She Writes

Editors Picks
Editor's Picks--Week of October 13

This week's highlights from The Community Blog. Courage and the Path of Passion by Marigold Kim Sing I've just read the piece in 'How She Does It' by Courtney Martin, and was struck by how much bravery seems to be a requirement in order to acheive the extraordinary, and possibly just in order to express one's authentic self. I started to write a comment about being inspired by her courage, and then I realised that actually I was scared by it.....and by my own cowardice. Read more here. Young Voters Are Apathetic? Look Closer. by Kevin Camp Some incumbent Democrats in danger of being voted out of office are attempting to lean heavily on the youth vote this election. I applaud anyone's effort to reach out to that particular group, though I have to say the act seems tinged with desperation rather than genuine, lasting outreach. Voting demographics must be cultivated and allowed to flourish with time, not reached for when desperately needed. Considering this attitude, I find it unsurprising that few politicians can rely on such a crucial group. Instead of throwing one's hands up or lecturing in hopes of creating guilt and shame, I argue that politicians, pundits, and columnists need to look at the subject very differently. Read more here. Try Networking in Color by Liz Kitchens Running from meeting to meeting, checking off the to-do list- that isn’t really living. Discovering the playful side of life. Spreading joy. Being colorful...clever...creative. Now that’s living! This is post two of my tour through closets and cabinets illustrating what Be Brave. Lose the Beige looks like to me. Even though BBLB isn’t just about color, today’s post is. BBLB argues that running from meeting to meeting, checking off the to-do lists, etc. isn’t really living...it is, however, a fact of life. We do run from Parent-teacher sessions to board meetings and on to client conferences. So, let’s accept the inevitable and try to have a little fun with it. Why not try wearing something really fun when you are making the meeting rounds...as an example, try wearing colorful tights. I have and they single handedly make the meeting more fun for everyone involved. Last week I attended a women’s networking function at a law firm. Now even the word, networking makes me cringe. Read more here. On Being From Another Language by Amalia Pistilli Conrad This post was stimulated by another, on Maria Clara Paulino's blog which is full of wonderful reflections on estrangement and being "in-between" two languages, two places, two cultures. She is Portuguese and I am Italian, but I can relate to her musings in a familiar way. In the post, she writes on the use and abuse of the word "love" across cultures—how in her native Portuguese language it is taken very seriously and it means a very specific kind of affection (as it does in my native Italian); while in America, it is often just thrown there at the end of a letter just to mean a slightly more intimate form of salutation. Read more here. The Unemployed You: Battling Through the Waiting Game (Part Two) by Gwendolyn M. Ward A couple months after being downsized, current and former employees were still angry, complaining and blaming. I still didn’t engage in it because bitterness needs an expiration date, plus it dominates your life whether you realize it or not. It is also a toxic tool in a job search or interview. When someone draws a line through your name, you can pick up the pen to write a new chapter or continue drawing the line by being stuck on something you can’t change. I understood a grieving process was needed and I also experienced some anxiety, but being bitter wasn’t helping. No matter how optimistic you are, the longer you are unemployed the greater chance you will run into frustrations, insecurities, disappointments and self-doubt. Since this is part of the journey, the challenge is deciding how much of it to keep on your drive. If you aren’t seeing progress, you may need to change lanes, especially when the familiar lanes aren’t taking you where you need to go. Read more here. Climbing Kilimanjaro by Arwa Mahmoud With a team of 26 people from different walks of life, I believe I began my first steps along an adventurous road ahead of me. The Right to Climb expedition was led by Omar Samra, Egypt’s first climber and youngest Arab to summit Mount Everest, and it aimed at raising awareness for the mentally challenged in Egypt. Being a brother of two sisters with severe mental disability, Omar’s devotion to the cause and his enormous skill and determination were effortlessly transmitted to all of us. All 26 of us miraculously made it up to Uhuru Peak at 5895 m altitude, the highest point in Mount Kilimanjaro. It was a challenging and rewarding journey all at once. I had my sorrow and happiness moments, my doubt nights and euphoria days, so I thought I’d share it all. Below is my daily journal on Mount Kilimanjaro. Read more