{"id":1915,"date":"2019-03-11T13:18:56","date_gmt":"2019-03-11T13:18:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/?p=1915"},"modified":"2025-02-07T12:52:32","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T17:52:32","slug":"her-voice-is-a-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/2019\/03\/11\/her-voice-is-a-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"Her Voice is a Choice"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kadence-column1915_d57afb-76 > .kt-inside-inner-col{padding-right:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-bottom:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-left:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);}.kadence-column1915_d57afb-76 > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column1915_d57afb-76 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column1915_d57afb-76 > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column1915_d57afb-76 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column1915_d57afb-76 > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column1915_d57afb-76 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column1915_d57afb-76{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column1915_d57afb-76 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 991px){.kadence-column1915_d57afb-76 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column1915_d57afb-76 dynamic-main-col\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\"><style>.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1915_87eb26-83, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1915_87eb26-83[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1915_87eb26-83\"]{font-size:1.5rem;line-height:30px;font-weight:500;font-style:italic;font-family:proxima-nova;color:#808080;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1915_87eb26-83 mark.kt-highlight, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1915_87eb26-83[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1915_87eb26-83\"] mark.kt-highlight{font-style:normal;color:#f76a0c;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1915_87eb26-83 img.kb-inline-image, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading1915_87eb26-83[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1915_87eb26-83\"] img.kb-inline-image{width:150px;vertical-align:baseline;}<\/style>\n<p class=\"kt-adv-heading1915_87eb26-83 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\" data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading1915_87eb26-83\">In her 2014 memoir \u201cBlood Sisters,\u201d Billie Travalini writes, \u201cI never was the sort of person who goes along with something without asking a fistful of questions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Story by David Bernard<br><\/em><em>Photos by Susan L. Gregg<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft is-resized wp-image-1917\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"490\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.test.wilmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/09_feature_hervoiceBillieT_body.jpg\" alt=\"woman walking on bridge\" class=\"wp-image-1917\" style=\"width:350px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/09_feature_hervoiceBillieT_body.jpg 490w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/09_feature_hervoiceBillieT_body-175x250.jpg 175w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/09_feature_hervoiceBillieT_body-336x480.jpg 336w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Billie Travalini<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In her 2014 memoir \u201cBlood Sisters,\u201d Billie Travalini writes, \u201cI never was the sort of person who goes along with something without asking a fistful of questions.\u201d Lately she\u2019s been asking whether our community \u2014 the human community, or at least the part of it that seems to get all the media attention \u2014 wouldn\u2019t benefit from a look in the mirror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a dangerous lack of humility, a lack of awareness that the same dirt\u2019s going to cover us all,\u201d says Travalini, an adjunct professor of English and Creative Writing in Wilmington University\u2019s College of Arts and Sciences. \u201cEveryone has a voice, but having a voice for others is important, too. It\u2019s our responsibility to speak up for those who can\u2019t speak up for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking up for others has, in many ways, driven Travalini\u2019s career as an author and teacher. It has also gained her the praise of her peers, both statewide and nationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In January, the Delaware Division of the Arts selected her for its 2019 Masters Fellowship, the agency\u2019s highest honor, which is accompanied by a $10,000 grant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since the year 2000, the fellowship has recognized one artist per year based on a body of work or a history of artistic accomplishments, and \u201cthe impact it has had in Delaware and beyond,\u201d says Roxanne Stanulis, program officer for the DDOA. \u201cMembers of the Arts Council voted unanimously to award her the Masters Fellowship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition, last fall Travalini won the National Federation of Press Women\u2019s 61st annual Communicator of Achievement Award, an honor that recognizes its recipients\u2019 community impact as well as their professional accomplishments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBillie Travalini is nothing short of magnificent,\u201d says Katherine Ward, executive director of the Delaware Press Association, which nominated its longtime member and current vice president of Programs for the national award when it granted her its statewide communication award the previous year. \u201cIt\u2019s not enough to say that she was chosen because of her outstanding career. Billie chooses to keep redefining herself through service to others. She\u2019s all about the other person, which is why people respond to her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Travalini, communication is the key to community service. \u201cThis is what writing does best: it gets people to think,\u201d she says. \u201cIt wins a little more dignity for, and gives a little more hope to, those who are the most vulnerable among us.