Mt. Etna: Sicily's Friendly Volcano

From afar, Mt. Etna, an active volcano on the northeast edge of Sicily, looks a though it’s embedded into the skyline. The faint outlines of the mountain against the cloudy sky resemble a page in a coloring book, waiting for a child to scribble in its colors. My ears pop from the pressure as the bus carries us up the mountain. Now Etna, looks like a giant sundae oozing with chocolate syrup as we travel up the windy roads. Black rock peeks through the blanket of snow covering the rocky terrain.

The song “Somewhere over the Rainbow” playing from the ipod on the tour bus fits the scenery. Traveling through Etna’s evolving landscape is like visiting another planet. Brightly colored lemon and orange trees at the base, rich from the volcanoes ash, give way to thin and bent looking trees destroyed from past lava flows. Every so often, a small village appears.

Etna stands 10,991 feet tall on the edge of the city of Catania and it has been estimated that she has been active for over two million years. The inhabitants of these villages do not live in fear of Etna, but rather admire her for her power and beauty. To them, she is their queen and they are her obedient loyal subjects.

The higher part of Mt. Etna is much cooler than the temperature at the base. Mounds of harden lava cover the area and a small gift shop, that looks more like a log cabin, stands among the rubble. Patterns of trees march up the vast valleys. Green pines stand out against barren meek trees with windy white branches. The sun silhouettes the trees and makes the snow sparkle. Beauty this overwhelming makes it hard to believe that the mountain is capable of spewing hot lava.

“When it erupts, we’re drawn to it,” says Rosa Rizza, a Sicilian tour guide. “You stop. You figure out which mouth it’s coming from. If lava is heading to your house you wait until the very last minute. You wait for a miracle.”

Rizza explained that during an eruption in 1992 a priest who lived on the mountain took out a statue of the Madonna, set it on the ground facing the direction of the lava flow and knelt down to pray. Miraculously, the lava stopped 15 meters from the statue and only water was found under it.

Unlike Hawaiian volcanoes, there have been very few deaths from Etna’s eruptions. An article in National Geographic said the reason for this is that the lava moves slowly, so residents have enough time to evacuate. Explosive eruptions are not frequent and when they do occur they are closer to the peak. Etna has even been nicknamed “friendly giant” by the Italians.

Sicilians not only see Etna’s lava flows as non-threatening but welcome the event as a gift. The ash from eruptions fertilizes soil and is even thought to make hair grow.

“We love her because she spews ashes on our plants,” says Rizza. “It is the best fertilizer from the earth, which is energy. If you have a plant that’s dying and you sprinkle some ash on it then that plant is going to look right up at you and say ‘Ciao!’”

The amount of energy released from Etna’s eruptions is astounding. A report in Science Daily said Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is continuously erupting.

“If man could capture the energy from eruptions we would be able to light up the entire earth continent for 30 years,” says Rizza.

The lava flows are unpredictable, but there is one warning sign. Before an eruption Etna starts puffing black smoke. The closest scientist have ever come to a prediction is four days. The last lava flow was in 2001. Harden lava still remains on the premises of the volcano in the form of black rocks.

“There is no pattern. When it erupts, it erupts,” says Rizza. “The volcano never ceases to surprise us.”

Rizza says erupting volcanoes are nothing to worry about, it’s actually a good sign that the earth is functioning just fine.

“As long as volcanoes keep erupting we’re ok,” she says. “It means our planet is still alive, Volcanoes are part of life. We relate Etna to life - not death.”

Sicily

Last Sunday I returned from my nine day excursion of Sicily, a little drop of paradise off the coast of Italy. I spent the week with my photojournalism and travel writing class capturing the character and culture of Sicily and its people. My eyes are still sore from being wide with awe everyday.

On our first full day we ventured to the ancient Greek city of Selinunte. We were blessed with a sunny day, perfect for exploring and taking photos. Even though the temples are now in ruins, the architecture is still a work of art in its tragic beauty. Curiosity lead me and a few friends to journey up the hills surrounding the ruins. The trail is so white it could pass for pure marble. Once at the top I was able to enjoy the scenery with the only sound being the distant hum of bees pollinating.

