Honoring the ‘Women Among Us’

Talking to Crows annual campaign.

As a female business-owner and artist, International Women’s Day and their 2017 theme, Be Bold for Change, means a lot to me. Just a few decades ago, I might not have been able to be a female sole proprietor. Its funny how quickly we can forget the flaws of our past culture…and how those flaws still linger in pockets of our world.

I am so thankful for the women who have paved the way before me. The powerful female writers, business-owners, mothers, scientists, actors, filmmakers, and directors, activists, and thinkers have earned my gratitude and made my life and work easier, more successful, and just. This month, during Women’s History Month, I am reminded of their sacrifice that has provided my privilege.

Whenever I can, I try to pay that privilege forward to other women (and deserving men as well). I recently found a few women doing great things for our community who are also paying it forward.

Pacific Northwest writer and suffragette, Ella Higginson

Stacy Reynolds and Cassidy Young of female-majority owned, Bellingham-based video production company Talking to Crows has launched a new annual campaign: Women Among Us. Each day in March, they recognize one woman from our community that is making history right now. I was delighted to write two articles about this campaign, one for the print publication, Southside Living, and another shared at WhatcomTalk.com. The Southside Living article focused on Magdelena Theisen of Magdalena’s Creperie in Fairhaven, WA and the WhatcomTalk.com article highlighted Western Washington University Professor of English, Dr. Laura Laffrado.

I am delighted to be one of the amazing, powerful women being recognized in this year’s campaign. You can honor the women who’ve come before us and support ‘Women Among Us’ by taking a look and following their Facebook page, Instagram account, and Website posts and sharing their campaign with others.
I’m also honored to be working with CASCADIA International Women’s Film Festival. Their event on April 20-23 showcases films by women directors from around the world. They also present workshops, networking events, and panel discussions that aim to promote women’s education and the Bellingham, Whatcom County, WA area as a filmmaking and viewing destination that supports the local economy.

Supporting incredible women through my writing, work, and actions are so very important to me. Thank you for helping me honor the incredible women in our community and world.

“The Spirit of a Woman” Anthology

A friend of mine, who also happens to be a journalism professor at Western Washington University, Carolyn Nielsen, loaned me an anthology that contains an essay by one of my neighbors, who also happens to be a writer, Colleen Haggerty. The anthology of personal essays, The Spirit of a Woman: Stories to Empower and Inspire, includes stories of survival and strength by women from wide-ranging backgrounds.

Colleen’s essay recounts how she lost her leg in an auto accident at the age of 17 and how she came to forgive, some 15 years later, the man who did it. Her story was very well written and vivid without being gruesome.

I met Colleen some years ago but we haven’t talked in a long time. She probably doesn’t even remember me. Our town is small though, and I see her occasionally at our neighborhood school. Reading her story about her most intimate feelings around such a difficult subject has made me want to reconnect with her, to tell her everything I liked about her essay.

To me, the feeling that I’m getting to know the writer behind the story is part of the appeal of reading memoir and personal essay, and maybe even reality TV.

I’m going to make the effort to reintroduce myself to Colleen when I get the chance again soon. One of my own essays will appear in an anthology in October 2011, Easy to Love but Hard to Raise: Real Parents, Challenging Kids, True Stories. I’m eager to pick her brain about the process. I will be writing about my learning process as an author in an anthology here on this blog as we go along so check back often. I’m excited for the opportunity to learn more about its marketing and promotion, an area I’m just delving into.

Have you ever been in an anthology? What wisdom can you share?

Have a safe and wonderful New Year’s holiday.

Lorraine Wilde