Dusty, Jean and I just got back from a month-long vacation in Oregon.  As I returned to work on her biography today I discovered that Makers featured Dusty on Facebook as one of their “Bold and Untold” women who changed history. This has invigorated me to continue looking for the right literary agent to represent me. I’m looking for someone who understands that her accomplishments are relevant and inspiring to today’s women looking for a shining example of how to fight for their workplace rights and why unions can be supportive and  helpful to do so. Her story clearly isn’t “untold” but needs repeating. Whenever and wherever I travel to talk about her, I am always greeted, especially by younger women, with comments like “why haven’t we heard about this before?” That’s because someone out there needs to help us publish her story and shout it out loud and clear. Her story is a part of women’s history. It simply needs to be told again and documented so it is never forgotten and her historic struggles will never need to be repeated  by other women today or in the future. Check out the link for the video that Makers posted at:

https://www.facebook.com/MAKERSboldanduntold/videos/1012075932299946/

 

I’m thrilled to announce that my poem “El Diablo” was accepted and has been published in the 2018 Redwood Writers Poetry Anthology. It “contains poems by a broad range of Sonoma writers: in addition to about a hundred poems depicting the many aspects of life in Sonoma county, it has a special section devoted to poems rising out of the ashes of the devastating wildfires of October, 2017. There are poems written by a number of people who lost their entire homes and all their belongings. The anthology includes poems written by all of the Sonoma County poet laureates, many of whom were directly affected by the fires. Three poets received the Sonoma County Award of Merit distinction, and their poems open this special volume.” It’s an honour to be published in the same book as these distinguished poets.

I’m so pleased that my short story was accepted for publication in this year’s Redwood Writers Anthology. The title and theme is: Redemption.  Mine is an edgy memoir about how one day at work in 1978, after being sexaully assaulted, I learned the corporate secretaries had been repeatedly harrassed and assaulted by the same guy over a long period of time. It took some doing but I convinced enough of them to stand up against the ongoing sexual harrassment at the company. I credit the current #metoo movement for my wanting to share the story so women are reminded that fear of retaliation or being fired can be overcome with the support of other victims. But it is critically important to document and subtantiate all the details to be credible before accusing anyone of bad behavior. I also credit my employer with doing the right thing and firing him the same day, not a common occurance in that era. I’m working with a wonderful editor to polish the story before publication and am pleased to finally get the story out of my system. It had been festering in my mind for 40 years.