Honoring women's stories

Photo by Erik Soderstrom

In high school I used to long for summer, which was the time when I would get my fill of deep conversation to last me the year. At camp, late at night we would lie in a starry field or huddle onto a couple bunk beds or poke at the embers of a campfire, and girls would share their stories.

I have never stopped cherishing the vulnerable, real-life, honest, messy-beautiful stories of women and their journeys.

March is women’s history month, and it is a good time to tell stories. I have begun to write about a few women whose lives have been compelling, whose stories have stayed with me.

My intentions and hopes for this project are twofold:

First, I just want to honor the stories and the lives of these women—their strength, resilience, inner beauty. Some have faced great challenges. Some have been pillars for their families or communities. All of their stories are important, worth telling.

Second, in some of the stories, I want to draw attention to different issues that women face all over the world. I said in January that I wanted to write more about others, and that I wanted to take this year to revisit the global justice issues that I once actively cared so much about.

But here’s the exciting part: I would love your help. Maybe you know someone who deserves to have her story told. Maybe you can help us share in the wisdom that comes from hearing people’s stories. Maybe you are a woman with your own story to tell. It is more than just catastrophe and dramatic recovery that make our stories matter, so feel free to think outside the box. What story has captured your heart?

If you have something you’d like to share as a part of the project, please send me an email at katiemurchisonross at gmail dot com. I’d like to have your written story by Wed, March 12, but if you think you might want to contribute, send me a message as soon as possible, letting me know you are working on something.