A poem by Melissa St. Clair: State of Maryland, Dorchester County On her head was a bounty Be Free or Die Across the miles, she did fly Following the drinking gourd in the sky A small summary: I share on the behalf of my friend and colleague Melissa St. Clair. Melissa and I recently went…
When I got ready to move back to Vermont after finishing grad school, I knew the one thing I would miss would be the metro park down the street from my apartment. It had become an old and trusted friend, another home, a place to center myself and be. Something about my solitude and comfort…
Fast forward to my early twenties and I found myself in the safety of the trees once more, finding a path to hope in the wake of my sexual assault. I was in grad school, living for the first time on my own and still a long way from home. It was a year and…
From relationships taking a turn for the worst; to crappy jobs and scenarios; to other internal interpersonal conflicts, I’ve spent a lot of time ignoring my instincts. What have I learned from this? Two things: 1) trust your gut; 2) when the Universe calls, listen. The times I ignored my gut-feelings about something always ended…
We gathered at the top of the hill in the building called the WIG, taking off our shoes on the porch and entering barefoot. The pine boards were cool beneath the arches of my feet. Last year at this time, we had joined Otha Day for a drumming circle. There was sisterhood woven together with…
If someone had said to me that attending a facilitated session called Dance, Draw, Write would overwhelm me with emotion, or that I would rediscover a part of my childhood spirit, I would be extremely skeptical. There I was Sunday morning, the last day of women’s weekend, saddened by the knowledge that in a few…
I was supposed to get to camp much earlier Friday morning than I had arrived. As that morning went, nothing was going according to plan. By the time I did check-in, I had already missed the morning sessions, but I had arrived in time for lunch where my weekend would be kicking off with a…
This is the first post in a series of reflections about attending YWCA VT Women’s Weekend. 2017 was a terrible year. Liken to a country music song or Lifetime movie except no one ended up in jail. Just about everything else happened. I had a miscarriage. My marriage fell apart and resulted in divorce. As…