SHE Gathers - The power of women's stories.
So, we’ve had our first SHE Gathers event and it left a big imprint on my heart. The event was an exploration on how to best present the songs of SHE (my soon-to-be-released collection of original songs) and the stories that inspired them. To see what blooms out of that exploration and head in the direction of those blossoms.
The whole evening felt like a tapestry of powerful and unique female energies, as does the SHE project, in general. I’m just getting started with SHE (as it’s not even released yet...solidifying a November release date right now!) and it’s already becoming very clear that a “tapestry” is exactly what it’s meant to be throughout it's entire lifetime. It’s this collection of stories of beautiful, imperfectly perfect, powerful, vulnerable, light-filled, fire-bellied, tender-hearted women, but I know that even after it enters out into the world, it's not really "my" project. It belongs to SHE, the collective female energy, as a way to remind us of how innately powerful and resilient we are and encourage us to rise into our full selves. Unapologetically.
“She” is the title track of the project and it is about my grandma Helen and her remarkable story of bearing the gift of so much light even while living most of her life in an abusive relationship. These are the last two paragraphs of the story about her that I read at SHE Gathers (written by Siri Liv Myhrom for the CD booklet, from my perspective) followed by a snippet of the song written for her as performed at the first SHE Gathers event:
“I know that I am who I am in large part because of what I witnessed in my grandmother. Her gentle fire has poured light into my life. I see her wisdom and kindness and phoenix-like resurrection in the stories of every woman here. Our souls are forever connected and I’m grateful.
What better to do with a gift of light than to humbly receive it, and then expand upon it as much as possible in whatever ways are given to us, and pass it on and on and on. Light catching fire. It’s what we’re here for. “
Musicians (L to R): Mary Louise Knutson-piano, Nashon Halloway-BGV & guitar, Katie Gearty-BGV & percussion, Nancy Harms-vocals
SHE is now available for pre-order at www.RisingShiningSHE.com !
MORE INFO ABOUT HOW "SHE Gathers" CAME TOGETHER (FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE INTERESTED):
One of the great joys of this first SHE Gathers event is that it took its form by conversing with female friends whom I greatly admire. My friend, Siri Liv Myhrom, wrote out the stories of the women from the songs of SHE. These stories will be presented in a booklet that accompanies the CD so that the listener can get to know the women of the songs even further and hopefully it will enrich their listening experience. Siri and I sat down to brainstorm ways to present this material to women that really allows them to get the most out of the experience and really honors the stories behind the whole project. We came up with the idea of trying intimate, cozy gatherings of just women that would utilize different women artists. Siri brought up that it might be really powerful to close with a group conversation. It turned out to be a really beautiful addition to the evening...a way to deepen connection with those who came out to the event.
Not too long after, another writer friend, Heidi Barr, approached me about the fun idea of possibly presenting our two projects together as they have a lot of similar themes concerning women’s wholeness and healing journeys. She sent over her yet-to-be-released book of poems, “Cold Spring Hallelujah”, and I was astonished at how many of the poems spoke (beautifully) to the same message as the songs in the SHE project. So, with all of this, we had the perfect place to start to put the first SHE Gathers together!
The program ended up being in this format: Heidi’s poem, Siri’s story, Nancy’s song (repeat x 6) and then a guided discussion at the end by Siri. I started the evening by reading the story about my grandmother. I had trouble making it through the reading and I was surprised by how immediately the emotions rose to my throat. But, there I was, in a room full of all women (and one amazingly wise 13-yr old girl) recognizing ourselves within and celebrating the stories of other women. At this moment particularly, the story was about one of the most impactful women of my life. It was an overwhelmingly beautiful experience for me, so I guess it shouldn’t have surprised me that my heart was bursting and shaking about.
It’s been a gift to create something that hopes to serve something beautiful and so much bigger than myself...the rising of the collective SHE! I’m looking forward to more SHE Gathers in whatever configurations and locations it shows up...and the gorgeous community of women it will introduce me to and the joy of getting to celebrate the rising SHE (collective female energy) together.
p.s. A huge "thank you" to the generous and talented host for our first SHE Gathers, Kim Fragodt! You are a gem!
