Reading Changed My Life - Townsend Press

Reading Changed My Life! Three True StoriesIn the course of one awful night, Maria’s hopefulvisions of the future were snuffed out, seeminglyforever. She had been kidnapped, beaten, andraped. But according to the rules of her oldfashionedMexican society, none of that mattered.She had done a shameful thing; she was disgraced.Her attacker had just been acting like a man. It washer fault for being alone with him. She must havedone something to encourage him.When Maria learned she was pregnant, she sawonly one path open to her. She married her rapist,dropped out of tenth grade, and moved with him toOklahoma.In her marriage, Maria found herself walkingdown the same road her mother had walked beforeher. Her new husband drank heavily and beat Mariamercilessly. When her daughter, Antonietta, wasborn, Maria took comfort in loving someone andbeing loved in return. But she felt sad about bringingher daughter up in the midst of fear and violence.14