The Women Here

Archive Portraits of Seacoast women, told through their own words and mine, published together.

There are so many women I could name who changed the direction of my life. A mentor I lost too soon, my middle school English teacher, who handed me a creative writing award when I was thirteen…she knew something about me before I did. The women in my family. And then there are the women right here, right now. They are the ones I sit across from and live alongside, the ones who make the ordinary feel extraordinary, the ones I catch myself thinking “I love that about her.”

This winter I had an idea downloaded into my brain as I was driving to a dance competition on I-95 North. It was like a lightbulb that switched on as bright as could be and wouldn’t turn off. As a freelance writer, couldn’t I just choose to write about the women that I admire so greatly?

I’ve always loved history. As a 4th grade teacher, I used to imagine I’d end up in a historical costume at Strawbery Banke, telling the stories of the women who lived here generations ago. After losing a dear friend and mentor, I started wondering often during my long walks: who’s keeping the record of the women here now? We save the letters and the portraits of women a century gone. Of course we would. But the women shaping this place today, in real time, running all the ordinary parts of our community, mostly go undocumented until something terrible happens. I decided in the car that day that I wanted to be the one writing it down while it’s still happening. And celebrate all of it. Here and Now.

So much of what we’re shown in the media tells women that a life only counts if it’s a brand, a hustle, a bigger-better-louder version of itself and that the ordinary, everyday life, the imperfect life, doesn’t measure up. I don’t believe that. I have not lived that.

I believe the extraordinary things ordinary women do are exactly what hold a community together. The showing up. The listening. The hand held through something hard. The women starting new, developing careers, the ones caring deeply, the volunteering, the checking in on neighbors, the life pivots. And the ones starting over or starting something new.

We don’t record those stories often enough, we don’t share each other’s wisdom enough and women don’t hear nearly enough that what they do every single day has real meaning, and shapes the lives of everyone and everything around them.

My hope is that this storytelling project makes women feel a little more seen, makes a small change in the way we use media and maybe it moves someone to celebrate the women in their life sooner rather than later.

So that’s what this is. A storytelling project about the women here in this place, in this season of life, wherever I find them. There are so many extraordinary women living lives that are a wealth of inspiration and knowledge. And they are right in front of us. I’ll be sharing their stacked portraits: real conversations using six questions about who they are, what shaped them, what they’re learning and what they wish more women knew. Maybe you’ll read about a woman you want to know. Maybe you’ll think of celebrating someone in your own life. Maybe, together, we can start a ripple of something good.