousness leaves my body and I am simply not present during the act.

In the Booth with Ruth – Jill Starling, Author of St. Agnes’ Place – a novel about child sex trafficking

January 9, 2013 // 3 Comments

Many years ago, Rob Morris, co-founder of Love146, a non-profit international organization that fights child sex trafficking, spoke at my church. What he said struck a chord in me; I couldn’t believe how in this day and age, children were put on display to purchase for one’s sick perversion. When I decided to write my novel, I wanted to bring attention...

In the Booth with Ruth – Michelle Sweeney, Anti-Human Trafficking Activist

January 7, 2013 // 18 Comments

I have a heart for justice. I cannot bear the thought of others exploiting people for their own selfish gain, plus the fact that the pain and terror the victims have to face is just pure evil and wrong. Knowing that it happens and the suffering that is forced on them breaks my heart. These children, women and men are human beings. Their lives are just as precious as anybody else’s...

Human Trafficking Awareness Month

January 5, 2013 // 11 Comments

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. In light of this, I am running a series of interviews with advocates and activists, as well as survivors of human trafficking

In the Booth with Ruth – Ed Griffin, Author

January 5, 2013 // 1 Comment

I teach creative writing in the community and in prison and I’ve been doing so for over twenty years. People come to me with all manner of questions. Of course, I can’t review every story or novel that comes my way, but at least I can direct my students to places that will help them.

In the Booth with Ruth – Tom Gillespie, Author

January 5, 2013 // 6 Comments

I’m really not a fan of the word ‘genre’. There’s something rather obscene about compartmentalising creativity into neat and conveniently dull categories. Genres are the evil machinations over ambitious marketing graduates, and are designed to make it easier for publishing houses and film companies to sell their wares and boost flagging profits. I think...

In the Booth with Ruth – Debra Jayne East, Author

January 3, 2013 // 0 Comments

My emotions are what inspire me to write. I consider writing an art form of painting pictures with words. I hate to sound cliché but we all have a story to tell. I have so much imagination inside me; I want to share it as I have been inspired by the writings of others...

In the Booth with Ruth – Martin Reaves, Author

January 2, 2013 // 0 Comments

I’ve been a voracious reader as far back as I can remember. Stories captivated me. Eventually, I realized that writing my own stuff was the ultimate “choose your own adventure”. The realization that I could make up my own stories was (and is) intoxicating. The first thing I clearly remember writing is a horror story titled The Thing in the Closet. This would...

In the Booth with Ruth – Ashley Nemer, Author

December 29, 2012 // 0 Comments

I started writing when I was a teen, around 7th grade, but I didn’t write fictional prose until the past few years. My previous works were poetry, things that were on my mind at the time and feelings I had to express. My emotions inspire me the most. Some days I can write 5000 words just because I needed a good cry or had the best news and can’t stop laughing...

In the Booth with Ruth – Victoria Watson, Author

December 28, 2012 // 1 Comment

I’m inspired by all sorts of things. A lot of things I read or watch on TV or film seem to spark ideas off in me. I can literally be inspired by a person I see in the street, or a situation I hear someone mention. I genuinely do get inspiration from everything...

In the Booth with Ruth – Martin Crosbie, Author

December 27, 2012 // 1 Comment

I like the grand, sweeping stories of a person’s life, or at least a significant period of the person’s life. I want to read The World According to Garp, or Life of Pi, or David Copperfield. And when you read those types of books, sometimes there’s a little bit of everything in them. That’s what I like to read so I guess that’s why my writing ends up there too...