Dec 5, 2018 | Essay, Megan Otto, Nightingale
We are kicking off our blog with two editorials from one of our editors, Megan Otto. Her clear voice has guided much of Awakened Voices in the past half year. Her knowledge and skillful dedication to writers and survivors of sexual violence has gently helped The...Aug 24, 2017 | Alicen Grey, Essay, Image, Other, Prose
1. The face of the desk lamp shined fierce light across my fingers as I typed the finishing touches on an assignment. It was a welcome warmth in an otherwise cold college dormitory. At 1AM I was still up, out of focus, trudging from sentence to sentence, more...Aug 16, 2017 | Essay, Melissa Lewis-Ackerman
I trembled at the altar in front of my future husband, Max, who wore a smart black tuxedo. His gentle, brown skinned, West Indian face was full of an authoritative joy. His kind, wide dark eyes were partly masked by thick framed glasses. He was broad shouldered and...Aug 16, 2017 | Essay, Jackie Filer, Poetry
I sit cross-legged on her couch, running my hands up and down the sides of my thighs like a small child who has been asked where the last cookie in the jar went. The dryness overtaking my throat is doing a grand job of silencing my tongue as I try desperately to...May 31, 2017 | Essay, Jean Cozier
Forgive and forget. We hear these words used together so often that by the time we’re old enough to really think about what they mean, they’ve already been hardwired into our brains. As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse who is also a professional writer, it’s been...May 26, 2017 | Essay, Leah Zieger
Yes, my god, please, please fuck off. I can’t think of a better way to put it. Just fucking fuck off. Leave me alone, don’t ever talk to my family again, and please keep me out of your thoughts. That really is all I want. I think… It’s been almost three years now...