hello.
I think I might be breaking some kind of sisterhood code when I write that the movie “Wonder Woman” got on my nerves a little bit. (Fun fact: More people unsubscribed from my blog after I admitted that I did not like the book Little Women than any have ever unsubscribed in the 13 years I’ve been blogging. I wonder what will happen now. Get it? Wonder? Wonder Woman? IS THIS THING ON.)
I don’t understand why there is an island full of only women protected by a big bubble, and that they are training for a war that might or might not happen. Why are there no men on this island? How are there children? Who decided this was a good idea for women to take care of all household and daily tasks, give birth to and raise children, plus train for battle, all the while looking fabulous?
Maybe I have major battle and domestic insecurities, but this premise makes me real uncomfortable.
But I am writing this on Independence Weekend, after having watched “Hamilton,” and I think maybe the setting Wonder Woman grew up in could perhaps be a metaphor for what women are up against at times (maybe all the time?), and I am thinking that it doesn’t take a perfect person to claim independence, but it takes a courageous one.
In one scene, Wonder Woman is alone, and testing her speed and her strength. She’s clearly playing. She looks happy and kind of in awe of what it is she can do. She leaps over a moat, or a pond, or maybe it’s an ocean, and she catches herself on the side of a castle wall. She’s surprised at this feat (as she should be – I feel pretty awesome when I can jump – and hang – on the monkey bars), and for a second revels in it.
Then, she falls. And it is in the fall that she realizes how strong she actually is. She clutches to the side of the wall again, this time, shoving her very strong fingers through stone in order to make a space for herself, and to begin climbing.
I tell writers I work with that a good first chapter has the main character launching into a new situation or world that, if she chooses to go, she will not see the world the same way she used to. What works now will not work anymore. Or, it will work differently. I argue that for Wonder Woman, this moment was that pivotal moment. Yes, there was a battle after this, but this moment by herself, starting out with play, and then learning how strong she actually was, is the seed that blossomed into the message that she needs to burst the bubble and go see about the rest of the world and her place in it.
It’s so easy to take lessons from superheroes and it’s equally easy to let them go because, “I am not that strong,” or, “I’ll never have her abs or hair,” or, “I just really need a cape, and then I’ll be fine.” So here’s a story about a real life Wonder Woman that I had the honor of writing about for The Banner. The Reverend Denise Posie, and I had a lovely conversation a while back on calling and specifically the importance of women embracing, developing, and sharing their gifts with the world. For Denise, it all starts with curiosity. She was working in the corporate world, and loving it, but became curious about something else, and so left. Today, she’s served the Christian Reformed Church in different ways for 21 years (her current title is Director of Leadership Diversity).
It might not be as cinematic, but this is a falling from the castle walls, cutting through stone to make space for yourself so you can keep climbing moment. Since talking with Denise, I have slowly backed away from feeling bad about not fitting into teaching how I used to, and instead considered what about teaching I do love and how I can do more of that. Denise reminded me of the power (and healing) there is in using my curiosity. She might be retiring, but her work is far from over.
Writing last month:
Denise Posie, Director of Leadership Diversity to Retire
read well.
In June, I read, Nantucket Sisters Nancy Thayer, a great beach read. Ms Thayer is the chocolate and vanilla swirl cone dipped in rainbow sprinkles that I eagerly order at DQ in the summer. I think everyone needs an author like that in their lives. They’re playful, trustworthy, and they help us with the tougher stories many of us must live and read. Stories like Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi. Hadley, Harper, and I all read that one this month (Jesse has been assigned it as well and yes I did write “assigned” – some aspects of teaching are hard to let go of). Mr. Reynolds is also a trustworthy author, and he demands a lot of the reader, which is a sign, I think, of hope and of trust that those who read the book will be changed by it. I also read The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo which is fantastic. I think it’s too early for Harper to read it, but there are many things I want to say to Hadley that are in this book, and so this one too, shall be assigned to her. One thing in particular that I love about this book is the subtle Eve storyline. (If you read it, take note of when apples appear, what happens, who gives them to Xiomara, how she feels about them, etc. Here is an Eve I tried to write about in Twirl. Here is an Eve I believe in.) If you liked Brown Girl Dreaming, On the Come Up, Speak, or True Believer, this is a book you’ll love, too.
Working my way through Jeanine Hathaway’s Long After Lauds which was one of the winners of the 2020 Catholic Book Award. I’m also reading You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit by James K. A. Smith
offerings.
In September, the lovely Sonya Spillman and I will be teaching Reading Well, Writing Well: Building A Writer’s Toolbox. I’ll also be teaching Do Not Take My Picture, and Do Not Write About Me On Your Blog: Writing Motherhood When the Children are Older
I’m on my second round of a Critique Course, that has sold out, but I plan to offer this monthly, and the third round will happen in August. And of course, my one-on-one coaching services are always available. Check them out here and here.
Don’t forget you can always pick up my Writing Pep Talks. Volume I here, and Volume 2, here. There is also the 40 Day Writing Challenge. These are all instant downloads.
local.
Here we are at Frita Batidos on what happened to be the last day of the furlough. Remember the days of the furlough? Is it fair to say we can look back on that nostalgically given our current situation? Well, anyway. that day, our meal was on the house. But that’s not why I love this place. Here’s how good the food is: it is the only place in the world where I will enter, see how many people are lined up, and that there is zero seating, and say, “That’s OK. I’ll eat standing up.” It is also the only place where I feel comfortable sitting at these long community tables eating next to strangers and here’s why: the food is so good that everyone is so happy we all forget we’re sitting next to people we don’t know (also, everyone is too busy eating so NO NEED FOR SMALL TALK).
Of course, we can’t do that now, but Frita Batidos is still available for pick up, and I can tell you the food is just as good sitting on Washington and people watching. Or, sitting on Ashley and looking at Bill’s Beer Garden and thinking, “We may as well just go there next.”
twirl girl and the teacher.
Anna Jordan on Twirl:
In Callie’s first introduction to clothing, she provides a foundation for her readers. Giving us insight into her relationship with clothes and accessories and story. She writes “Putting together an outfit complete with accessories gave me control.
I got to decide who I wanted to be; I got to decide what story I wanted to walk around in.” Then she does the same for us. She builds a story we want to walk around in, and honestly, I could stay in her words all day. I’m so thankful this book gave me the opportunity to do that.
Great story tellers capture your heart and imagination. Great teachers ignite the power of literature to reveal the truths about the human condition that transcend time and place. Callie is both in her Teacher Diaries.
Her grace imbued writing pierces hearts without sappy sentimentality. As she shares vignettes from her own youth as well as riotously funny and realistic stories from her classroom, her stories don’t so much bring us into her world as they make our own world, and her student’s worlds, larger.
Using her own life stories and Shakespeare’s play as a loom, Callie masterfully weaves beauty from the “sting[s] of joy sorrow” and the dreams and the rage and the confusion that are common to all teenagers. She sees in the iambic pentameter and the soliloquies the things the students are searching for, whether they know it or not: how to see themselves beyond the masks of the Montague Ball; how to “stand in the tension” of the teenage aches that can “startle, soothe, curse, excite, and devastate” all in the space of an hour; how to navigate the “pernicious rage” of teenage tragedy.
Callie is brave and honest and humble and hilarious. If you’re a teacher, she will rekindle your joy of the classroom and renew your belief in the power of story. If you’re just a reader looking for wisdom in the pages of a book, Callie will help you to trust yourself, so you can get at your own story. – Lisa McGovern
Here’s to staying curious, realizing our strength, and breaking all sorts of bubbles, both real and metaphorical.
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