Alumni Spotlight on Beatrice McClearn

By: Colleen Ervin

As Bowie State Alumni continue to climb and reach new heights the spotlight is being placed on Beatrice McClearn, a 2004 graduate whose novel "Diaries of an Emotional Prostitute" will hit the shelves of book stores this month.

McClearn explains how it feels like it was, just yesterday when she was taking the elevator to the third floor in Haley Hall or sitting through the lectures of her two favorite professors Dr. Otis Thomas and Dr. Barbara Freeman. "I believe because these fond memories are still so vivid in my mind that this feeling of gratification and excitement is still so surreal.  It feels like the doors are finally beginning to open to the writing career I have always dreamed of, and I am still standing in threshold, jaw dropped from disbelief."

After receiving her Bachelors of Science Degree in Mass Communications from Bowie State, Ms. McClearn went on to teach 8th grade for Gholson Middle School in Landover, MD., all the while maintaining a part time job as a paralegal for a small law office in Riverdale, MD. As of today she is a Training Support Specialist at Fannie Mae, as well as a published author.

McClearn explains the motivation that fuels her effort despite her hectic schedule, "The burning passion within me to write motivates me. In addition, the burning desire to get out of corporate America helps fuel that fire."

In speaking of motivation one couldn't help but wonder what inspired the unorthodox title for her book "Diaries of an Emotional Prostitute" "Well first let me say this, the book isn't about a prostitute that just happens to be emotional. If we really look at the definition of prostitution it is defined as an individual whom solicits their body for monetary exchange. Well in the term I coined Emotional Prostitution it is then defined as a woman that solicits her body for an emotional exchange.  In reality, emotional prostitutes seek affection and fulfillment through loving another. While the pursued may be victim for a while, the pursuer is often a lifetime victim of their own circumstances."

Beatrice explains just how she is so well informed of the subject of emotional prostitution. "I must honestly admit the emotional abuse the lead character subjects herself to is loosely based upon a love affair in which I found very difficult to break free from. Although my lead character Delilah's story is much different than my own she is still someone that I can definitely identify with. I believe that readers will connect just as intimately with Delilah as I did by catching personal glimpses into her soul via seventeen diary confessionals. By the end of the novel, you will discover one of two facts: either you know an emotional prostitute, or you are an emotional prostitute. "

Beatrice McClearn's "Diaries of an Emotional Prostitute" is available on the web at sixthsensepublishing.com and amazon.com, and wherever books are sold.