Breaking the Silence A boy cowers in the corner as his mother raises a belt high into the air. A girl clings to her teddy bear as Daddy enters her room in the middle of the night. A woman fights for her life as a stranger drags her into a vacant alley. So many voices Silent. One voice pierces the darkness, coaxes courage. A second voice emerges from the shadows then another then another… An angry choir swells: No longer will we remain silent. No longer will we hide in secrecy, shame, and fear. Tonight is the night we shout  NO MORE! NO MORE!     Hypervigilance She surfs the edge of dreams dares not sleep too deep the Bogeyman lurks in every shadow eager to tear flesh from bone. Snap of twig outside the…

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Who says reading is an activity limited to your couch and a cup of tea? Over spring break, I had the chance to travel around to the homes, museums, and fictional locations of authors whose works I have been reading in my Italian literature course. My class teamed up with a Latin class to travel to Sicily, Italy. Over the course of ten days, we toured around the island, visiting ancient sites as well as literary sites related to the 20th century Sicilian writers we were studying. From statues to tombs to street signs, these Sicilian towns have all chosen different ways to preserve the legacy of these writers and their fictional characters, providing ample evidence (not that any of us needed it) that characters really do live off of the page. We began in…

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