C15/43b Out of the Transylvania Night

Choose Positive Living with Sara Troy and her guest Aura Imbarus, originally aired October 27th

A Story of Tyranny, Freedom, Love and Identity by Aura Imbarus

OUT OF THE TRANSYLVANIA NIGHT explores tyranny and freedom, love, success, and the price paid for misaligned dreams in an epic tale of identity and the human spirit. It is a deftly woven narrative about finding greater meaning and fulfilment in a free world, and an exploration of how social issues affect the human spirit. An incredibly powerful memoir.

I’d grown up in the land of TRANSYLVANIA, homeland to Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, and, worse, the Communist dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu—who turned Romania into a land of gray-clad zombies who never dared to show their individuality, and where neighbours became informants, and the Securitate made people disappear. Daylight empowered the regime to encircle us like starved wolves, and so night had always been the time to steal a bit of freedom. As if bred into our Transylvanian blood, we were like vampires who came to life after sundown. I buried the family heirloom jewels, tucked the flag into my sweater and left my outpost to join the action . . . tonight Ceausescu would die!

Known for using stand-ins to pose for him, Aura doubts if it was even Ceausescu himself who was killed that night. Nevertheless, when her countrymen topple one of the most draconian regimes in the Soviet bloc, Aura Imbarus tells herself that life post-revolution will be different. But little in the country changes. With two pieces of luggage and a powerful dream, Aura and her new husband flee to America. Through sacrifice and hard work, the couple acquires a home, cars, and travel—but trying to be Americans is much more complicated than they expect. More difficulties set in the stock market crash takes their savings, house, and cars; thieves steal three centuries’ worth of heirloom jewels, and Aura’s beloved mother dies.

Aura’s marriage crumbles under the stress. Devastated, she asks herself, ‘How much of one’s life is owed to others?’ Tested even further by the vagaries of fate, Aura discovers a startling truth about striking a balance between one’s dreams and the sacrifices and compromises that allow for Serenity, selfhood, and lasting love. More resolution comes when in 2010, Ceausescu’s body is exhumed to answer questions of a cover-up, and Aura can finally lay to rest the haunting mysteries of her past.

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“Aura Imbarus, Ph.D. is an awarded educator, freelance journalist, and author of “Out of the Transylvania Night,” a memoir detailing her life in Romania during the communist regime. Her latest work, “Returning Home: A Journey of Finding Oneself” is due out in early 2016.

She has a BA in Foreign Languages; MA in American and British Literature; Ph.D. in World Humanities. She has been teaching high school and college level classes in So Cal since 1998. Aura was featured on NBC, CNBC, ABC, CNBC, Good Morning San Diego, Forbes Romania, etc.

She is the President and Co-Founder of RAPN- Romanian-American Professional Network. She is on multiple boards including Wesley Foundation UCLA serving underrepresented students; Scott J. Schwartz Foundation helping children with disabilities.”

Author of “Out of the Transylvania’s Night” and “Returning Home: A Journey of Discovering Oneself”

She writes for The Global Woman Magazine in London, Eden Magazine in LA; Beverly Hills Times Magazine, The Immigrant, Hermannstadter Zeitung in Transylvania and she also works as a freelance journalist for Entertainment and Sports Today!
Aura Imbarus, PhD

Her article in Global Woman Magazine