Blog Voices from Our Community

Read stories, updates, and reflections from artists, staff, and survivors. Here, we share the heart of Awakenings — one post at a time.

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Bearing Myself

While it’s a difficult story to tell, Zeller courageously conveys her experience and highlights the problems within rape culture that normalize sexual violence on college

  • Memoir
Simple black and white line drawing of a bird perched on a diagonal branch, with its beak open as if singing.

The Wife of a Bottom Feeder

In this piece by Laura Bristow, we view a fishing trip as an allegory for an experience with sexual violence. With deft language, clever metaphor,

  • All Authors, Prose
Simple black and white line drawing of a bird perched on a diagonal branch, with its beak open as if singing.

Thank you, Chicago

Katherine Page revisits The Nightingale with a lovely portrait of a healing through traveling. She writes of finding strength as a survivor when she returns

  • Memoir, Prose
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The Nightingale Anniversary

The Nightingale Anniversary December 2019 We are 1 year old! We’re celebrating the one-year anniversary of The Nightingale! When we created The Nightingale, we wanted

  • Letter
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Interview with Bobbie Groth

Interview with Bobbie Groth by Nightingale Editor Megan Otto Bobbie Groth is an author, historian, and survivor of sexual violence. She is an accomplished interdisciplinary

  • Interview, Other
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Aladdin

Ami J. Sanghvi knows how deep and true the love of our animals can be, and how it helps us understand our own inherent worthiness

  • Other
Simple black and white line drawing of a bird perched on a diagonal branch, with its beak open as if singing.

Bodily Authority

One trauma folds into another as Meredith Lindgreen explores loss after a miscarriage and an experience with sexual violence. She meditates on a lack of

  • Memoir, Prose
Simple black and white line drawing of a bird perched on a diagonal branch, with its beak open as if singing.

Miss Ott and the Breaking Girl

C. Christine Fair answers our October prompt by expanding upon her poem “When Uncle Art Babysat for Mom”, published in our most recent issue of

  • Prose
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Rewrite

In response to our October prompt, Katherine Page returns to a piece of writing that is distinctly connected to her past experience with sexual violence-a

  • Journal Entry, Memoir, Other, Prose
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The Girl in the Mirror

Danielle Hark responds to our September prompt with a piece about reclaming vital pieces of herself – her body, her skin, and her reflection. She

  • Prose
Simple black and white line drawing of a bird perched on a diagonal branch, with its beak open as if singing.

Shadows of Darkness

“Shadows of Darkness” highlights the un-realities of experiencing an assault, especially when the violence comes from a close relation. With eyes closed, Charity Marie’s escape

  • All Authors, Prose
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Reclaiming the Eastland

The theme of reclaiming is examined with a wider lens in this piece by Jean Cozier, the founder of Awakenings. She writes about the Eastland

  • Prose
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Truth Found Me in the Trauma

Nothing can change the truth, and this is a beautiful source of solace for Mary-Elizabeth Meagher. Other survivors’ stories about sexual violence helped Meagher come

  • Memoir, Prose
Simple black and white line drawing of a bird perched on a diagonal branch, with its beak open as if singing.

Treatment or Trauma? I Wasn’t Sure. But Now I Am.

“Harrassment and assault can happen anywhere.” This reminder in Mary-Elizabeth Meagher’s piece is accompanied by powerful self-reflection. Healing isn’t easy, and Meagher takes us through

  • Memoir, Prose

Create, connect, & heal

Find your place in our circle of creators, where every artistic choice is valid and every emotion is welcome. Healing isn’t linear, nor a path you have to walk alone.

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