Can’t Stop the Sunrise received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author Vanessa Osage.
My book is called, Can’t Stop the Sunrise : Adventures in Healing, Confronting Corruption & the Journey to Institutional Reform, published October 7, 2020 by Stone & Feather Press.
The first line reads, “This is a story that exists inside many stories. It calls to you from a new time, as the old story falls away, and our brightest collective vitality cries out for rebirth…”
This book is about speaking truth to power, about finding your way to health, even while surrounded by corruption or secrecy. It’s about how to evoke a solution from a societal problem, even when some will go to great lengths to stop you. It’s about the fierceness of hope in an upside-down world, and how we can restructure our values to create new systems that support societal health.
I’d been on a strong mission of “mending the loophole that has allowed for the cover-up of child abuse at independent schools” for years. I’d confronted an abusive employee at my high school, and continued to insist on right action for seven years, even after they sent me away. Then, I finally got him removed. While seeking an alternate, more ethical resolution, I uncovered an ongoing problem in the system. So, I started a nonprofit called The Amends Project and created an oversight and transparency model called The Justice CORPS Initiative.
I was steadily working away on all of this when the pandemic hit. Then, I had a position disappear, and was accepting the reality of “Stay Home, Stay Safe” orders. I had always wanted to write a book. So, it was just the discipline I needed to settle in and get to work. I wrote Can’t Stop the Sunrise in under six months – to have it ready for my conference presentation at the Association of Title IX Administrators Conference in October.
Ultimately, it became incredibly useful to pause and reflect on all I had been achieving – to grasp how far I had come, and see the larger picture again. Gauging from what readers are saying, the end result has been a great gift for them, too. People are telling me it is inspiring them to make important changes in their lives, and to stand up for what they care most about. The message continues to affirm and lift up people who have ever faced an abuse of power in their lives.
Reading this book helps people understand the cultural story we have been living in, and invites each of us to change it for the better. This book liberates people. Someone should read it to be soothed by the truth of facing hard times, and how universal that experience is. They can walk away with hope, inspiration, insight, and the satisfaction of knowing we are truly not alone.
This is my first book, though I always knew I’d be an author someday. Writing has been a primary part of my life since I was ten years old. I am sure I have a few more books to release before too long.