The article from the Gouverneur Tribune!!

Redd's Tavern, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City, Saturday night, an unlikely chant erupted: "St. Lawrence County – We Represent!" What brought about this proclamation in such an improbable place? It was a book release party for Hermon native Janice Brabaw, for her recently published collection of poetry Universe, Disturbed.

Thanks to a tip from this paper's own Dick Sterling, I was lucky enough to be able to catch up with Janice and learn a bit about her, and how the book came about.

"Growing up in Hermon I always wanted to be a writer or work in TV but it seemed an impossibility." Janice is a graduate of Hermon Dekalb Central School. From there she went on to St. Lawrence University where she graduated from in 2001. "I moved down (to New York City) three weeks after 9/11 and it was an amazing time. The country was about to go to war, we were all worried about further attacks, and every day I'd see posters for missing people or come across candlelight vigils in Union Square. It's kinda cheesy, but it inspired me to really chase after my dream. You never know how long your time on the planet will last."

Janice's optimistic tone is in stark contrast to much of her personal history. "I struggled with depression my entire life but it was during college that it got really bad and I tried to kill myself twice." She told me quite openly. In fact, the majority of the poems included in Universe, Disturbed are from that time in her life.

"When I was compiling Universe, Disturbed I pulled directly from my journals from when I was at my darkest - cutting my arms in my bedroom with a razor, crying myself to sleep at night, recklessly throwing myself into risky situations and being hellbent on self-destruction."

Wondering why Janice would print such intimate details of her life for the entire world to see, I inquired about her intent. "I was diagnosed for the first time at nineteen (with borderline personality disorder and anxiety disorder) and although I feel much better now I still relapse sometimes. Ten years later I think I've gained some perspective that I wish I had when I was nineteen. That I wish I had when I was fourteen! It's those people that are my target audience- teenagers, twenty-somethings… anyone else who is going through that and show them there at better ways to vent your pain and express yourself."

Her hope is to reach the community that surrounds this 'target audience' as well. "I'd like to make parents and the community in general more aware of the warning signs of mental illness. People don't necessarily think of adolescents as being suicide risks but it is at this age that many mental illnesses first present- between 15 and 25, I believe. Suicide is the fifth leading cause of death in elementary children and number three in 15 to 24 years olds. I'm not saying panic and medicate your kids, I'm saying just educate yourself about the signs of depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, etc the same way you would about drugs, drinking, and other issues."

The book itself is designed to look like a smaller version of a composition book; black with white speckles, with pictures and quotes taped to the face ala junior year. Self depreciatingly subtitled Angry, Angsty, Adolescent Poetry That I Thought Was Super Awesome And Deep At The Time, the cover fits the text. "I wanted to publish this book to show what it's like to be young and depressed. I want to show that it's ok to turn to your journal and just "let it out." Not all of my poetry is good." Janice told me.

When I asked her about why she would publish poems that she so candidly referred to that way she responded; "The funny thing about saying "not all of my poetry is good" is that I think some people assume that it's horrible. It's actually not. I think I was just feeling a bit self-conscious about it because well, I'm not a poet. I'm a fiction and memoir writer." Indeed the excerpt included at the end from her upcoming memoir And Again: A Memoir of a Life Disturbed demonstrates what a fine writer Janice has become.

Like many talented writers, Janice is not yet backed by a major publishing house. Universe, Disturbed is a self published and self promoted work. This is no easy task, but her line up of upcoming readings in NYC shows that she has done her homework. Her schedule includes The Bowery Poetry Club and Otto's Shrunken Head, two of the cities hot spots for up and coming writers. She credits her friends for their support in this venture "I've fallen into an amazing community in Williamsburg (Brooklyn) with great friends who are my second family and who are amazingly generous and supportive of each other in our artistic endeavors."

Don't think that because of this Janice has forgotten those back home. "I think about moving home sometimes because I love and miss my family so much… I love the North Country but it's just not for me at this time in my life. But sometimes, I gotta admit, it's very hard to come back to Brooklyn."

Far from forgetting to look back to where she came from, Janice already has four book related events scheduled for a North Country mini tour November 8^th and 9^th. Her appearances will include The Brewer Bookstore and The Partridge Cafe in Canton, The Field Coffee House in Potsdam and a discussion forum entitled "It Won't Always Be This Way" : A Discussion on Teen Angst, Depression & Journal Therapy at the Gouverneur Library.

If you get the chance, as I did here in NYC, I encourage you to get out to one of these events and meet the amazing woman and author that has evolved from the fragile confused teen that once was.