Tell Your Story | Mama Gena Moments

February 6th, 2006

Darlings!!!

We lost three really really good Sister Goddess girlfriends this week.

What's up with the threes? Did it hit you all as hard as it hit me? I was still breathing heavy from the loss of Wendy Wasserstein, fellow Mount Holyoke grad, fellow weaver of words, fellow Mom to a young daughter, when I took the left hook of the passing of Coretta Scott King, icon of dignity, grace, beauty, teaching lessons in love to a generation, and then flattened by Betty Freidan's departure—the woman who began the second wave of feminism in the 20th century.

Time to pause, time to reflect, time to appreciate—and yes, done in as I am, time to celebrate.

You gotta love it when a woman finds a piece of herself to be so righteous and so worthy that she becomes willing to be seen by the rest of us. That her voice and the point of view that she presents comes straight out of hiding and living small and hoists itself, and her along with it, onto the world's stage of living large.

Every time a woman steps up to the plate of being loud and proud about her story, it is a time to rejoice.

The way we learn about ourselves as women is by the stories. The stories of women who are creating themselves, in front of our eyes, on the world's stage. These women give us permission also in every direction that they give themselves permission. Wendy gave us permission to be fat, to be funny, to be smart, to prioritize our friends, especially our good girlfriends, even as some of us passed over finding the perfect mate. Coretta gave us a window on how to be gracious and compassionate while speaking her truth in the face of hatred, loss and suffering. And Betty taught us that if we were in pain, it was because something was wrong with the culture, not us. The feminine mystic was our inheritance—she gave us options.

So how do we celebrate these women?

By living way past the doors they opened. By busting loose on whatever our dreams are, wherever our spirits want to soar. By deciding that whomsoever we are, right now, is an inspiration.

The telling of our stories, the becoming of the star that we each are, the living of our own legends—outrageous, loud, crazy, fabulous, extravagant—was the reason I created the new Womanly Arts Mastery Program.

Let's face it—how often has stepping inside the well-trod footprint of someone else actually worked for you over the long haul?

Seems when given the choice, in a fresh snow fall or walking down the beach, there is a special pleasure in stepping onto un-trod paths. To create a generation of women, each as inspirational as the women we lost this week—is what I call a seriously un-trod path.

Be the first on your block to be exquisitely and ecstatically you.
Be the first in your neighborhood to inspire others with your brand of sass, joy, outrageousness and adventure.
Be the first to experiment with the adventure of what it is to be you, taken to its extravagant upper limits—and beyond.

This community of Sister Goddesses and the School of Womanly Arts exists for the purpose of inspiration—a fan club of supporters who want all this and more for you, a place for re-creation, re-invention and re-volution. Hope you come see, feel, revel and participate in mine. And damn if it ain't time to insist upon yours.

Yours in ever-expanding pleasure—
Mama Gena

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