From the Farmhouse Table: January 2022

Snowed in during the last ten days of 2021, I set in motion a beautiful habit.

Each day, I poured another cup of Earl Grey tea, snuggled under a weighted throw on the sofa, and dove into the work of Hedgebrook alums.

I immersed myself in the world of Benny and Annabelle (Ruth Ozeki’s latest wonder, The Book of Form and Emptiness; her first residency was in 2010), and then wandered a magical 90’s era Portland with siblings Iph and Orr (Michelle Ruiz Keil’s second novel, Summer in the City of Roses; her initial residency was in 2014). I watched a documentary on the searing collision of football and feminism, A Woman's Work: The NFL's Cheerleader Problem by filmmaker and director Yu Gu (a 2017 resident), cheering on former NFL cheerleaders Lacy and Maria, whose class-action lawsuits against their teams allege wage theft and illegal employment practices. I listened to Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson, who was a resident in 1998, and downloaded all of the songs of Valerie June, a 2020 alum. On the coldest day, I shivered, mesmerized by 2017 resident Chet’la Sebree’s book-length poem, Field Study, and wept at Starshine & Clay, by the late Kamilah Aisha Moon, a 2017 resident.

It wasn’t just an exercise. On the whole, I had a very good 2021; I joined the Hedgebrook family, I resumed a writing practice that had eluded me for a long time, I returned to the Seattle-area (and an income tax-free state ;) and I remained healthy. But the exhaustion is real at the end of a pandemic year. Though I slept in each morning, it was the labor and talents of Hedgebrookians that restored me.

They reminded me why this place, this organization, this institution matter so much. The gift of a room of their own allows women-identifying writers space to breathe life into their creations, without distraction. It can be easy to take such a simple thing for granted. But our writers do not.

As this year gets underway, I hope you’ll join me as we share Hedgebrook’s stories here in our emails, on the website, and at Equivox, our virtual fundraiser slated for 11:30 a.m., Sunday, March 20, 2022.

Kimberly A.C. Wilson, Executive Director