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• At 17 months old, she was abandoned in a garage.
• By age-2, she was adopted.
• By age-7, she had been molested.
• By age-14, her adopted mother had died.
• By age-15, her adopted father died.
• By age-17, she had been psychologically, emotionally and physically abused by a legal guardian--even starved.
• For the next 25 years, she suffered silently from deep, manic depression and anxiety.
This is the harrowing life journey of Crystal M. Adair, and it is detailed in her debut masterwork, “Therapy: A Memoir Novella by Crystal M. Adair”. Crystal was born in Washington, DC and was educated in the city's public schools. In high school, she starred on B.E.T.'s nationally-syndicated Teen Summit, where she interviewed celebrity guests, hosted segments, and voiced her opinions on the plights and achievements of young, black America.
Subsequently, Crystal graduated summa cum laude from Clark Atlanta University with a B.A. in Mass Media Arts, having been selected as a senior to co-host the school's first-ever news program, CAU News Center. Unfortunately, Crystal's dreams of on-air reporting never panned out, but she found her next passion in urban classrooms.
Crystal has taught English, Public Speaking and Theater Arts to K-12 and college students for more than 17 years. This impassioned educator is also a screenwriter, a playwright, a director, a filmmaker, a motivational speaker, an author, and a mother. Her new writing and publishing company, Jalen Christopher Press, is even named for her zany, talented and precocious 10-year old son.
Reviewed by Viga Boland for Readers' Favorite
Therapy: A Memoir Novella by Crystal M. Adair is a most unusual book. Some may even find it difficult to read, not so much for the graphic, often heartbreaking content, but because it occasionally borders on poetry in reflective prose. It's very introspective, and yet, as the book draws to a close, some of the profound observations on life that Crystal M. Adair makes apply to everyone everywhere.
"I've always lived my life thinking that where I wanted to be was somehow better than where I was right now, when in truth, there is perfection in this very moment. We are constantly being perfected by our experiences––made bolder, stronger, wiser, and more authentic," writes Crystal, and who of us cannot identify with the truth of her words: "We are constantly being perfected by our experiences"! Yes, and by looking at life this way, the messages delivered by the author in what is really a personal journal, Therapy can and does provide hope for all who have suffered along the way to finding themselves and self-fulfillment.
After her very rough beginnings, Crystal M. Adair is today a teacher and a dynamic motivational speaker. You can Google her and it will bring up her impressive bio. When you read Therapy, you'll be even more impressed by who this woman has become. But if there's one person who stands out in this novella, and to whom Crystal pays the greatest homage, it's Bernie, the woman who adopted her and her siblings when they had been abandoned. Thankfully, Bernie, along with God, was Crystal's voice in the dark hours.
