I have a great deal of compassion for other people, but mostly for myself. That would not be the case if I did not reconcile that little eight-year-old girl and FIND ME. At Rhode Island College, there was a food program during the week, but not during the weekends. So, to eat regularly, Viola had a lot of jobs during school. These included working as an RA and counselor in the summer Preparatory Enrollment Program; working in the college library; working the Rhode Island College front desk; working at a drug store in Central Falls; and more. Viola writes, "Working hard is great when it's motivated by passion and love and enthusiasm. But working hard when it's motivated by deprivation is not pleasant."

You need to have a really clear idea of how you’re going to make it out if you don’t want to be poor for the rest of your life. You have to decide what you want to be. Then you have to work really hard,” she whispered.First ingredient I needed to be an artist, the power to create. The power of alchemy, that magical process of transformation and creation to believe at any given time I could be the somebody I always wanted to be." This must be one of the most straightforward and brutally honest memoirs I have had the pleasure of reading. Viola’s childhood was tough- and it wasn’t just that her family was poor- but that she lived in a home where substance abuse and violence prevailed. We had to go to the laundromat to wash clothes. But having no money, six kids, and freezing cold weather meant that most of the time laundry would go unwashed for weeks. That, compounded with the bed-wetting, made for a home with a horrific smell. Closets and space underneath the beds would be stuffed with shoes, dust, miscellaneous items. We were afraid of even cleaning for fear rats would be lurking underneath all the “rubbish.” On the first day of the month food stamps would come and we would make a huge grocery run at BIG G market. In less than two weeks, the food would be gone. I never, ever went into the kitchen. Rats had taken over the cabinets and the counter. The plaster was constantly falling off the wall, revealing the wooden boards holding the house together.

College started badly for Viola, who felt she could not permit herself to study acting. Viola feared an entertainment career would not help her support herself, and she didn't want to live in poverty like her parents. Thus Viola took English classes and fell into a deep depression. In sophomore year, Viola found her courage, decided to be a theater major and was on her way career-wise. Nevertheless, college was a challenge in other ways. When I met Dianne for the first time, it was a rare occasion when we had hot water. I was maybe five years old. Dianne was nine when she walked into our lives in Central Falls. I remember her so clearly: she wore a nice coat; she had money; she smelled nice. I was taking a bath and allegedly fussing about getting dressed when I heard Dianne say, “Where’s my baby sister?”

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I know much of these facts - our 40 year old daughter is a steady working actor in Hollywood since childhood]….. I own everything that has ever happened to me. The parts that were a source of shame are actually my warrior fuel. I see people—the way they walk, talk, laugh, and grieve, and their silence—in a way that is hyperfocused because of my past. I’m an artist because there’s no separation from me and every human being that has passed through the world including my mom.