Response to My New Book!

Here is an early response to my new book, There Will Be A Thousand Years of Peace and Prosperity and They Will Be Ushered in by the Women. I think it may be my most important book ever.

 

Dear Anne,

After being in – well, sort of – my original culture and family for 12 years now, I have often felt (and acted) crazy and lost, even while ratcheting up my recovery and doing some good physical healing work. Then it came to me to revisit Women’s Reality (I first read it in ’86 and it led me to my first intensive in S.C. in late eighties and then to LIP in ’95). So, I did, and you reminded me – again – how this WMS/AFS thing works. When you penned Women’s Reality you told my/countless women’s stories and I had to read it many times to get clear what’s going on (I think the meteor missed the southern dinosaurs), and ask myself and HP what I need to do and stop doing.

While reading Women’s Reality, recently, I kept asking myself, “I wonder what Anne would write thirty years later? How would Anne see and speak about all the changes that have happened and not happened and what are our choices, our responsibilities today as women? What next? Etc. etc.” I had no idea A Thousand Years was in the works and VOILA, here it is! Thank you, Jesus!

So first, THANK YOU!!! Nothing stops you from saying what you see and calling it what it is and embodying all those wonderful “P’s” you write about. And working so hard to achieve all of this, with HP’s help, and Pete’s! (:

As a writer, as a student of yours, I noticed:

  • The power of the outline. How helpful it was as your reader to have a clear-cut pathway to follow, with helpful summaries.
  • The power of defining how you chose to write this book the way you wanted to write it.
  • The power of voice. I felt just like I was sitting in the group room listening to you teach/preach/prod/encourage/cajole/chide/laugh/tease/regale with wonderful stories . . . What fun, and how instructive and jarring, too, at times.

 

As a writer I noticed:

  • How hungry I’ve (always) been for a clear, wise voice so not in the WMS/AS/TMM paradigm, to name what is actually going on in terms of process in the world and with women today and going forward. And naming things, in process and in content, in a way that feels like listening to a symphony.
  • How much courage it takes to model and work for freedom at all levels.
  • How I cheat myself and others when I lie “to fit in, not make waves, look good, and on and on and on and on . . .” Gag!
  • I am compelled by this book to return to the work as my disease progresses and I feel isolated with all I’ve been blessed to know (and desire to give back) from LIP and having no one nearby to share that with, especially after Deb and Sandy died.
  • How blessed I am to be a woman at this time, with your mandates – the ones that stood out: to participate fully, to surround myself with people who will hold me to a standard to be my best self, to know that mistakes and detours are part of the process, and to honor my gut knowings. AND, damn, be persnickety! (:

 

I loved the article on FB about all the wonderful things going on at BHS. So much love and work and passion have gone into “the old girl.” I’m so grateful to have been a part of the process of its evolving and would love to return to say hello and lend a hand.

Thank you again, Anne, for your courage and perspicacity – just had to say that word!! LOL!!

Bets

I’m reading the book to my 90-year-old mom and she’s reveling in it. The reactions from a pre-feminist who says “I’m brainwashed” are amazing.

 

 

 

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