\u201d It\u2019s a lesson she learned early in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The story of a girl<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"148\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.test.wilmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/09_feature_hervoiceBooks_body-300x148-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1919\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/09_feature_hervoiceBooks_body-300x148-1.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/09_feature_hervoiceBooks_body-300x148-1-250x123.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBlood Sisters\u201d describes the summer of 1960 through the eyes of 10-year-old Billie Elizabeth Toppin \u2014 then known as Betsy \u2014 as she meets her biological family for the first time. Raised since infancy by a loving foster mother, Betsy is returned to an abusive father, an indifferent mother, and two sisters she\u2019d never known by a Delaware Family Court judge, leaving her longing for connection and a safe place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPeople ask me, \u2018Were you sad writing the book? It was hard to read,\u2019\u201d says Travalini, who\u2019d previously earned a DDOA grant for established writers the year after the book\u2019s publication. \u201cI was never sad, not for a moment. To be honest, I didn\u2019t see Betsy as myself, but as a \u2018universal me.\u2019 I was giving a voice to all the children who were left out of the conversations that directed their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She came into contact with more than a few of them while growing up in and around Wilmington. Her chronic illness led her father to commit her to a year-and-a-half stay among the blind, epileptic, cerebral palsied, autistic and other disadvantaged children at the Governor Bacon Health Center in Delaware City, which she described as \u201ca worn-down former U.S. Army fort turned dumping ground for unwanted children.\u201d She spent much of the rest of her adolescence in foster families, group homes, and special needs programs before graduating from the former Wilmington High School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI was blessed to have had a childhood with a lot of diversity, but also an abundance of misinformed characters,\u201d she remarks. \u201cIf I changed even one day of my life, though, I wouldn\u2019t be me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Learning and leading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-full wp-image-1918\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.test.wilmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/09_feature_hervoiceBillieT2_body-300x200-1.jpg\" alt=\"close up blonde woman\" class=\"wp-image-1918\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/09_feature_hervoiceBillieT2_body-300x200-1.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/09_feature_hervoiceBillieT2_body-300x200-1-250x167.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Billie Travalini<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>An associate degree in accounting from Brandywine College (now part of Widener University) guided Travalini into the workplace, and the birth of two children in the mid-1970s created a family of her own, but writing for the local newspaper fired up what would become her mission.<br>She\u2019d been writing stories and poems since she was a child. \u201cEvery writer begins as a reader,\u201d she notes, and she always loved books. But reporting on family, health, and community issues inspired her to earn bachelor\u2019s degrees in English and journalism from the University of Delaware in 1983 and master\u2019s degrees in literature and creative writing from Temple University in 1986.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since 2002, Travalini has taught English Composition I and II (ENG 121 and 122) and Creative Writing (ENG 360) at Wilmington University. She\u2019s also led writing and literature classes at Temple, Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Delaware, and the state\u2019s youth detention centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She\u2019s served as a consultant to Delaware\u2019s Department of Services for Children, Youth, and Families, helping to incorporate creative writing and critical thinking into lesson plans. (Her 2008 book, \u201cTeaching Troubled Youth: A Practical Pedagogical Approach,\u201d showcases some of her students\u2019 stories and poetry.) Her work as an educator even drew the attention of Delaware\u2019s Governor\u2019s Awards for the Arts in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI am always surprised with Billie\u2019s patience and persistence with her students,\u201d says Assistant Professor Matt Whelihan, who chairs WilmU\u2019s English program. \u201cShe wants every student to succeed, and she wants them to succeed by tapping into their own unique set of skills. When she has students who struggle, she truly personalizes the way she works with them to help them build connections with the content.