Anthology: Katie Ford Hall

This one is mine!  It is part of a writing project that I just completed a writing project in my quest for certification through the Feminist Leadership Academy.  My project covers the 15 months I spent in breast cancer treatment, how it transformed me, how I transformed it and the ways both regular writing and WWfaC helped me to make meaning out of it all.  I used my semester in the Tuesday morning class to write and edit what became a large writing project.  I worked extensively with my very capable and supportive small group.

An excerpt of one of my poems is below.  I also read the poem in our Tuesday Morning Class public readaround on Nov. 17.  Please click the link for the entire poem.  Thank you for reading it!!

Tissue Paper Ghosts

It was winter before I noticed the trees,

white bark twisting, tangling, hanging over

the river like a dare.  Brown knobby scars

face this crumbling road, amputated witnesses

to a battle lost to men protecting the lines of power.

>>read entire poem here>> 

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A New Experiment - Online Anthology - Starting with Toni Lackner

Along with being one of the Assistant Directors and an FLA graduate, I am also a member of the Tuesday morning class. We had a stunning Public Read-Around this morning and it is hard to believe that this term is coming to an end.

It is WWfaC tradition to put together an anthology at the end of each semester. Usually, we all bring in copies of our pieces: one for each of our classmates and one for the anthology. Our anthologies are available to the public, but in binder at the Cincinnati Writing Center.

One of my goals is to monitor, upgrade and improve our online presence, both to improve access and understanding of WWfaC. To that end, I am pleased to chronicle the progress of our Tuesday Morning Anthology here.

I'd first like to thank all of the writers for their generosity in sharing their writing.  If you are still interested in attending a Read-Around, call 513-272-1171 for details.   

Below are excepts from two piece from Tuesday morning writer Toni Lackner. Click the links to read more:

MEMORIES OF MY FATHER

My father died when I was five
But so strong the memories…

I’m peeking into the bathroom
That connects our bedrooms
I see him tall and strong
Shaving with a straight razor
click for more

ELEANOR

I walk in her footsteps
No formal gardens here
Surrounding her cottage, Val-Kil,
But nature as plain and solid
And unadorned as she was

On a bridge crossing a stream
The gurgling water reminds me
Through the cycle of nature
Somehow we are all connected
click for more

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A Big Thank You and News about Sami

Thank you to the hundreds of people who turned out for Mary's two book events - one at WWfaC and one at Joseph-Beth Booksellers.

Couldn't make it?  You can still purchase a personalized copy by clicking HERE.  (pssst - they make great gifts too!)

Sami Schalk, a member of our community who joined us as a young women is currently a graduate student at Notre Dame.  See THIS NEWS STORY about how she is taking WWfaC into the world -- in this case, working at a Juvenile Detention Center.

From the story:

The teenagers inside the South Bend Juvenile Correctional Facility are easily judged. After all, they are locked up for one reason or another. But the young men – removed from their hometowns, their families and their schools – might surprise you

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A Special Invitation

Please join us this Saturday, November 7th to celebrate Mary's book release.  Mary will lead us in a short experience of writing in community as an instrument of social and individual healing... followed by CAKE and CHAMPAGNE.

Click here to see the Evite.

Read what people are saying:

Women Writing for (a) Change: A Guide to Creative Transformation

“An invitation for us to personally explore, through writing, the author's belief ‘in the power of language, truth-telling and stories as instruments of healing.’ This book is a true instrument of healing for women, our children and our disconnected society.”

Margaret J. Wheatley
Author of Leadership and the New Science and Turning to One Another

“Women Writing for (a) Change is a wonderful book full of insight and clarity. It supports us in our efforts to write and to be, with honesty and acceptance as writers and as human beings. This is a book to be read many times over.”

Sharon Salzberg
Author of Lovingkindness

“An opening into the transformational power of writing . . . equal parts journal, poetry, admonition, exercises you can do, and insight into the gift of the feminine.”

Peter Block
Author of Community: The Structure of Belonging

“Using descriptive prose, exercises for the reader, and her poetry and essays about her life, Brosmer’s book embodies her sense of a female aesthetic.”

Marge Piercy
Novelist, Poet, Memoirist

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