Winter solstice. For one day we have the shortest amount of light, the most darkness. Then, slowly, resolutely, the sun returns.

Mused Winter Solstice 2009 captures the hush as our world prepares for a fresh start. Poetry begins the journey. In Winter Moments we glimpse perfection in a snowy day. Adieu poignantly paints the leaving of a cherished home.

For fiction which reflects reality, Blackberry Winter muffles us with "three strikes" in rural Georgia - "a girl, colored, and ugly". Our real life stories are even more compelling. Epileptic Journey traces a family's struggle with seizures. Asylum peeks behind the bars of a psychiatric ward.

The artwork of Mused illuminates. Path to Nowhere reveals a New York forest, Gloomy Day a Newfoundland harbor, Rutland State Park a quiet Massachusetts lake.

Nancy Dietrich reveals how writing was a life-saving escape from an abusive marriage. As she documented her life stories, "I finally started to gain some distance from each episode. And only then could I start to heal."

http://www.bellaonline.com/review/issues/winter2009/

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Lisa Shea, XBox Editor
http://xbox.bellaonline.com

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