S:6 E:11 Up-Close Personal Look at The Life of Brittany Means, HELL IF WE DON'T CHANGE OUR WAYS

Books That Make You Understand Poverty, Abuse and Addiction The value of memoirs is their empathetic deep-dive into another's life. Events that often come to us in data or statistics, or vague references to unfamiliar circumstances, tend not to penetrate our hearts until we confront them through the power of narrative. Brittany Means, a Chicana writer and editor out Albuquerque, New Mexico, has released her memoir, Hell If We Don't Change Our Ways, through Zibby Books. Brittany's childhood was nomadic, filled with instability, as well as abuse, neglect and violence. Poverty, sexual assault, and an ostensibly evangelical Christian culture didn't help. Spending her childhood in the passenger's seat as her mother struggled to escape abusive relationships, Brittany's life was a terrible haze of roads and traumas. With no money and a slew of burned bridges behind her, she managed to still care for her younger brother, managed the chaos of her home life, and attempted to make sense of the disturbing world around her. She earned an MFA from the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa, and, before that, a Bachelor's in English from Ball State University. Find out more on Books That Make You. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.