“Daydreams, books and food got me to 49; I’m praying the next fifty years are the ones in which I get to be happy!” Dr. Niama L. Williams chuckles as she gets the hang of intuitive counseling, her new vocation after years as a part-time professor of English and literature. She read through the lines and found out that Toi Derricotte was one smart cookie when she wrote her dissertation; she explained those howls of pain as the eloquent, multi-layered poetry they were and she was glad Derricotte refused to remain silent—something Dr. Ni’s own family wishes she would do. Weathering sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional neglect, and the “mean kids” in grammar school to overcome, Dr. Ni has three degrees in literature, one in creative writing, and 13 published books to her credit. Overachiever, schmoverachiever, she says; turning pain into art that might keep someone from leaping off of a bridge instead of into a new life is the only work worth doing as far as she’s concerned.