We spent a entire day in the city of Cefalù, located on the northern coast of Sicily. During my time there, I became enamored with the place. It has friendly residents, peaceful beaches and culture meshed together. Every person I conversed with was patient with my novice Italian speaking skills. Hand gestures and warm smiles helped with the communication process too.

The beaches here weren't crowded with the beauty queens roasting themselves found in the states. The beach goers appeared to be enoying the natural beauty surrounding them. Not acting like a sun sponge face down in the sand.



We were fortunate enough to witness the mesmerizing sight of Mt. Etna, an active volcano. Even though Etna spills out lava every so often, those who live at the base love her. They love how fertile her ash from eruptions make their soil. The last big eruption was in 2001-2002, and there are piles of hardened lava everywhere on the mountain as a result. My only disappointment with the visit to Etna is that we didn't get to stay long enough.

This is only a brief summary of my time in Sicily. I'll post more about my trip later. As hard as I try though, no words can do the wonderful sights and experiences of the country any justice.

From out of the ashes

The summer of 2007 I interned at Worcester Magazine. This is one of the many stories I wrote during my interning period. From out of the ashes Written by Teresa Franco Thursday, 16 August 2007 Artists regain strength — and art — after the Bernat Mill fire By Teresa Franco During the final hours of the fire, the artists of the Bernat Mill complex huddled in a roped-off area and watched their second home burn down to a skeleton of metal poles. A majority of work by these artists became nothing more than a pile of ashes in front of them on Saturday, July 21, when flames took possession of the Mill that had once been an epicenter of a diverse range of activities. "Variety is what made us a great business," artist Laura Cenedella says of the mill. "You could drop your kid off at gymnastics lessons and then walk down the hall to the café and have something to eat." Karin Knapik (second from left) with students from the after-school arts program. Cenedella spent her days at the Mill teaching disabled adults through The Rainbow Pallette TLC program. Her passion for painting began about seven years ago when she was forced to stop working due to a disability, which she discovered to be multiple sclerosis. After a few years of physical therapy, Cenedella's therapist recommended she try painting as a means of easing the symptoms of her illness. "I realized it helped not only physically but emotionally," she says, "I had forgotten who I was. Painting helped me find myself again." Like most of the artists at the Mill, Cenedella lost all her art supplies and the majority of her work in the fire — the exception being four paintings she had been keeping in her house. One of Cenedella's students, fresh out of high school, who was just about ready to start teaching classes of his own, lost a substantial amount of his work to the fire, too. Living only a block away from the Mill, Cenedella witnessed the fire first-hand from her porch after a friend phoned. "I opened the door," she says, "and noticed a huge amount of smoke. I broke down immediately, I started screaming." Cenedella describes the Bernat community as being one big family. "We spent almost every day at the Mill," she says, "so everyone's family got to know everyone else's family." The brick walls of the Mill still stand, but the inside has turned to gray dust and rubble. "Lots of people are still lost," Cenedella says of her fellow members at Bernat, "they don't know where to go or what to do. It's still a shock." Karin Knapik, who lost years of art and journals full of poetry, is trying to conjure up some positive spirit from the unfortunate situation. "It's certainly given me motivation to create more work," she says, "I had two pieces I had been working on that I really wasn't happy with. Since the fire I've revisited the pieces, because it's all I've got now." Knapik, like Cenedella, held classes for low costs through the TLC program. Both women are anxious to find new places to hold their classes, but they are not expecting to get studios with rent as low as Bernat's. Cenedella's and Knapik's surviving paintings are being displayed in an art show that is raising money for those who lost their creative pieces in the fire. Pamela Murphy and Johl DeLorey also feature what is left of their collections. Empty canvases are displayed in tribute to the lost art as well. The show, called Art from the Ashes, is at Alternatives Art Gallery in Uxbridge through September. Those who are willing to help are encouraged to drop off donations of art supplies at the gallery. Currently, the Alternatives Art Gallery has a collage of pictures of what remains of the mill hanging in its windows. Debra Johnson, an employee at Alternatives, says the pictures have captured the attention of the community. "The pictures are really bringing in people," says Johnson, "We've had so many people come in asking what they can do to help." A Web site, www.helpuxbridge.com, has been created in the aftermath of the fire, which lists ways people can get involved in helping out the community. It includes an "Adopt a Business" section, where individuals and organizations can give new supplies and spaces for those affected by the Mill fire, to help them get back on their feet. Links and contact information to hotlines and helpful organizations are also listed. Despite the positive response from the community, the artists still mourn their losses. Knapik points out that she is fortunate enough to not have been financially dependent on her artwork, but empathizes with those who are. "That is the most heart-wrenching," she says of those who make a living from their artwork. "This is their life, this is what they create. It's disheartening."

