Just Who's Responsible For This?
The Women's Colony began as a feminist hallucination in Mrs. G's peri-menopausal brain. You can read all about it here. Since her children were born she has fantasized about a female, tofu-less commune where women who have spent their lives working and caring for others can be put out to pasture...to do nothing. And be served by dapper and robust manservants. Anyone with unused acreage please call her. You can reach here at heaz@live.com.
Mrs. G. is 42 and has been married to the same man for nineteen years. She has a daughter in college and a son in 9th grade...both homeschooled. Until recently, she taught creative writing and literature in a public alternative school for many years.
The Women's Colony is a collective writing project with several regular contributors:
Aaryn B.
Aaryn Belfer is a writer by night who pays the bills with a bureaucratic and very important-sounding day job. While the latter has allowed her to nurture a deeply intimate knowledge of both the fax machine and the three hole punch, she would give it all up to make a living working at the former. (Yes, she hears you and she is already in line.) She is the white adoptive mother of a black daughter, a talented hobbyist photographer, and an outspoken essayist on politics, women's issues, and race. She also loves to dish about pop-culture and is certain that Crocs are empirical evidence that End Times are upon us. Aaryn writes an opinion column for San Diego CityBeat and blogs at aarynbelfer.com. Her cabana boy of choice is Javier Bardem, Javier Bardem, Javier Bardem. Contact Aaryn at wcaarynb@gmail.com.
Jenn
Jenn is an unapologetic, minivan driving, middle-aged suburban mother of four, married for 20+ years to her senior prom date. A recovering compulsive volunteer, she recently graduated from college and looks forward to adding teaching to her juggling act (as soon as the job market for teachers recovers!). She has hung her proverbial hat in San Diego since time immemorial. She opines on parenting, politics, an emptying nest and life in general at Juggling Life.
Mary Alice
Mary Alice was born at home to an extraordinarily large bohemian California family. A homeschooled, VW microbus driving, brown rice eating, long haired beach girl...with a bazillion siblings. Now middle aged, married to a mountain man turned military officer. Three ancient kids, a corgi, a garbage eating half blind former guide dog...and the perpetual feeling that she doesn’t quite fit in at the OSC luncheons. You can read more of her at From the Frontlines.
Minnesota Matron
Mary Petrie is the real person behind the third person Matron—and yes, she’s a native Minnesotan who can’t seem to shake her state! Mary lives in the Twin Cities with her husband, John and their three children: Stryker (13), Scarlett (11) and Merrick (6). After spending over a decade focused primarily on launching the children into theworld, she started working as an English instructor at a community college in 2008, where she’s currently on a tenure track. Yes, she’s one of the stuffy academics in the colony, with a doctorate in English and Feminist Studies (can anybody beat her in the shaved leg department? Her last spin there with a razor was circa 1982). Perhaps her biggest writing claim to fame is that her very famous (then) agent did NOT sell her two novels. That said, she is a big believer in picking yourself up, brushing yourself off and trying all over again, which is what she does in every area of her life – from parenting to publishing to partnering – every day! She’s thrilled to be hiking up the elastic on her pants and plopping herself down on this here front porch. You can read more of her at Minnesota Matron.
Urban Cowgirl
Urban Cowgirl is a sometime wanderer, having spent 2 1/2 years in New Zealand before returning to her home country, the UK. She's no expert globetrotter, so far only having visited Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Cyprus, Antigua, Barbados, the USA, Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Australia, and Fiji. She has found each trip to be a truly wonderful experience, especially if things go a little bit wrong. She often wishes she spoke another language. You can read more of her at Adventures of an Urban Cowgirl.
Jodi Anderson
Jodi Anderson was born two blocks from the Wisconsin River, and she now lives eight blocks from the banks of the same river with her husband and daughter. She grew up walking creek and river banks, trekking prairies, and searching the woods. Never settling on one form of expression, Jodi writes poems and vignettes; has authored her own blog for eight years and occasionally contributes to those of others; stamps what she sees with photography; records ambient sounds; and tries to take a bit of video every day. Her motto is to seek beauty in the mundane. Two quotes govern her life: "The deepest thing I know is that I am living and dying at once, and my conviction is to report that dialogue" (Stanley Kunitz) and "I decided to accept as true my own thinking" (Georgia O'Keefe). To experience more of Jodi's world, visit www.jodianderson.com.
Kizz
Kizz recently turned 40 and threw herself a big party in Brooklyn where she lives with her elderly German Shepherd, her two insane cats and her mild to moderate neuroses. Her personal blog is 117 Hudson where she writes about being an only child, being single, wanting more and doing less. At various times she is a writer, a singer, an actress, a teacher, a secretary, a nanny, a techie, a director, a mediator, a dancer, a clerk, a temp, a dogwalker, a personal assistant, a party planner, a photographer and a complete mess. Someday, she'll be making her living on the stage, unfortunately that time has not yet come. You can reach Kizz at isabeau6@hotmail.com and she will send you a little present if you can name the movie that inspired that address. Her list of preferred cabana boys is too lengthy to include here.
Mary M.
Mary doesn't have a husband, kids, or even a dog about which to write. She's originally from North Carolina, though she now lives in Boston. While she loves this city, she thinks she'll probably always feel kind of like a visitor, with her nose up against the fishbowl. Most of the time she lets the South defend itself, though she's surprised herself with hotheaded homeland pride before. She tends to catch herself by surprise most of the time when it comes to the ways in which she's traditionally Southern (no stars and bars here, folks, though her grandparents do still (half)jokingly refer to the Northeast as Yankeeland). Her boyfriend, Ben, charms her with both his geekery and his big old heart. She's a graduate student in a fiction writing MFA program, from which she'll receive her degree next summer. She's interested in the psychology of human behavior, especially that in relationships; she's also interested in the truth. She loves triathlons, bourbon, big dogs, high heels, short stories, and action movies.