Women sit quietly with words – Naomi Shihab Nye
Sometimes it is hard to name our own truth, to speak it. And in those times, we turn to poets. As if they alone have captured the true function of art–to provide us metaphors that make deep truths of life bearable, knowable, speakable. Walking with my friend Kichom once as …
Women give up their light – Mileva Mari?
A hip hip hooray out to little Albert Einstein on his birthday today. As he knows better than anyone, age is relative (har-de-har-har). So let’s send a shout out to the man whose name is synonymous with genius. And let’s remind him that he owes his first wife, Mileva Mari?, …
Women are animated – Lisa Simpson
It’s no secret in our household that Mr Brilliant thinks Jimmy Neutron’s mother is hot. I think he also might have a mad crush on Marge Simpson, but I can’t be too sure. And so, conversation at dinner the other night turned from Fermat’s last theorem (or was it something …
Dot the “i”
To distract you from the fact that I’m behind in posting another profile of a woman for my Women’s History Month project (working on one entitled "Women are animated," in case you’re wondering), here’s Emma’s Big Tuba Dream. I’ll give you one guess as to which instrument dots the "i." …
(Real) Women play the tuba – Emma Ptak
When I was in the sixth grade, as soon as I was eligible, I joined the band. Girls played flute and clarinet, and boys played trombone and trumpet in those ancient days, long before sliced bread or ball point pens were invented and back when Chicken Pot Pies were New! …
Women need their own room – Virginia Woolf
What is the meaning of life? … a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years. The great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark. –Virginia Woolf, To the …
Women speak truth – Eve Ensler
Several years ago, I heard Eve Ensler was coming to Charlotte, North Carolina, just a few hours’ drive from here, to perform her new play, “The Good Body.” Ensler’s internationally acclaimed work, “The Vagina Monologues,” continues to be performed around the world, and her V-Day organization is a force to …
Women wake us up – Tracy Chapman
For weeks, I talked about it. I bought tickets the first day they went on sale. They were on my bedside table so I would see them before I went to sleep and when I woke up. (No, I’m not the least bit obsessive and I thank you for asking). …
Women make music – Joan Armatrading
If there is one musician who represents my college years more than any other, singing songs I still remember all the lyrics to, wrapping me up in her voice, it is Joan Armatrading. That voice, those lyrics, the sound. A deep, deep love for her. I wanted to be her, …
Join me at the Summer Institute…
Each summer for more than a decade, I’ve traveled to gorgeous Portland, Oregon, to teach at the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication. Culture Camp, we call it. Faculty and students from around the world create a fantastic residential community, on the Reed College campus, centered around cross-cultural, diversity, and other …
