Shauna Anderson launches OFFAL GREAT - Memoirs of the Chitlin Queen and Fighting the KKK

    /24-7PressRelease/ - HYATTSVILLE, MD, December 13, 2006 - OFFAL GREAT is a survival story of an African American woman who made it big against great odds. Through love affairs, business successes, multiple personalities and a string of wacky psychiatrists, Shauna built a full life with great dignity and humor. Shauna's family emerged from slavery to become Virginia landholders. Shauna was raised in a Washington DC housing project by her grandmother and two aunts, while her mother pursued a successful singing career on the Chitlin circuit.

Shauna Anderson currently owns and operates the nation's premier hand cleaned Chitlin business, having been chosen as the source for hand cleaned Chitlins, by Saveur Magazine in 2005. Ms. Anderson continues to receive national press regarding her Chitlin business and her recently published memoirs, including a feature in the Washington Post Food Section. She was inducted into the Smithsonian Institute in 2003 for her work preserving the tradition of Chitlins and slave survival heritage.

Ms. Anderson plans to franchise her Chitlin Market in a dozen cities across the country but has put her plan on hold while awaiting the outcome of her lawsuit against Maryland's Prince Georges County, the City of Hyattsville, Maryland and several other government agencies for conspiring to keep her Chitlin Market on Ager Road in Hyattsville from opening. Shauna continues to do business online however she looks forward to getting back into the restaurant business where she can greet her loyal customers in person.

Shauna is also in regular therapy for her recently diagnosed Dissociative Identity Disorder which stemmed from childhood abuse. Shauna feels that her multiple personalities have been a help rather than a hindrance in her life. She started her career at the IRS as a teenager, ending up as a tax statistician traveling nationally instructing IRS tax agents. She then started her own accounting business, made a fortune in real estate and in1995 started her now famous cleaned Chitlin business.

Shauna's co-author is Elizabeth Latrobe Place, is a direct descendent of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, America's First Architect and Thomas Swann, a Maryland Governor and great granddaughter of seven term Mayor of Baltimore Ferdinand C. Latrobe. Elizabeth and Shauna developed an unusual friendship during the writing of the book. Elizabeth was able to document and record Shauna's many personalities. It was Elizabeth who pushed Shauna to continue searching for a psychiatrist who could properly diagnose her condition. They are currently working on the second book, Something Greater.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
Possible Areas of Interest for the Feature:

Food/Restaurant Section: Shauna has owned two successful restaurants, a successful online food business and started her own line of seasonings. She was repeatedly prevented from opening her third restaurant over the past two years resulting in her current lawsuit. She is suing various Maryland government agencies over their conspiracy to keep her third restaurant from opening (rezoning from commercial to residential, excessive inspections, denied applications, vandalism, excessive bills -$1000 water bills, trucks and mobile unit towings and ticketing, and an admission by a city government official that a "Chitlin Restaurant" was not appropriate for the area.) For months, several Taco Trucks sat undisturbed across the road from Shauna' Restaurant but city officials repeatedly threatened to tow her Chitlin Mobile after just 48 hours in the same location.

The straw that broke the camel's back was when the government official responded in outrage to an episode of ABC's television series 'Commander in Chief". The fictional president got out of a limousine amidst a riot, in front of a Chitlin and Pork Chop restaurant in Hyattsville Maryland. Responding the fictional television series, the real Prince George's County official said that a Chitlin Restaurant was a degrading representation of a low income black neighborhood and it reflected Hyattsville in a poor light. Shauna Anderson doesn't think so and she's going after the men who tried to shut her down.

Mental Health: Shauna and her therapist could be interviewed regarding her Dissociative Identity Disorder, her 30 years of seeking therapy and misdiagnosis.

Business: Minority and Woman Owned: Shauna has owned many businesses and made a great deal of money in real estate. She has helped many employees get off public assistance and purchase their first cars and homes. She has given self-esteem and business lectures.

Human Interest - Woman's Friendship: In the 19th century, while Elizabeth's ancestors were in the Maryland Governor's office and Baltimore Mayor's office, Shauna's family was buying their way out of slavery - now Elizabeth works for Shauna and she's very happy about that. Elizabeth has been a ghostwriter during her career, always behind the scenes building up other executives' and authors' careers. Since meeting Shauna and with her encouragement, Elizabeth has come out of the shadows to promote her writing career. It's a bit of a reverse "Imitation of Life" in the making.

Co-author Family History:
Ferdinand Claiborne Latrobe (October 14, 1833 - January 13, 1911) served seven terms as Mayor of Baltimore, Maryland during the 19th century.

Latrobe was born in Baltimore, the grandson of the American architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe. He was educated at the College of St. James in Washington County, Maryland. After serving as clerk in a mercantile house in Baltimore, Latrobe studied law with his father, and was admitted to the Maryland bar in 1860. In 1860, he was also appointed judge-advocate-general by Governor Thomas H. Hicks, and assisted in reorganizing the Maryland militia under the Act of 1868, of which he was the author.

He was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1867, serving until 1872, and was speaker of that body from 1870 until 1872.

In 1875 he was elected Mayor of Baltimore and served until 1877. He was again elected to this office in 1878 and served two terms, to 1881. In 1883 he was again elected mayor, serving until 1885. During this latter term, a seven-mile tunnel was built to direct water from the Gunpowder River to Baltimore.

He was again elected mayor, serving from 1887 until 1889, and served a final two mayoral terms from 1891 until 1895.
Latrobe was the son-in-law of Thomas Swann, who was formerly Mayor of Baltimore and Governor of Maryland.

Source: Wikipedia.com

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