Hurricane Season: Living Through a Broken Heart, by Jeanette Stokes (Words & Spirit, 2008) $18.95
Life is designed to break your heart. It just is. What you do with your broken heart is up to you. At least that’s what Jeanette Stokes came to believe after the breakup of her marriage.
“Like Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking, Hurricane Season is a dark journey to the edge of despair. However, in Stokes’ case, her husband does not die suddenly. Instead, he moves across the country and keeps calling and e-mailing his simultaneous rejection and affection. In crisp prose, Stokes chronicles the roller-coaster year of separation with bald honesty, fully owning the downfall of her marriage and its roots in her family of origin.” —Georgann Eubanks, author of Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains
In this bittersweet collection of poetry by the late Sue Versényi, the author ruminates on the body, nature, family, love, and living with cancer. Many of the poems were written in 2005 at the beach during RCWMS writing weeks. Spare and deep, these poems will take up residence in your heart.
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God Speaks, Women Respond: UCC Women in Ministry Tell Their Stories, ed. by Nancy Peeler Keppel and Jeanette Stokes (United Church Press, 2004) $15.00
God Speaks, Women Respond is a collection of essays by women in ministry in the United Church of Christ. The richness and diversity of voices offer a rare and useful glimpse into the complexities of composing meaningful lives of service in the face of sometimes overwhelming obstacles. Anyone seeking inspiration for the life of faith can draw strength from the journeys of these women.
25 Years in the Garden, by Jeanette Stokes (RCWMS, 2002) $15
25 Years is a collection of essays by Jeanette Stokes that appeared in South of the Garden, the newsletter of the Resource Center for Women & Ministry in the South. Jeanette Stokes is the founder and Executive Director of RCWMS.
Lessons from Apple Trees, Rainy Days, and Johnny Woodchuck, by Ellen H. Baer (2004), $12
Lessons from Apple Trees, Rainy Days, and Johnny Woodchuck is a collection of art and essays by writer Ellen Holmes Baer and artist Joyce Hopkins, two friends whose original intent was to provide Christmas gifts for friends and family. Now in its third printing, the book remains a favorite for gift giving. Described in a local paper as “delightful” and “enlightening,” the essays are inspired by experiences as long ago as Baer’s Mississippi childhood and as recent as the election of 2004.
Traveling Far and Near and Other Essays, by Ellen H. Baer (2006) $12
Traveling Far and Near and Other Essays is the second collection of reflections and remembrances by Ellen Holmes Baer, a Mississippi native who now calls North Carolina home. A collaboration with Durham artist Joyce Hopkins, the book features a unique book design and cover art inspired by the Eno River. Described in a local paper as “engaging” and “thought-provoking,” the essays recall journeys to a few foreign lands but mostly use familiar places and everyday experiences as opportunities for learning and transformation.
My Odyssey With Two Uncommon Boys: A Trip to The Western States, by Ethel Erickson Radmer (2009) $12
From early roots of possible autism-spectrum behavior, two boys have emerged to a glorious embracing of the world around them. At age 19, they invite the author (& grandmother to one) on a wonder-filled ten-day road trip. Across sixteen states and two Canadian Provinces, they explore history, U.S. Presidents, state capitals & social justice. And they discover a treasure-trove about themselves.
Ethel Erickson Radmer is also the author of The Cheshire Cat Syndrome: My Adventures with Arthritis. She was born in Wisconsin and has lived in New York, San Francisco and presently North Carolina.
Conversations with Carl: My Journey through Grief, by Ethel Erickson Radmer (2006) $12
Writer’s Digest wrote, “This is a book that really touched me, that I had to read all in one setting. I had tears in my eyes as I read about the pain and heartbreak that the narrator went through at the loss of her husband. Not everyone has had a spouse die, but most people have felt the pain that comes with the end of a relationship, pain that feels so close to death. I liked that, rather than a story in which praise is lavished on the deceased and the sadness is dwelled on, the emotional content of this text was so much deeper and searching. The philosophies and actions that are conveyed made me want to meet, or at least become like, the author someday. Amazing!”
Blackbirds, Bottle Caps & Broken Records: Environmental Artist Bryant Holsenbeck at Work
Bryant Holsenbeck is an environmental artist living in Durham, NC who makes art out of cast-off materials. It is her hope that people viewing her work will be inspired to become better stewards of the environment. RCWMS teamed up with filmmaker Margaret Morales to make this fifteen-minute documentary about Holsenbeck’s philosophy and work. The film has been made possible by generous contributions from many individuals. For more information about Bryant: www.bryantholsenbeck.com.
This hour-long documentary opens a window to the lifelong pilgrimage of Meinrad Craighead and her mystical encounters with the Divine Feminine. Learn about the experiences that have influenced Meinrad, from her childhood roots in Arkansas and her formative relationship with her grandmother, to her time in Europe and as a nun, to her interactions with the culture in New Mexico where she now lives. Explore the connections of Catholicism, ancient mythology, and Native American shamanism to Meinrad’s art and ideas about God. Experience her moving images and stories of the devastating fire along the river near her home in 2003, and travel with her on a recent pilgrimage to the Black Madonna of Montserrat in Spain. See nearly 100 of Meinrad’s paintings and prints in beautiful detail.
"Luscious, eclectic, polyharmonic … 'The great appeal of the seven women of Stella is the wide variety of music they have in their repertoire and the astounding, complex harmonies in their combined a cappella voices'.” —Tim Kimrey, house concert impresario
Stella, a 7-woman vocal group based in the NC Triangle, has released their second CD. Different Skies reflects the singers’ compulsively eclectic tastes, their love of good stories, and their hunger for new musical adventures.
Song for Us All: Lise Uyanik and the Mobile City Band
$14.95
This is the 25th anniversary CD from a North Carolina institution. Seventeen cuts include originals and covers, rock, R&B, and acoustic. A great dancing record from a group of Baby Boomers you won't forget. Produced by Minnow Media with support from RCWMS.
Mary Emma Evans has been compared to Ethel Waters and Mahalia Jackson. "The way I'm feeling is the way I sing," she says. Mary brings all of her self--her childhood, her cultural heritage, the many challenges she has faced as a female pastor, and the long love of her husband and family--into this very powerful praise music. Evans grew up on a farm in North Carolina, the youngest of nine children. She has long been widely known in the northern Piedmont region of North Carolina as an outstanding preacher and a special minister to the marginalized. More recently Pastor Evans was elected to the Henderson, NC City Council where her work for social justice has found a new arena.
Produced by Minnow Media with support from RCWMS.
To order, visit Minnow Media at www.minnowmedia.net.
