Conscious Choice Seattle: Power in Women’s Voices

February 2006 | From the Editor

Power in Women’s Voices

By Bob Condor

There is no time I can remember not appreciating the power of women. It started early, with my mother looking out for me as I persevered with a speech impediment. There was shelter in her breakfasts or laughing at my jokes delivered cleft palate and all.

My first grade teacher influenced me by insisting the class make homemade vegetable soup. Making soup from scratch was exotic during a Midwest childhood. Campbell’s was my first idea of soup, same goes for Kraft and spaghetti dinners.

In junior high, I developed my first crush on a teacher. Mrs. Vrinios was the school’s art teacher. She didn’t see any reason why boys in 1969 shouldn’t be just as likely to produce memorable work as the girls. I believed her.

The very (and I mean very) awkward high school years yielded a surprise mentor during the second semester of my senior year. This teacher urged us to write “your voice” as she sifted each day through short stories of international authors.

“Tell your own story,” she said one day. “Nobody else’s story—yours.”

This month’s issue focuses on women and the many things we can learn from their stories. We do it every February as a theme issue, but honestly the female persuasion is central to our magazine every month.

In our lead story, regular CC Columnist Silja J.A. Talvi breaks from her shorter form to deliver an essay about women’s rights that ought to be a manifesto for women’s groups.

Here is Silja on the lexicon of feminism:

“These days, the “F-Word” is more likely to provoke ire or a look of displeasure than one of enthusiastic embrace—even among women themselves,” she writes. “The association of feminism with strident, humorless, antagonistic women’s militancy is hardly representative of what the movement represents or the women who still are still proud of calling themselves feminists—or‘womanists,’ the term first popularized by Alice Walker.

“Feminism is most succinctly defined as “the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes,” as well as “organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.” Or, to put in the words of one of my favorite bumper stickers: “Feminism is the radical notion that women are people too.”

It’s our groove to publish Silja’s work each month. Check out www.well.com/user/sisu to find more of her writings or go to www.seattleconsciouschoice.com for an archive of her columns for us.

Our annual women’s issue wouldn’t be whole without contributions Ritzy Ryciak and Heather Nordell. Both women have been critical to boosting the status of Conscious Choice (and/or Evergreen Monthly) during the past year.. They believe in what we do and never doubt our path.

Ritzy has authored several cover stories and brings a fresh voice to the pages (my Literature in Translation teacher would heartily approve). After covering “sexy sustainability” in November and the state of astrology in January, she unwraps women in the building trades for this month’s cover package.

As per usual, Ritzy has found local people—female carpentry students and a Seattle woman who inspects construction sites among others—to show the story and not just tell it.

Heather writes our popular Green Lines column in the upfront section. When dreaming up the column on local sustainable business and green-thinking nonprofit organizations, we imagined that the column would be an incubator of sorts for feature stories. Heather’s three profiles in “Queens of Green” fill out the cover report.

More power from them and to you.

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