Free Women.
What comes to your mind when you read those two words?
A demand that women should be free? An offer that women are available? The state of women in a society?
When I consider how free I feel as a woman, my heart rate increases, and my body stiffens into a Kung Fu protection stance. I find that doubts about my safety are tied to the fact that I AM a WOMAN. And despite all of the bravado of women’s lib, I am strong, hear me roar, etc., etc., being a woman still doubles my risk factor as a potential victim for violence, abuse, and discrimination.
I often find myself wishing that I could morph into a superhero. I’d use my powers to defeat all of the negative elements in the world and the “bad guys,” with full assurance that I could never be hurt, and that I could protect others as well.
Returning to reality and digging deeper, I discover a different type of freedom: my words that compel me to speak and my love for others that persuades me to act, despite my fears, because I have the power to do what is right for others, and I c
an be a formidable force for positive change in the world.
I think that is why I write.
See you next time on March 22nd.
Veronica Jorge
Manager, Educator, and former High School Social Studies teacher, Veronica credits her love of history to the potpourri of cultures that make up her own life and to her upbringing in diverse Brooklyn, New York. Her genres of choice are Historical Fiction where she always makes new discoveries and Children’s Picture Books because there are so many wonderful worlds yet to be imagined and visited.
She currently resides in Macungie, PA.
-
When you love someone, you want to know everything about them. That someone, in this case, was my maternal grandmother. We shared a close bond, but there was a wrinkle on the face-map of her life that I could not trace. I wish I had asked her my questions while she was still with me.
-
The Many Colors of Us: Remembering 9/11
by Veronica JorgeMost people are a combination of various cultures, though I think their ancestors tended to confine their marriages to one continent.
Mine didn’t.
-
A story of second-chances, hope, friendship, gratitude, and yes, the redeeming power of love, A Slight Change of Plans, satisfies at many levels. As the title suggests, things may not always work out the way we plan or expect. Colby encourages us to believe that there is a good plan for our lives, and a Master Planner who knows how to put all of the pieces together in the right place if we would only trust Him and let Him.
-
The world’s treasures, many of them at your fingertips, in the pages of a book.
Such was my experience during a recent museum visit when I discovered an inspiring and uplifting work of art, Girl Balancing Knowledge, by the sculptor Yinka Shonibare. A British-Nigerian artist, he explores themes of cultural identity in a globalized world. The bright colors of the African Ankara fabrics he uses in his pieces are appealing and strikingly eye catching.
-
Below is an excerpt from one of our 2024 mentees, Veronica Jorge, from her project, Crushed Like Sugarcane, based on her Chinese ancestor, Zhou Zhijian, who left China to work in the sugarcane fields of Cuba where he was enslaved. In this portion, newly arrived and unwilling to accept the situation, he decides to escape:
Nothing Found
Featured Books
DESERT ICE
Sin City in 1955, where the women are beautiful and almost everything is legal-
More info →
A CHRISTMAS SAMPLER: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales
Winner of the 2010 Next Generation Indie Book Awards for Best Short Fiction and Best Anthology
More info →
