In 1855, the Boston Intelligencer said of Walt Whitman: “The author should be kicked out from all decent society as below the level of the brute.” Taking this as a quote regarding all writers, Alicia Bones is trying to live, write, and teach while keeping decent company and staying above the law. She will teach English in Yantai, China through June of this year, and hopefully legitimize her life in grad school starting next fall.