
	Praise for IT STOPS WITH ME “This book is incredible." Louise Erdrich "beautiful book." Lawrence Ferlinghetti "Tough, evocative, border-crossing, honest, unflinching...large enough so it can embrace its readers.” Margaret Randall, Author. PEN Awardee 2005 "An emotion-charged story of initial struggle and ultimate success...a must in any library collection." Book Wire "magnificent in its courage and decency." Sam Ballen Author of WITHOUT RESERVATIONS


	CHARLEEN TOUCHETTE, a celebrated artist, writer, curator, educator, and activist, is the author of NDN ART. Her writing and art have appeared in many books and catalogs including, WOMEN ARTISTS: MULTICULTURAL VISIONS, FEMINIST ART CRITICISM: FORM IDENTITY ACTION, ORIGINAL SIN, and THE REFLOWERING OF THE GODDESS, and in numerous periodicals such as, NEW DIRECTIONS FOR WOMEN, NEW WOMAN MAGAZINE, THE MAGAZINE, NATIVE PEOPLES, AMERICAN INDIAN ART MAGAZINE, and THE WOMEN’S ART JOURNAL.


	“Personal Journeys: More Than Just Survival” by Michelle Miller Allen Great Reads - New Mexico Women’s Magazine, April 2005 p. 45. "Our girlhood years, formed in various cultures and family configurations-from the most abusive to the most loving-and tempered by the social prejudices and taboos of one's time-are where we begin our journeys into adulthood. These factors have much to do with whether we will just survive or become empowered by the most demanding, even devastating, events on our individual paths. It Stops with Me: Memoir of a Canuck Girl by Charleen Touchette (TouchArt Books 2004) Touchette's memoir opens the doors into the lives of women who shaped her childhood into adulthood-the healers, storytellers, homemakers, and artists. This most compelling book includes fascinating color and black and white reproductions of the author's artwork over three decades. The book charts Touchette's journey from a French Canadian/RhodeIsland childhood at the hands of an abusive alcoholic father, to Wellesley College, to New York City's culture of arts, to Minnesota and Indian Country. Touchette combines the voice of the reminiscing adult writer/artist with that of a child obsessed with "making things" as a survival mechanism. Abusive parents seem to bank on the false assumption that their children, as adults, will not remember abuse. Yet anyone who doubts the intelligence and level of awareness in a young, abused human being should read the end of Chapter "Forsythia Blossoms": "I do not know when I started fighting back. I do not have a memory of when Daddy started hitting me. I was too young. But I do remember clearly the moment when I looked up at my dad's face, and realized he was a fool. I was seven."



			DREAMING A HEALING through art and writing ...an artist must remember her childhood to heal. Charleen Touchette’s memoir is a story of survival and hope, of the agony of family and its blessings, of shame and pride, destruction and creation. With the rich traditions of her French Canadian and Indian cultures, Touchette inherited a legacy of anger, alcoholic rages, violence, and denial. Determined to find a better way to live, she leaves her birthplace and culture at seventeen years old. Her journey takes her to Wellesley College, New York’s Lower East Side, and Soho’s art world, then to Indian Country, Navajo Nation and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Abandoning the Catholic Church for Native American sweatlodges and Jewish synagogues, she has three sons, a daughter, a happy marriage, and a successful career. After the birth of her daughter, she is debilitated by a strange illness that forces her to confront her past. Touchette offers a rate glimpse of French Canadian/Métis culture and a frightening view of the power and influence of the Catholic Church. Charleen’s courageous story and writing give strength to all of us. - WINONA LADUKE, Native American activist