a website & community for women who write & blog
It’s Thanksgiving and thus time for the obligatory blog post on gratitude. But I am ready and willing any day of the year to tell you how thankful I am for See Jane Write.
It is in no way an exaggeration when I say that See Jane Write has changed my life.
If you’ve been following me and my blog for awhile it should come as no surprise that I watch Beyonce’s 2013 documentary Life is But a Dream at least once a year. And one of my favorite quotes from that documentary is about Beyonce’s ideas of sisterhood. She says: “I love my husband, but there’s nothing like a conversation with a woman that understands me.” She goes on to add, “I grow so much from those conversations. I need my sisters.”
Sisterhood is one of the things I value most in life. It drives so much of what I do as a blogger, writer, teacher, and entrepreneur.
Regardless of your political beliefs, I am sure the past week has been emotional and stressful for you with social media feeds being filled with so much strife and discord. I was fortunate enough to spend Wednesday evening celebrating the release of a See Jane Write member’s first book. I shared this good news with you last week hoping it would lift your spirits, too. But I know it’s pretty impossible to just go back to business as usual.
So don’t.
Whether I like it or not, the holidays are upon us.
My closest friends know I’m not the biggest fan of Christmas. (Yes, I love sweet baby Jesus, but let’s all admit that this holiday has very little to do with Him.)
I can, however, be bribed into participating in your cookie swaps and ugly sweater parties.
If you’re wondering what to get me for Christmas, here’s “My Feminist AF Gift Guide.”
Though I need a shirt that reads “Since 1965,” I proudly support StyleBlueprint’s Women’s Votes Matter campaign. With the passage of the 19th amendment in 1920, women finally secured the right to vote. But for decades women (and men) of color would continue to be disenfranchised by literacy tests and other measures specifically designed to prevent racial minorities from voting, especially in the Deep South. With the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 these tactics were finally outlawed. As a black woman from the South, I cannot and will not take the right to vote lightly. And so I will wear this shirt today as I go to the polls to vote.