This year will be the 14th Unlock Your Voice since its creation in 1994. Unlock Your Voice is a coffeehouse featuring dramatic readings of women’s literature performed by Juniata students. This event is produced by Judy Katz’s Women and Literature students. About 20 readers from Katz’s class presented a variety of topics, authors, and literary styles throughout the program. We asked a few of the readers what reading they choose and why?

Monae Dewitt ’13, Baltimore, Md.:
I read the poem called “Conversation” by Ai. I chose that one because it was different then the poem I read last year and I felt connected to it because I am curious about death. Does that really happen when we die? I feel it’s an attempt to answer a question that everyone has thought of. Everyone wants to go to heaven or paradise but they do not want to die.

Sarah Davis’12, Chevy Chase, Md.:
I chose to read “Nursing You” by Erica Jong because the descriptions of maternal feelings appealed to me. It was very interesting for me to get into the role of the poem’s speaker.

Jodie Orton, international student from England:
I chose to read something that I wrote myself. All my life, but especially in the last few years, I have aspired to be a writer. My study abroad placement here at Juniata has given me the opportunity to write for really the first time and I thought Unlock Your Voice would be a great opportunity for me to unlock my voice in public, by reading something that I had written. My modern-day fairy tale was a way of telling women that they can have it all, as long as they follow their dreams, they can make life happen for them.

-Mary Munion ’12, Juniata Online Journalist