Making our Writing Matter

Good Morning! It's still a bit dark this morning as I write this. I'm hopeful that it will turn out to be a pretty, sunny day so the kids and I can head over to the Humane Society today for a carnival fund-raiser.

The idea of helping animals is nothing new to me. Fourteen years ago, I picked out Maude, my little kitten who would drink orange juice and eat yellow rice and beans from the table when my back was turned, and Shakespeare, who was nestled a pile of sleeping puppies, from the Humane Society in Tampa. This has carried through to this year with our adoptions of Sasha, Domino and Sally. I know I've given them a home, but it's hard to really feel that I'm helping them when they bring so much joy to our lives. They're just our pets and we love them.

The critical literacy class I'm taking (which is done next Thursday) has opened my eyes to so many other needs in our world. We have spent many an afternoon looking at issues of education, poverty, power, and the consumer society we live in. On Thursday we took a field trip to St. Francis House, a hospitality house that helps men who are homeless. We watched a video on Dorothy Day and the Catholic Workers, people who dedicate their lives to helping others. Right now we're reading a book called The Help by Kathryn Stockett. The main character is just out of college back in her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s. She is a writer and takes on a very dangerous project of interviewing black maids to tell their stories of working with white families. It's very risky, but she feels that maybe she can change attitudes by giving these women a voice.

That is the heart of writing - giving voices to people. Last year we focused on finding our own voices, telling our stories. I wonder how this might grow, how we can find the stories that need telling so that we too might help others through our words.

Happy Saturday!
Ms. Hagen