Happiness. It's relative.
The room is full of nuns. They’re easy to spot with their short hair and pastel blouses, elastic waist pants, and sensible shoes. More than that, they have an aura of calm and camaraderie that I think comes from having been together a long… Continue Reading “Held”
Self-doubt and second-guessing. It has often seemed to me to be a woman’s thing. Thinking with certainty about something and then the conviction unraveling, a thread at a time. Sometimes, someone’s comment or question starts it, sometimes, the self-doubt and second-guessing just unfurls on… Continue Reading “One’s Own Fire”
When the motivational speaker told the audience of job-seeking women that they each should have a power network of friends, a woman in the front of the room raised her hand and said, “I was in an accident eight years ago, I’ve never had… Continue Reading “Group Hug”
Tomorrow night I am going to the campus of the small state university where, as a sophomore 47 years ago, I discovered that I was pregnant and agreed reluctantly to have an illegal and unsafe abortion, the effects of which hung on me for… Continue Reading “Five Things Young Women Should Know about Life before Roe v. Wade”
Shoes so beautiful they should be strung on a gold necklace and worn with a perfect black dress, buried for eternity, too wicked in life, the pain of walking remembered but now forgiven. _____________________ 33 words inspired by a photo of my beloved red… Continue Reading “To the Grave”
It has taken an extraordinarily long time but I have had it with being oppressed. More specifically, I am done with thinking I’m oppressed or thinking that all women are oppressed, lamenting that, worrying about it. Even though it’s true and in extremes beyond… Continue Reading “I Don’t Have a Blowtorch but I Do Have a Hair Dryer”
8 of 18 It’s enough that they did it first. They didn’t have to do it right. Margaret Thatcher was the first woman to be Prime Minister of the UK after elbowing her way through layers of rock hard, calcified male privilege. She went… Continue Reading “Margaret Thatcher and Shirley Muldowney”