This first entry for Your Voices is also my first post to ANY blog. I'm a writer of books: a novel, a memoir, a few plays, and a book of essays. My lifetime average is eight years per project. I'm interested in more aspects of life and our common culture than I'm able to capture in books, so I'm glad to have a place to pursue those thoughts. The notion of writing a blog – where people write back! – is strange and interesting to me. I want to see this thing in action….
Here are some of the subjects you can expect me to be thinking about on Your Voices.
- "Reading the world as a woman" – I thank writer Julie Landsman for that simple and powerful notion. I scan a wide range of sources for news that matters to me as a woman. I'll pass along the links, news, and controversies that compel me to want to start a conversation.
- Sexual and domestic violence, trauma and the mysteries of healing – Since the publication of Telling, a memoir about integrating the effects of a violent rape into my life, I've been speaking, advocating, and thinking about sexual violence. I'm interested in why it's such a struggle for the culture to effectively grapple with this enormous public health problem. But we live in exciting times. I'll look at the groundbreaking sexual violence prevention initiatives getting going in our state.
- Raising boys who become men.
- Creativity, writing, and Minnesota's hotbed of literary mining and manufacturing.
- And a little of what I'm pretty good at these days - screaming at the TV….
Let's start with this final one…. I spent last week with two friends on an island. They are geniuses of pop culture, my weak suit. To show my great flexibility as a human being, I agreed to watch the season finale of "The Bachelor," and then to read about the season finale of "The Bachelor" in the issue of People that these pop culture mavens purchased for our return flight. (I must note that in-flight reading also included the poems of Martin Espada, Lawrence Sutin's A Postcard Memoir, and Oscar Wilde's Portrait of Dorian Grey. These are VERY flexible mavens….) Here's what reading People last week, as a woman, looked like to me.