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Connection is the heart of her teaching efforts, he adds. \u201cIn her writing, you can see the compassion she has for her subjects and the way she really seeks to understand them, and I think that is what she does in the classroom as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Words in the community<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Outside the classroom, Travalini has helped mentor some of the region\u2019s emerging and established authors. As the co-founder and coordinator of the Lewes Creative Writers Conference, which held its 11th annual gathering in August, and the editor of two collections of homegrown literature (2008\u2019s \u201cOn the Mason-Dixon Line: An Anthology of Contemporary Delaware Writers\u201d and 2011\u2019s \u201cNo Place Like Here: An Anthology of Southern Delaware Poetry &amp; Prose\u201d), she\u2019s provided numerous opportunities and outlets for First State voices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her friends and colleagues frequently use the word tireless when describing Travalini. \u201cWhat has always impressed me about Billie is her energy,\u201d says novelist Maribeth Fischer, executive director of the Rehoboth Beach Writers Guild. \u201cNot just in the promotion of her writing, but in the promotion of a writing community and her unflagging support of other artists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This support reaches deeper than just words on a page, Fischer says. \u201cI am constantly reminded, through Billie\u2019s example, of what matters most: that people are encouraged to keep writing, encouraged to believe in their own stories, in their value and worth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBillie thinks of writing as activism,\u201d says Dr. David Teague, a professor of English at the University of Delaware. \u201cShe\u2019s not just invested in writing her stories or even nurturing the work of others because she likes the sound of her own voice. She really believes that making all voices heard will change the world for the better. And her faith in that principle rubs off on people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For instance: her involvement in the Fort DuPont development project. From 1948 to 1984, the former military installation on Delaware Bay was the site of the Governor Bacon Health Center\u2019s adolescent unit, at which Travalini spent a formative year-and-a-half. She\u2019s been sharing her recollections of that unsettling experience with the project\u2019s planners in order to lobby for the inclusion of a special needs resource and treatment center in the proposed residential and business development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think in most cases, most folks would just rather forget about that time,\u201d says Jeffrey Randol, executive director of the Fort DuPont Redevelopment and Preservation Corporation. \u201cBillie doesn\u2019t want people to forget. She wants to make sure the history is remembered. She wants to make a difference where she can, and she embraces the challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Rules to survive<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the pages of \u201cBlood Sisters,\u201d Betsy has a long road ahead of her before she grows up to become a writer and teacher. Travalini is currently working to capture some of the ensuing experiences in a follow-up memoir, tentatively titled \u201cRules to Survive Childhood.\u201d She\u2019s assembling a collection of her short stories. She\u2019s also keeping an eye on every moment, and urging her fellow community members to do likewise, starting now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are speeding up every aspect of our lives,\u201d she says. \u201cWhat becomes important is the next thing. While the next thing is very important, it loses meaning without an understanding of what this moment means. And this moment can have consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a moment, she says, we can choose to lie or tell the truth. We can choose to ignore a wrong or speak out against it. We can choose to give 50 percent or 100 percent. In Travalini\u2019s view, the moments before decision, before action, define who we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEach of these moments is an opportunity to become more, or less,\u201d she says. \u201cHow we respond each time makes all the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In her 2014 memoir \u201cBlood Sisters,\u201d Billie Travalini writes, \u201cI never was the sort of person who goes along with something without asking a fistful&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1917,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[135],"tags":[638],"class_list":["post-1915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","tag-magazine-spring-2019"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":135,"label":"MAGAZINE"}],"post_tag":[{"value":638,"label":"Magazine Spring 2019"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/09_feature_hervoiceBillieT_body-336x480.jpg",336,480,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Rachel Marchione","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/author\/rachel\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":135,"name":"MAGAZINE","slug":"magazine","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":692,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":431,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":135,"category_count":431,"category_description":"","cat_name":"MAGAZINE","category_nicename":"magazine","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":638,"name":"Magazine Spring 2019","slug":"magazine-spring-2019","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1195,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":20,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1915"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15197,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1915\/revisions\/15197"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}