What I wrote in response to Maya Stein’s “What Didn’t Make the News” as part of my Fierce Writing practice

The groundhog I saw again today in the backyard. Or was it the same groundhog? Could it be another one of the babies? Is it missing its mother? Is she waiting in the woods, patiently but watchfully, letting her baby leave the nest, like all the mothers at this time who are seeing their babies graduate from high school or college, wanting them to learn to be independent, but worried about when they will come home and all that could happen to them after they leave and are on their own?

It makes me think of my own mother. I was so excited to leave for college that I wasn’t thinking of what it would do to her. It was all about me. She seemed to be excited, too, and a little confused, as I was, about all the steps, like applying for financial aid, getting it and not really knowing how much would need to be repaid, how I really should have done the work study that was offered to me rather than thinking I would dedicate all my time to academics, then being on academic probation because I really didn’t know how to study. I hadn’t needed to in high school. Maybe that work study in the cafeteria would have helped me learn to manage my time better rather than roaming campus, looking for the perfect place to study because my dorm room was designed for two students but held three and because my roommates and I were incompatible. Our “quiet floor” was not really quiet.

None of this made the news. You know what else didn’t make the news? The rape that happened. A student had been running on a trail close to campus, had been grabbed and sexually assaulted. The next day we got notes in our mailboxes about what had happened and a warning to be careful and not walk alone at night. Nothing was published in the local news. I think of how that compares to now, with all that we know about not blaming the victim, yet victims going public while their rapists remain hidden. Colleges know better now than to tell students that they shouldn’t walk alone at night and give them specific procedures to follow if they are assaulted, but how many teach them not to assault and to always wait for consent or accept the lack thereof? How many rapes are still unreported? What was the young woman at my college told after she was raped, and does she still carry that with her?