Earlier this month the Raleigh News & Observer filmed a wonderful feature on Jeanette Stokes and the RCWMS labyrinth while it was set up in Duke Chapel:
News
RCWMS is seeking applicants for paid internships!
The Resource Center for Women and Ministry in the South (RCWMS) will offer paid, part-time internships for those interested in the intersections of justice, feminism, and religion. RCWMS is an intergenerational, interfaith organization that weaves together feminism, spirituality, and social justice through its programs in women’s preaching, LGBTQ spirituality, issue advocacy, writing and art, anti-racism, […]
RCWMS Artist in Residence Bryant Holsenbeck on UNC-TV
Check out Bryant Holsenbeck, environmental artist and author of The Last Straw, on UNC-TV! Watch the recording by clicking on the image:
Spring
It’s hard for me to let go of winter. In December, our three-year-old joined her Yankee parents in embracing the snow storm. She mimicked the main character in her favorite book, The Snowy Day, as she marveled at her snowy footprints, tapped the snow off trees with a stick, and inexpertly packed snow together to […]
Dispatches From the Front
My heart is moved by all I cannot saveso much has been destroyed I have to cast my lot with thosewho age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world. Adrienne Rich, “Natural Resources” The past two years have been a daily barrage of news flashes portending the downfall of our democracy. Children […]
Thank You!
Thank you to everyone who supported the work of RCWMS during our year-end fundraising drive! So many of you gave with such generosity, including supporters who have given for many years, and a number of first-time donors. 2018 saw a number of firsts, including two new anti-racist workshops (Changing the Race Dance and Doing Our […]
Voting
In the past two years, RCWMS has increasingly included citizen engagement as a vital part of fulfilling our mission to empower women’s voices. This fall for the first time, we’ve gotten involved with voter registration and outreach as one way to weave feminism and spirituality into a vision of justice for the world. For many […]
An evening of storytelling with Nancy Corson Carter
On Wednesday, June 27th, I attended a reading by Nancy Carson Carter on her new book, The Never-Quite Ending War: A WWII GI Daughter’s Stories. Nancy illuminated stories of her family, both those that are her own and others that have passed down to her. Many of the stories she shared with us were typical […]
Art-Party and Fundraiser for Bryant Holsenbeck’s Book, “The Last Straw”
When people are gathered for an art party, one may imagine paint, canvases, and brushes, or at least some paper and scissors. Since Bryant Holsenbeck was involved, something would be repurposed. But, despite official assurances that the artist herself would be there to guide and assist, I never thought all present would have the opportunity […]
Ursula K. Le Guin
Once upon a time I used Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea in a first-year writing class centered on the theme of what makes a hero. I loved it. The students loved it. Since then, though, she has mostly hovered around the edges of my consciousness, even though she is among the most […]
Labyrinths
I wasn’t familiar with labyrinths until I started an internship at the Resource Center back in 2009. One of my duties during that year was helping Jeanette Stokes haul our large canvas labyrinth around to different spaces in North Carolina and set it up for people to walk. A few weeks ago, for the first […]
Thank You!
Thank you so much for supporting RCWMS in 2017 during our 40th anniversary year. We set a goal of raising $40,000 in the last three months of the year, and you helped us exceed that goal! We ended up raising $42,460. Thank you! At our board meeting last week, we had a wonderful conversation about […]
Gather the Harvest
On August eighth, twelve women gathered in the RCWMS office for one of our recurring seasonal writing workshops. A number of those were familiar faces, while a few were there for their first Resource Center program. Rebecca Welper led the group, which included women in their thirties through their sixties. The evening included prompts and […]
Tuesdays With Tillis
Bodies were scattered across the sidewalk outside of Thom Tillis’s office on New Bern Avenue in downtown Raleigh on Tuesday, June 20th. A news van was parked across the street. Bystanders stood vigilant nearby on the sidewalk, alternately looking over their fallen comrades and up at the dark, glossy windows of the federal building. RCWMS […]
Welcome Interns!
We’re thrilled to have two Duke student interns working with us here at RCWMS this summer! Welcome to Colleen Sharp and Savannah Lynn! Colleen is a rising senior from Raleigh studying African & African American Studies and Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies. She spends her after-class time working on sexual violence victim survivor advocacy and […]
Being Mortal
Over the course of the past few months, Duke professor Jehanne Gheith and Duke student Katherine Zhou facilitated a workshop on Dr. Atul Gawande’s best-seller, Being Mortal. A group of seventeen members participated in the biweekly discussions, generously hosted at the beautiful residence of Dot Borden. By delving into the book, the discussion group focused […]
Mother May I?
On March 10-11, 2017 thirteen women gathered for “Mother, May I? A Narrative Leadership Workshop.” Reverend Jan Gregory-Charpentier, DMin and Senior Pastor at First Congregational Church in Westbrook, CT, came back to Durham for the second year in a row to lead this popular seminar. During this year’s weekend intensive, the women explored their relationships […]
Art as a Spiritual Practice
Sue Sneddon approaches art as a spiritual practice. That’s why anyone who takes one of her workshops can feel safe trying something new and embracing the joy of creation. We’re so thrilled to spend two weekends every February at the coast, on beautiful Emerald Isle, playing with water colors, pastels, and acrylics, under Sue’s gentle […]
A Tribute to Anita McLeod
In early January we lost a beloved member of the RCWMS community to cancer. Anita McLeod, RN, BSN, was a retired nurse and health educator in Durham, NC, a courageous trailblazer who will be sorely missed. During the twenty years of her association with Resource Center she led many workshops on women’s spirituality, founded and […]
RCWMS and the Women’s March
I handed my phone to a tall person who was standing nearby and asked him to take a picture of my friends and me. We had ridden the biodiesel bus together from Durham to Raleigh for the Women’s March on Raleigh. As our bus pulled into downtown, we saw cars and people streaming in from […]
Turning Points
Last fall, a group of women whose ages spanned six decades gathered every Monday evening for four weeks to write, explore, and share in a safe and supportive community. Out of these gatherings came a booklet of deeply personal and moving poems and essays. Below is one of the short essays featured in this collection. […]
Reading Race
A couple of years ago a small group of us at RCWMS took up Ta-Nehisi Coates’ challenge to followers of his blog at The Atlantic to read and discuss Michelle Alexander’s magisterial book on mass incarceration, The New Jim Crow. (You can read a brief review on our Words and Spirit blog: wordsandspirit.tumblr.com) The discussions […]
Tea Gatherings Featured on UNC-TV
RCWMS Executive Director Jeanette Stokes was included in UNC-TV’s Our State feature on Japanese tea gatherings and the Asiatic Arboretum at Duke Gardens. RCWMS hosts a tea gathering each year in the spring. You can watch this lovely 8 minute video here:
Hand Wringing and Reckoning
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2016 RCWMS Essay Contest. The theme was “Experiencing White Supremacy.” The first place winner is Danyelle O’Hara of St. Paul, MN, for “Hand Wringing and Reckoning,” which first appeared in our March newsletter, and is republished below. Second place goes to Karen Erlichman of Pacifica, CA […]