I am a Woman Who . . .

This list was compiled during the last few minutes of a writing workshop held at Tompkins County Public Library on Saturday afternoon, March 14, 2015. The workshop was held in conjunction with Women's History Month, and designed as a way to honor significant women in our lives. At the end, we celebrated ourselves by creating this collective list. 

Contributors: Barbara Kane Lewis, Gabrielle Vehar, Jackie Parslow, Kathy Hopkins, Maude Rith, Zee Zahava

I am a woman who is amazing

I am a woman who is ready for spring cleaning, summer travel, fall weatherings 

I am a woman who might create a new computer language

I am a woman who can cook for two — exactly enough for dinner, with leftovers for lunches the next day

I am a woman who can finish a book

I am a woman who is ready for a new knitting project

I am a woman who can look fabulous in ten minutes, though putting on lipstick requires a bit more time

I am a woman who is realistic, without taking on more projects, plans or supplies than I can use in one lifetime

I am a woman with a very rich fantasy life and I’ll generously share

I am a woman who is an excellent listener

I am a woman who didn’t have a curl on my head until I went through menopause

I am a woman who always wears black and silver and turquoise

I am a woman who loves my cats more than I love anyone else

I am a woman who has lots of opinions that I keep to myself . . . unless I don’t, and then: Watch Out

I am a woman who is trying to learn to care-take myself as well as I do the others in my life

I am a woman who can’t throw anything away (because I might need it one day)

I am a woman who doesn’t trust people who only give pale, wishy-washy hugs

I am a woman who is introverted and craves close connections . . . but not too many

I am a woman who is always in the middle of reading several books

I am a woman who has many interests — reading about air traffic control one day, and origami the next

I am a woman who laughs when no one else is laughing

I am a woman who is a night-owl by nature, but I've tried to be a morning person because I like the mornings

I am a woman who sometimes forgets to be polite, using my shirt as a napkin, for example

I am a woman who has trouble identifying as a woman; not biologically, but perhaps psychologically

I am a woman who can organize a garage, an event, or a drawer

I am a woman who went to Africa, with a 15-month-old child, and slept under a thatched roof in a hammock

I am a woman who can get a car repaired, with French insurance, at a French repair shop

I am a woman who can connect people to people

I am a woman who is intuitive

I am a woman who is afraid to try new things but does them anyway

I am a woman who has good intentions and a good imagination; who talks to the Man in the Moon

I am a woman who keeps balls in the air and all the plates spinning

I am a woman who loves to sing

I am a woman who enjoys talking with strangers (friends I have not yet made)

I am a woman who drives to unknown destinations even though I have a poor sense of direction

I am a woman who loves life

I am a woman who gets carried away by enthusiasm, and then gets exhausted by all my new ideas and inspirations, with little ability to pace myself

I am a woman who is superstitious

I am a woman who had a sweet dream once, about my own death: in the springtime, while sitting in a chair near a lake; there were swans floating by on the water; it was England

I am a woman who wished, sincerely, to be a nun, if only it didn't require converting to Catholicism

I am a woman who can laugh at myself

I am a woman who used to be a rather good tap dancer

I am a woman who pauses, more and more often, trying to retrieve the right word which seems to be flittering just beyond my grasp

With gratitude to Judy Grahn, whose 1972 "She Who" poem served as our inspiration