Sexual assault no longer someone else's issue

Written by Abi Humber Tuesday, 27 April 2010 18:13

“Rape has decreased by 60 percent since 1993,” but that doesn’t mean it’s not still happening all too often.

“One out of every six American women will become the victim of rape in her lifetime.”

“One in four college women have either been raped or suffered attempted rape.”

“Every two minutes of every day, someone is sexually assaulted in the U.S.”

Fewer than 5 percent of these attacks will be reported, according to a U.S. Justice Department estimate.

I find these statistics—which I gathered from the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network and Rape Victim Advocates Web sites—inconceivable and immensely sobering.

Maybe you’re wondering why I am even writing about this.

April is National Sexual Assault...

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Freedom comes from being yourself

Written by Abi Humber Tuesday, 13 April 2010 18:44

I think that today, I want to write about what it’s like to live in the freedom of who you are. A little heavy, I know.

Maybe it seems like I’m writing about a lot of serious stuff lately, and I’m sorry if that bores you as readers (it’s still weird to think that I have “readers”). But I feel I’m in a pretty important phase of my life. I’m almost done with my first year of college—a point I’m not sure I ever really expected to be.

I mean, I always knew I’d “go to college” but it seemed like a distant thing that happened to my older friends and people in movies. It’s a little hard to describe, but for related jumbled ramblings on this confused thought process, see my May 2009 column about high school...

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Where on earth is ‘home’ anyway?

Written by Abi Humber Tuesday, 30 March 2010 18:44

Home. Clearly, this word means different things to different people. It means something different to me now than it did even two weeks ago, and that definition is far different than when I “left home” last August.

What defines “home”? Is home where you grew up, or where you feel most comfortable? Is it where you live right now, or is it where your family is? What if your family is all over? Is it where you feel at peace, or is it where you have the most fun? How many different homes can one person claim?

A few trips I’ve taken recently have gotten me thinking about this.

In my iTunes library, there are 41 songs with “home” in the title, and there are—whoa.

I stopped typing in the middle of that sentence to recount the...

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Chicago friends learning to like this small town

Written by Abi Humber Tuesday, 09 March 2010 20:02

It’s 3:50 p.m. My friends and I just woke up. I love spring break! Two of my friends from school, Elle and Kate, came home with me for break. Lots of our friends are going to Florida and California, and we were super jealous about that until we realized that Kansas weather is quite tropical….

In comparison to Chicago’s.

The week right before break, the weather in Chi-town was getting into the high 30s. Students all around campus were wearing shorts, T-shirts and light jackets instead of down parkas, boots and mittens. The funny thing is this: that weather really did feel like deliverance from Chicago’s frigid cold. There was actually sunshine!

A few days before we took off for Kansas, my dad e-mailed me the forecast. When...

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