Regression of Rights

This is a column of mine that was published in UMass-Amherst's newspaper the Daily Collegian in April 2007. The published version of the story can be found here.


Purity Balls, a fairly new phenomena in the evangelical community, take the term "daddy's little girl" a little too literally. The ball is a practice in which fathers vow to protect their daughters' virginity until the day they hand her over to her husband on her wedding day.

With the time, money and effort put into the ornate décor of the ballroom, it could easily be mistaken for a high school prom except the girls are escorted by their fathers rather than teenage boys. The girls dress up in princess-like outfits including satin gloves that go up to their elbows. Their hair is pinned up in intricate up-dos with a few curls loose and a tiara holding the ensemble together.

If you are to wander onto the Web site of the founders' of this event, you will see a video of delicate looking ballerinas prancing around in angelic tutus around a giant cross while the fathers watch from the side. Images of girls doing the tango and being spun and dipped by their fathers also appear in the video.

The evening begins with the host of the event shouting "Are you ready to war for your daughter's purity?" to the men in the crowd. During the ceremony the fathers and daughters sign a contract that starts off "I (daughter's name)'s father choose before God to cover my daughter as her authority and protection in the area of purity."

This tradition was started in Colorado about nine years ago, and a few other states - mostly in the conservative south - have started to host these ceremonies. This summer, these Purity Balls will spread their Victorian-age venom all the way to the northeast. In June, New York City will hold its first annual Purity Ball.

Though the intentions of fatherly love are a bit endearing, a large portion of the girls who participate in these Purity balls are barely old enough to understand what sex is. Therefore, they are in no way ready to agree to something they do not comprehend. Their fathers have got their morals completely warped. While they are trying to prevent young men from taking advantage of their daughters' bodies, these dads are doing the same to their daughter's underdeveloped minds. The fathers use the fact that if given a pretty dress, a crown and a night to be treated like a princess, a little girl will agree to anything as bait for girls to go along with the agreement. These men are not realizing a girl's sex life is personal - to have those rights as a sexual being taken away from her at a vulnerable age is an utter disgrace.

Teaching young girls to make wise decisions sexually is one thing, but to hold a ceremony where she signs off her sexual choices as a woman for her father to decide reeks of oppression. It's understandable that it's a masculine urge for a dad to want to shelter his daughter from the cruel intentions of boys, but to completely strip away a freedom women in the United States are fortunate enough to have is pure discrimination.

The followers of these pledges believe this is a way for girls to have more self respect for themselves than girls who go sleeping around. However, a girl who agrees to the pledge could possibly grow up thinking she is to have no sexual desires at all. It implies that her husband has full control of her sexual urges and she is to only participate in sexual relations under her husband's will. Her life as a sexual being will be protected by her father as a girl and then owned by her husband when she weds. How is this self-respect?

This Puritan-like practice is a punch in the stomach to all the women warriors who have made their lives into a mission for us to have as many equal rights as possible. It's a stumble backward in the progress that has been made for in the area of women's rights. This does not mean a woman who wants to save herself for her husband on her wedding night should be looked down upon - as long as the decision is something she truly feels strongly about. One she is choosing on her own.

What these fathers do not realize is that not only are they putting restrictions on their daughters' sex lives but her role in society in general. A father who makes this vow to keep his daughter pure wants his daughter to grow up to be a strong-willed and independent woman. How can she believe this if one of the most important decisions for her body as a woman is not hers to make?