Most days I walk through a cemetery that lies between my home and my office. It is a peaceful place that whispers to me, deeply.

Today I found an image that mirrored my soul. I am filled with such deep sorrow that my soul has crumpled to the ground, no longer able to hold up my living body. Sorrow and sadness once again take hold of my spirit and drop me to the ground. The image is only stone but my heart will also be stone, living stone, if I cannot make sense of lifes cruelties.

Voices in History

Do women have an authentic voice? Yesterday they did not. The following is a list of names that you may not be familiar with because they are the names of women. They have done something significant in life and yet their names rarely appeared in history books. This represents a collection I made over time. See if you have ever heard of them or know of their work. And, if there are errors, forgive me and enlighten me, please.

Abigail Adams 1744-1818 * Alice Dunbar Nelson 1875-1935 * Alice James 1848-1892 * Alice Meynell 1847-1922 * Amelia Lanyer 1569-1645 * Amy Lowell 1894-1925 * Anais Nin 1903-1977 * Anna Letitia Barbauld 1743-1825 * Anne Bradstreet 1612-1672 * Anne Finch 1661-1720 * Anne Killegrew 1660-1685 * Anne Mary Chudleigh 1656-1710 * Anne Spencer 1882-1975 * Aphra Behn 1640-1689 * Bjund Barnes 1892-1982 * Charlotte Bronte 1816-1855 * Charlotte Mew 1869-1928 * Charlotte Smith 1749-1806 * Christina Rosetti 1830-1894 * Clive Schreiner 1855-1920 * Constance Fenimore Woolson 1840-1894 * Delarivier Manley 1663-1724 * Dorothy Parker 1893-1967 * Dorothy Wordsworth 1771-1855 * Edith Sitwell 1887-1964 * Edith Wharton 1862-1937 * Edna St. Vincent Millay 1892-1950 * Elinor Wylie 1885-1928 * Elizabeth Cady Stanton 1815-1902 * Elizabeth Carey 1585-1639 * Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell 1810-1865 * Emile Bronte 1818-1848 * Emily Dickinson 1830-1886 * Frances Barney 1752-1840 * Frances E.W. Harper 1825-1911 * George Eliot 1819-1880 * Gertrude Bonnin 1876-1938 * Harriet E Adams Wilson 1828-1870 * Harriet Jacobs 1813-1897 * Helen Maia Williams 1762-1827 * Hilda Doolittle 1886-1961 * Isabella Whitney 1567-1573 * Isak Dinesen 1885-1962 * Jane Austen 1775-1817 * Jane Lead 1624-1704 * Jean Rhys 1894-1979 * Julian of Norwich 1342-1416 * Juliana Berners 1388-? * Katherine Phillips 1632-1664 * Katherine Suzanna Pritchard 1883-1969 * Lady Mary Wortley Montagu 1689-1762 * Louise Bogan 1897-1970 * Mana Edgeworth 1768-1849 * Margaret Cavendish 1623-1673 * Margaret Fuller 1810-1850 * Margery Kempe 1373-1438 * Maria Edgeworth 1768-1849 * Marianne Moore 1887-1972 * Marita Bonner 1819-1971 * Mary Astell 1666-1731 * Mary Austin 1868-1934 * Mary Robinson 1758-1800 * Mary Roth 1587-1651 * Mary Rowlandson 1636-1711 * Mary Shelley 1797-1851 * Mary Sidney Herbert 1562-1621 * Mary Sinclair 1863-1946 * Mary Wollstonecraft 1759-1797 * Mina Loy 1882-1966 * Rebecca Cox Jackson 1795-1871 * Rebecca West 1892-1983 * Sara Orne Jewett 1849-1909 * Sojourner Truth 1797-1883 * Susan Glaspell 1882-1948 * Willa Cather 1873-1847

Having a voice

I grew up in an era when women did not have a voice. Then one day there were forums everywhere. I was elected President of Women on my college campus and began to find my own voice. Through the years I have not forgotten the power of a persons authentic voice. But I lost my voice when I moved to Utah, married, and raised my children. It isn't that there aren't things to talk about, because there are.

The culture is so strong here that diversity of thought is not something you share out loud. What I am hoping, with this blog, is to give courage to you and to me to find our collective voice.

I have been using blogs for some time but I just did not connect the idea of using it to give women a voice. Blogs have had an incredible impact on the media, on business, on politics and now education. Why not on women's issues? Why not use blogs to find our voices? Maybe, with the support of women all over the world and outside the borders of Utah, it can happen.