here. I Am Not Perfect by Mansi Bhatia I am not curvy or lady-like in physical appearance or mannerisms. I am ambitious and have a strong sense of self-worth. I snore I hate shopping I don't like socializing. Read more here. Why Are You Single?: A Damn Good Question with Many Inadequate Answers by Meadow Braun I have no fond memories of my first kiss. It took place at an accidental and totally against the rules house party in my own house, while my parents were away in New York City and I was supposed to be staying at my grandparents’. I remember the wet, sloppy exchange as drunken and awkward, with both of us squeezed into an armchair just outside my kitchen. I don’t remember wanting to kiss him, but I remember wanting to have been kissed. He was white and Italian, ethnically-speaking the type of person of whom there was a plethora in Albany. I was brown-skinned and curly-haired with white parents, not exactly the norm. At thirteen, some of my friends were already starting to have sex and I was scared to death of being kissed. It seemed like a decent time to get it over with. Read more here. Before You Send Out That Story... by Chery Snell You’ve spent hours, days, weeks, perhaps months, crafting your short story. You’ve shaped a narrative of plot, setting, conflict, point of view, character, and theme, and taken it through three or more revisions. You’ve received critical feedback from at least one trusted reader, and read your story aloud, at least to yourself in the mirror. You tell yourself, “All systems GO!” Not so fast. Before you send the freshly printed out, spell-checked and proofread story to the literary magazine you’ve carefully researched for type of content and style, and whose submission guidelines you’ve followed to the letter, check it against this list of basics: Read more here. Outgrowing "The Box" Part III: How to Know When It's Time to Go by Cyndi Briggs A few years ago I dated a guy who met most of the items on my "laundry list". You know the list. We all have one. In this case, my guy was: tall, kind, responsible, employed, funny. We had decent chemistry and he treated my dog well. There was really no reason not to date him. Except... when he showed up at my house unannounced, sometimes I didn't want to answer the door. And when he went out of town I felt secretly relieved. And when he started talking about moving in together, and marriage, I immediately developed tummy pains and wanted to throw up. Yet for over a year, I allowed my "logical" mind and that stupid laundry list to override the greater intelligence of my heart and body. And it's not just me. Sadly, in Western cultures, worship of reason has eclipsed our other gifts of intelligence. We tend to ignore emotions or physical symptoms in the process of decision making, or in the evolution of our lives. Happily this disparity is gradually righting itself. Read more here. Under by Amie Steffen They sat along the bank of the Mississippi River on the Illinois side, staring at the houses on the bluffs and the sprawling downtown of their city on the other side and picking grass absentmindedly, like one does when waiting for something. "Thanks for hanging out for a while," she said. Her brother split a piece of grass in two with his fingernails. "I'm only here until Jenny meets you." She didn't look at him. She hardly saw her brother these days. Instead, she gazed across the river, the sun descending on the opposite side, casting shadows and dimming the sparkle of the rushing, wide river. "You could stay, you know." Read more here. Dear Twenty-Something Self... by Carol Hirko Sunday, October 10, 2010 Dear Twenty-Something Self, Oh, how I have missed you! The freedom to make last-minute plans for a night out, size eight pants, lack of hips from four kids, some semblance of financial freedom, only cooking when the mood hit, and being responsible to just yourself. You had it good kid. I am writing to let you know that I am finally ready to let you go. Its been tough though, I have to admit. And my, it has taken a long time. Twenty years in fact! What have realized is that I have made a life for myself that is just as full-filling, only not as what now could be perceived as less selfish. Somehow along the way I lost track of time and myself. Read more here. The Art of Being AimeeLovesYou by Aimee Loves You On 10/01/10 I took the "PRIVATE" feature off of my new website. Now it's 10 days later and I feel like forever has passed by. I've had so many feelings this week about so many things in my life. Working on this new website & giving my career & life path a massive shake-up has really put me on a roller coaster. Sometimes I can't believe it's so much fun & other times I'm hanging on screaming "Nooooooo!", feeling scared to death waiting to see what becomes of my fate. “Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Read more here. We're always looking for new, fresh ideas and strong writing to inspire and indulge. Keep writing!