Dislodging the myths that were embedded in me as a child has been a painful and illuminating project of adulting. In a cosmic game of Jenga, I delicately loosen, rearrange, and rebuild the planks of my beliefs and practices, hoping to avoid a total collapse. This project takes on more urgency as my three-year-old begins […]
News
Why I’m supporting RCWMS
Let me introduce myself. I’m Christine, and I want to let you know why I’m supporting RCWMS this December. Exactly a year ago, I pretty much gave up on the nonprofit sector. I had just lost my job and was floundering about seeking clarity and a place to land. I was questioning who I was and […]
You do not have to be good.
Though the weather is chilling and the leaves are falling, my mind has been traveling back to a different change in the seasons. Spring of this year brought with it two moments that would change my life, though I didn’t know yet that they would. My doctor told me that pain would be a part […]
Road Trip
I took a long road trip in October to New Orleans, Tulsa, and points in between. I drove because I don’t really like flying, and it would have required many airplanes to get to those two cities on consecutive weekends. I covered almost 3,000 miles in just over two weeks and enjoyed most of it. […]
Women’s Voices Lifted Up in Song: Homegrown 2019
When Shelley and I first became interns with the Resource Center for Women in Ministry in the South, Homegrown was one of the main events of the semester that we eagerly anticipated. Over the course of our first few weeks of spending time in the Resource Center, we heard bits and pieces about the festival: […]
Welcome Our New Interns
This month we welcome our interns for the 2019 fall semester, Liddy Grantland and Shelley Leazer. As our Anita McLeod Interns, they will each work about 10 hours a week and will focus some of their attention on intergenerational issues. Liddy Grantland is a senior undergraduate studying African American studies and English, with a minor […]
Marcy Litle reviews Thick by Tressie McMillan Cottom
Tressie McMillan Cottom is a black sociologist and public intellectual. I had never heard of her—which, it turns out, is a significant theme in her book—until I read a review of her newest book, Thick, at the beginning of this year. Something in that review made me want to check it out. I’m very glad […]
Blossoming
“I have my new life plan!” That’s what one participant exclaimed at the end of one of our writing workshops recently. Though that wasn’t the goal of this particular evening, having the time to write in community and sit with her thoughts had planted seeds of clarity. Watching people grow and blossom is one of […]
Pride
June is busting out all over! And that means one thing: Pride. In June of 2008, I went with my then partner to San Francisco Pride, in the brief window of time when marriage equality had come to California (only to be whisked away by Prop 8 that November). The booths and vendors covered a […]
Coming soon!
Be on the lookout for our summer fundraising campaign starting later in June! Your support has helped us add new programs and publish artist-in-residence Bryant Holsenbeck’s wildly successful book, The Last Straw. This summer we’re raising $4,500 to support folks at the intersection of feminism and faith, contemplation and action, social justice and spirituality. Your support makes […]
Save the Date: Homegrown 2019
Save the date for the 8th annual Homegrown: NC Women’s Preaching Festival: October 3-4, 2019, at Trinity Avenue Presbyterian Church in Durham, NC. Watch for registration details, as well as preacher and workshop leader announcements, on the RCWMS website later this summer! In the meantime, you can learn more about the festival vision here and […]
VIDEO: Jeanette Stokes and RCWMS Labyrinth in the News & Observer
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. Click on the image to view the video.
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 […]