Tag: Grandmother’s Wisdom

Women’s History, according to Grandma

I found myself scrolling through Tiktok…and I found this. It reminded me of a story that my grandmother told.

yes I am talking about the same grandmother from Grandmother’s Wisdom!

She was born in the 1930’s in Washington DC. She said that young women were not allowed to carry any weapons…but they had hat pins. I put a picture on this post…She told me that the hat pins were sharp and it baffled me. How did women use them with out poking themselves? The hat pins were seriously the same as a dagger in the hands of these young women.

Her story made me think that DC was a really bad place in her youth…(though I guess I can’t say it is a good place now)

I don’t remember the whole story but it was full of the necessary thrill to ensure that the teen I was would be hooked on every word. Now the woman I am in the middle of a dystopian nightmare for women am wishing I could have recorded every single story she told. I will always remember her telling me that Roe vs Wade didn’t make abortion easier to get, it merely made safe abortion easier to get. Women were still getting them, just most of them were dying. She told me about back alley butchers. I was so happy that I was born in post Roe vs Wade America…now I am sorry that I have lived long enough to see my home become a place where I am no longer free.

Cal for Submissions – personal.

Ok. I am doing this as a personal project. I am putting together my grandmother’s stories and poetry my boyfriend’s grandmother wrote. But I want it to reflect the wisdom of all grandmothers. So here is my request.

Do you have a story that you remember your grandmother (abuela) telling? Or a bit of poetry they wrote that you would love to see in print? Try submitting it for this anthology. I am busier than I have any reason to expect – so I am setting the deadline for December first with a expected publishing date of the first of January.

I am also accepting art. I only ask that it is from your grandmothers. And that you are able to give consent for me to publish it.

To submit email the creation and a small introduction (preferred with a picture) of your grandma who created it. The address for this is authorpoetpatriciaharris@gmail.com

The above image will be the cover. I realize that this is gender biased. I feel like I have more from the amazing women who I am decended from than I do the men. And since I have been wanting to honor my maternal grandmother… This was born. Maybe I will someday do a call for grandfather lore… But first I need to do this.

Also… Notice that this is not a Fae Corps Inc project. There is a couple of reasons. One – this is a very personal project. I have been wanting to do it for a little while. Two – Fae Corps Inc has projects planned for the next two years. I will be posting the next call for submissions for them in November. The deadline for it will be after the first of the year. I want to release this with the new year.