In my recent book, Seeing in the Quiet, the main character finds relief and ease in the quiet that descends when she puts her hearing aids away for the evening. I imagine at one time or another, we’ve all enjoyed that feeling when the din recedes and we are able to notice the quiet around us. It can be very comforting. But, I have to admit, the pandemic has led to a lot more silence than I needed. In particular, I miss the voices of the women I knew at my local Curves club. There were so many different, vibrant, funny women that I got to share my weeks with.
Because of that Covid silence, I have found myself listening to a number of podcasts.* Not surprisingly, my favorites have all been women. Hearing Dolly Parton talk about the courage it took to expand her world as a young singer/songwriter or listening to Michelle Obama and her friends talking about getting together at Camp David has been amazing.
Recently I was listening to Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford talk together about their experiences, their suffering and frustration, but also about the sense of duty that moved them to speak and the courage they mustered when faced with the ordeal that their testimonies became. Strong women, both of them: quiet, articulate, soft-spoken and generous, but each with a core that the meanest in our society could not break.
I have been thinking a lot lately about the strength of women, the public power of women in leadership, as well as the quiet power found in a group of friends. Often it seems as though it is the women who hold our world together. They lift and carry us along, feeding us, caring for us, buoying our spirits when we begin to falter. I’d like to say thank you for our women leaders and for my women friends and family. You make the world spin.
* Dolly Parton’s America Host: Jad Abumrad
The Michelle Obama Podcast Host: Spotify
Because of Anita Host: Audie Cornish
If you’d like to purchase Seeing in the Quiet you can find it at Amazon. (For my local friends, I have still not heard back from Nicola’s Books. If/when it becomes available there, I will be sure to let you know!)
