Authentic Women Circle

02/05/2025

It all comes down to this.

10/07/2022

Nine years ago today we had our first Authentic Women Circle in Ogunquit in the basement of the Chamber of Commerce. We’ve had a lot of wonderful gatherings since then and we hope to in the future. 2023 will be a new beginning! Love to all the authentic women out there!

The Authentic Women Circle Board of Directors. Pictured (l-r): Molly McCoy, Kelly McCoy, Eileen Lawton and Cheryl Boucher.

10/02/2022

Thank you to Margie for this wisdom reminder. May we all vote this fall with women’s rights firmly in mind.

09/14/2022

What a lovely thought from the woman who taught me Reiki more than 10 years ago.

08/26/2022

On this day 122 years ago, following 72 years of persistent organizing, women** won the right to vote in the United States with the passage of the 19th amendment. This significant victory for human rights and democracy came about through the remarkable activism of thousands of women and men, across racial and class lines, across the country. Let us celebrate this hard won victory and continue the work to extend democratic rights throughout our society, including in our workplaces.

**Unfortunately, that victory didn't include all women. Black women were prevented from voting in many parts of the country until the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Kudos to all the authentic women who came before me and those I stand arm and arm with today! VOTE, we earned it!

07/16/2022

A college friend just posted this and I knew I was meant to share it with you. The world is a tough place right now. We must remember, we are elephants...

“We are so much stronger than they believe. Sound the trumpets, ladies.

A few months ago, my girl Nichole Nordeman sent me a picture and a story.

It's about female elephants. You know, as all good stories begin. See, in the wild, when a mama elephant is giving birth, all the other female elephants in the herd back around her in formation. They close ranks so that the delivering mama cannot even be seen in the middle. They stomp and kick up dirt and soil to throw attackers off the scent and basically act like a pack of badasses.

They surround the mama and incoming baby in protection, sending a clear signal to predators that if they want to attack their friend while she is vulnerable, they'll have to get through 40 tons of female aggression first.

When the baby elephant is delivered, the sister elephants do two things: they kick sand or dirt over the newborn to protect its fragile skin from the sun, and then they all start trumpeting, a female celebration of new life, of sisterhood, of something beautiful being born in a harsh, wild world despite enemies and attackers and predators and odds.

Scientists tell us this: They normally take this formation in only two cases - under attack by predators like lions, or during the birth of a new elephant.

This is what we do, girls. When our sisters are vulnerable, when they are giving birth to new life, new ideas, new ministries, new spaces, when they are under attack, when they need their people to surround them so they can create, deliver, heal, recover...we get in formation. We close ranks and literally have each others' backs. You want to mess with our sis? Come through us first. Good luck.

And when delivery comes, when new life makes its entrance, when healing finally begins, when the night has passed and our sister is ready to rise back up, we sound our trumpets because we saw it through together. We celebrate! We cheer! We raise our glasses and give thanks.

I have this picture saved in three different places and in a frame. (I also have an elephant ring given to me and my girlfriends from Tara Porter Livesay - it tells me: never alone.) Maybe you need this too. If you are closing ranks around a vulnerable sister, or if your girls have you surrounded while you are tender, this is how we do it.

There is no community like a community of women.”

Photo cred: David Yarrow Photography See lessA

05/20/2022

Thank you to Alice for this gem...

04/07/2022

She did it! Judge Jackson, you showed what total grace under fire looks like. Congratulations and thank you.

The 53-47 vote elevated the first Black woman to the pinnacle of the judicial branch. Three Republicans joined Democrats in supporting President Biden’s nominee.

03/08/2022

Yes, it's Women's History Month and this is the story of an original feminist...and her daughter (whose name you will recognize)...enjoy!

According to The Marginalian, the words come from another book Wollstonecraft had been brewing as a follow-up novel to Vindication, meant to take on a more personal tone. Her words indicate that Wollstonecraft knew the end could be approaching, making her message all the more bittersweet. In our mod...

02/27/2022

Check your email boxes for this month's newsletter.