Amanda Knox has a book deal - and hopefully a chance to pull her loving parents out of the debt they plunged into when they lived through her four years of incarceration. The legal fees, the travel expenses, the cost of supporting themselves while seeking all means possible to save their daughter, cost Amanda’s family $$$.

But the end of this nightmare offers redemption. The money will help a family regain its financial footing, but more importantly for Amanda, the chance to write her story, to write through the terror, confusion, manipulation, long days- months- years, the process of safely stepping back in time to convert experiences and emotions to words, will bring an emotional healing and wholeness that no other therapy could possibly provide.

Amanda is a writer, and as all writers know: writing can save your life. Perhaps, that is exactly what Amanda already did.

(S-R archives photo)

 The Amanda Knox appeals trial will soon yield its verdict: will her conviction be overturned, allowing her to come home to Seattle? When I was a woman of 20, I spent a year in Florence, Italy, as a college student.  Our class of American students, 92 of us, traveled, studied, experimented, took risks and immersed ourselves in Italian culture – a culture we did not always understand.  Many students drank way too much for their own safety. Some students easily hitchhiked, dated and traveled with casual or instant acquaintances.  We had no clue of any danger to us. After all, we knew what we were doing. When I recently viewed a lovely photo collage of our year there, my first reaction was: “We were so young and innocent!”

Amanda Knox is no different from the 92 Florentine students.  What happened to Amanda could easily have happened to one of our students. Amanda innocently traveled to a lovely country to learn its language and its customs. Unfortunately, the biggest part of her education has been to learn about its (unjust) justice system.

My prayers and hope are for her release and her return home.

(AP photo)