Jackie booth:  

WOW! after readin what was posted here by the computer, i figured i best do my own story. after graduation and my Dad retirin from u.s.steel in duquesne, my family moved to vowinckel, pa. yes, vowinckel. across from the house my folks bought, there was a sign that said, "welcome to state game lands. cook forest." we moved there in april of '76 and in may of that year i was hired at owens illinois glass plant in marienville. it was good money and great benefits. i worked there fer a little over a year, but then i met my 1st husband. thru that marriage, i had a son named joe. couldn't go wrong with that name since it was my Dad's name, my brother's name and my son's daddy's name. they all thought i named my son after them. no harm....no foul. i'll inject here that for many a year my life (including high school) was ruled by drugs and alcohol and all that went with. i gained alot thru hard work and lost more thru the lifestyle i chose. i've been rich and i've been poor....rich was definetly better however it was way to demandin for someone that didn't want the responsibility of bein a growed up. i had always wanted a husband and children, yet i wasn't willing to be a wife and a mother. i had grand idears of how i was gonna become the next janis joplin, yet i failed to realize that she was dead from dope 'n booze. i chased that illusion for many a year until finally i was barely able to play guitar and my voice was so shot from cigarettes, dope 'n booze that singin was nearly impossible. i had always wanted ta be either an attorney or a rock star ever since i was a little children. well, i had several attorneys and the only rock star i ever had become was when i passed out 'n hit my head on a rock til i seen stars. my second marriage was to one of my drinkin buddies 'n we decided that if we were still together after 2 yrs we'd get married. well, we did 'n we created another son. his name is cody 'n he's 26. but once again, booze 'n dope took me to places i'd never imagined i would go. i lost custody of my first son, joe, because of my behavior....always chasin the ghost. it was in my second marriage that i had a moment of clarity and i realized that i was not gonna make it very much further in life if i continued on the way i was choosin ta die. so, on march 1st of 1990 (15 days before my 2nd sons 1st birthday) i asked for help and i've been askin for help every morning since. it's been 25 yrs and there are more blessings that i believe i would have characters to type here. today, i am a success because i first haven't drank or drugged today; secondly i haven't found it necessary to hurt anyone today. i found that there is more to bein a success than the amount of money in my bank account, where i live, what car i drive or who i hang out with. thru sobriety, i went back to the Seneca Nation of Indians and learned who i really was and the path i was born to be on. the freedom that came when i stopped trying to be something that i was not cannot be bought or learned. it has'ta be experienced. i did return to college in '93 and went to clarion university. i started out as a psych major until i realized that i'd drive me nuts knowin how sick my family 'n friends were. so, i went to one of my dreams and changed to history/poli-sci so that i could enter law school. in '96 i got my letter of acceptance to harvard law. i had been nominated to intern with the PA legislature for 3 consecutive semesters. i received all kind of accolades for my endeavors and became the pride of many organizations and was held in high esteem by administrators and educators throughout several universities. i organized and started the only (at the time) Native American Student organization in the commonwealth and received several recongnitions as well as invitations to other universities in the state to help their minority services become useful to Native American students. i still have hangin on my walls the awards and such from my college years. ...Expand for more