I've been writing a blog for almost six years, in Moscow and now New York City. My postings have drifted farther apart in the last few months as I have devoted more time to writing my book, Labyrinth Journeys ~ 50 States, 51 Stories, about my two-year journey to walk a labyrinth in each state and interview its creator -- all women. The writing continues, with a goal for completion of the draft by April 1st (no April Fool's joke intended.)
I've recently considered discontinuing the blog altogether. My heart just hasn't been in it. Until this morning. I was listening to The Writer's Almanac, as I do every morning as I put on my make-up, when Garrison Keillor began talking about Lucretia Mott.
"This day in 1793, Lucretia Mott was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts. She quit her job as a teacher at a Quaker boarding school near Poughkeepsie, New York when she found that she was being paid less than half of what the male teachers all made, simply because she was a woman. The experience sparked her first interest in women's rights. In 1848 she and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the first convention for women's rights in Seneca Falls, New York.
It was Lucretia Mott who said, 'The world has never yet seen a truly great and virtuous nation, because in the degradation of women, the very fountains of life are poisoned at their source.' "
The day Lucretia chose to step away from her job, she stepped toward something greater. She began her own journey.
Journey. The idea captivates me! It captivates me more each day as I sit at my computer and write about another woman's journey… and contemplate my own. I pay closer attention when people share their stories. I even watched The Force Awakens with new eyes. Where is Luke in his journey? Is Rey's journey following a similar path?
By the time Mr. Keillor's soothing voice had read the final Poem for the Day, I had a plan.
I will continue the blog - weekly - on Mondays. I will write about Journey. Perhaps someone's journey, or about Journey itself. I will see what surfaces, and for how long. A journey is ever-changing.
Please join me.
Today, I begin by thanking you, Lucretia.
For the journey you began for women's rights over 200 years ago.
I wonder, though...what did you learn about yourself on the journey?
I've recently considered discontinuing the blog altogether. My heart just hasn't been in it. Until this morning. I was listening to The Writer's Almanac, as I do every morning as I put on my make-up, when Garrison Keillor began talking about Lucretia Mott.
"This day in 1793, Lucretia Mott was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts. She quit her job as a teacher at a Quaker boarding school near Poughkeepsie, New York when she found that she was being paid less than half of what the male teachers all made, simply because she was a woman. The experience sparked her first interest in women's rights. In 1848 she and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the first convention for women's rights in Seneca Falls, New York.
It was Lucretia Mott who said, 'The world has never yet seen a truly great and virtuous nation, because in the degradation of women, the very fountains of life are poisoned at their source.' "
The day Lucretia chose to step away from her job, she stepped toward something greater. She began her own journey.
Journey. The idea captivates me! It captivates me more each day as I sit at my computer and write about another woman's journey… and contemplate my own. I pay closer attention when people share their stories. I even watched The Force Awakens with new eyes. Where is Luke in his journey? Is Rey's journey following a similar path?
By the time Mr. Keillor's soothing voice had read the final Poem for the Day, I had a plan.
I will continue the blog - weekly - on Mondays. I will write about Journey. Perhaps someone's journey, or about Journey itself. I will see what surfaces, and for how long. A journey is ever-changing.
Please join me.
Today, I begin by thanking you, Lucretia.
For the journey you began for women's rights over 200 years ago.
I wonder, though...what did you learn about yourself on the journey?
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| Lucretia Mott (painting by Joseph Kyle - 1842) |
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