The Women & Words Project: Discovering the Sacred Story Within.
what is the women & words project?
Mary Leoson began the Women & Words Writing Circle in spring of 2022, with the help of Diane Mull of the Women’s Center at Lakeland Community College. The founding members were students, staff, and faculty at the college in Kirtland, Ohio. Since then, the circle has grown to include women from across the country.
The mission of the project is simple: to help women come together as a community and share their stories. Our hope at Women & Words is that participants feel embraced and empowered to explore their experiences, express them creatively through words, images, sounds, and video, and find both healing and a sense of belonging.
Introductory Video: Women & Words
Background Soundtrack: iMovie clips: “Time Lapse” (first 23.6 seconds) and “Elysium Long” (second 30.3 seconds)
Images: All images provided by Mary Leoson
the women & words: creative writing & digital stores course
The first few pieces on this page are examples of work composed by participants in the Summer 2022 free, noncredit online course Women & Words: Creative Writing & Digital Stories. The course was designed and facilitated by Mary Leoson as an independent project and is not affiliated with Lakeland Community College.
Women & Words: Creative Writing & Digital Stories Course Syllabus
collaborative story: circle of women
Writers Kelly Griffiths, Becky Swersky, Nikkia Kostner, and Mary Leoson collaborate on this digital story about women and community. Each woman wrote a poem reflecting her unique experience as a woman, including challenges with mothering and female friendship. The poems were braided together and narrated by three of the writers: Griffiths, Swersky, and Leoson.
Digital Story: Circle of Women
Background Soundtrack: "Ethereal Awakening" by Project Divinity is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.5.
Images: Standard license purchased from iStock Essentials Collection for images 134142240, 1205769884, 461209029, 1305602794, 821426100, 1309449027, 1282300192, 1053444228, 1320405861, 1285897593, 1251094302, 1149125720, 1275296312, 1127245421, 1198732666, 697438336, 810268268. All other images were provided by the writers.
BECKY’S story: I AM A CREATOR
Artist’s Statement:
I am inspired and deeply moved by the threads of our collective experiences and how they are woven together to support and care for each other in an ever-changing and challenging world. I’m an experienced fiber artist and mindfulness coach and am interested in the way the two can be combined to deepen mindfulness practices. I have a special interest in mindfulness, meditation, breathwork, and somatics as a way to lessen suffering. In addition to my mindfulness work and fiber arts, I have a deep desire to support LGBTQIA+ youth and their families. As a parent of a trans child and LGBTQIA+ child, I am passionate about finding ways to connect our stories and experiences to create more tolerance and support in our communities. I am also a caregiver to medically challenged children and navigate chronic illness myself so I use my fiber arts and mindfulness practice to manage these challenges. I believe that connection, whether through the arts, mindfulness, writing, or any storytelling is the vehicle with which we can find each other. Weaving our stories together allows us to learn from each other, see the world in a new way and learn to appreciate our collective experience with love and compassion.
Audio: Writer’s Voice.
Images: All images were provided by the writer.
MARY’S STORY: ORIGIN OF THE CRONE
Artist’s Statement: “Origin of the Crone” reflects my joy, fear, and hope with regard to the aging process. Aging is a blessing that opens the door to wisdom, but it is not without pain and strife. In the spiritual tradition I follow, we are urged to walk with one foot in this world and one foot in the spiritual world, with an eye searching for the sacred in everyday experiences. These values are echoed in this digital story through words, sound, images, and symbolism. Teaching life span development has brought the aging process into tight focus for me, for I lead conversations about life and death among diverse groups of students, reflecting various cultures, religions, and philosophies. And if I ask my students to engage with their joys, fears, and hopes about life span development, then I should also be willing to share my own. This story captures a small part of that self-reflection.
Digital Story: Origin of the Crone
Background Soundtrack: Chad Crouch. “Satellite Bloom.” Fathomless, Podington Bear Music, 2015. (single use license purchased)
Images: Standard license purchased from iStock Essentials Collection for last image 698892958. All other images were provided by the writer.
Photo of Stained Glass Window from Nighttown Restaurant with Quote from Shakespeare: “If music be the food of love, play on.”
MARY’S story: SACRED SONGS
Artist’s Statement: “Sacred songs” is the first digital story I ever produced, and while the quality is not as clear as I would like it to be, the flaws represent something I hold dear— the learning process, in the classroom and in life. This piece is my creative response to the prompt: Who are you as a teacher? I began teaching in 2008, first in psychology and then in the English classroom. Since then, teaching has become a deep spiritual calling; it has empowered me to help others while also learning about myself as a healing presence and agent of positive change in the world. When I was young, teaching was the furthest thing from my mind. I grew up on the stage and was surrounded by music, poetry, art, and stories. I was in awe of the ways in which creativity could connect people, helping us find strands of common experience despite perceived differences. And when I finally found my way into the classroom, at the head of it rather than in one of the seats, my love for storytelling and music guided me as I fostered community and embraced various learning style preferences and forms of intelligence. Years later, my classrooms are still infused with songs, art, and narrative—the very essence of what helps people connect to each other.
Digital Story: Sacred Songs
Background Soundtrack: Apple. (2022). “Heartbeat.” iMovie. Apple. (2022). “Dewdrops.” iMovie. Apple. (2022). “Pastel Slide.” iMovie.
Images: All images provided by the writer except "Korimako (Bell Bird) singing" by theirishkiwi marked with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Standard license purchased from iStock Essentials Collection for image 1282300.