Lavinia: Shakespeare, Assault, and BARCC

April 23 2017 will be 401 years since William Shakespeare’s death.
One of his most heartrending characters is Lavinia, daughter of Titus Andronicus who is raped, her hands and tongue cut off so she cannot reveal what has happened. It’s a horrific and profound physicalization of the shame and private suffering that many victims of sexual assault go through.
And yet, she persisted. She finds a way, scratching into the dirt the names of her attackers, holding a stick in her mouth. Her father – perhaps mad, perhaps just mad – bakes her attackers into a pie, which he serves to their mother.

This April 23, I will join Ramona Rose and hundreds of others, walking to raise awareness and funds for the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. I will walk with Lavinia in my mind, as well as the many people I know – and those I don’t – who’s lives have been changed by sexual violence. Those who have found a voice, those who's voice was ignored, and those who haven't yet found the stick that will help them speak.

I hope you will consider joining us, or lending your $upport. My goal is to raise $300, and you can donate here.