Planning a big slumber party for seven 5th and 6th grade girls in the program. The objective is simple: prepare the soil for good growth. I anticipate high voltage energy bouncing off my living room walls. I expect giggles late into the night. In between pizza, popcorn, and root beer, we'll lift the veil to reveal the role of media and culture in defining a woman's role, deforming her body, degenerating her value, and demonizing her liberation. Okay, maybe we won't talk about all of that, but we'll certainly get the ground ready for ongoing conversations.
I hope to create a safe place for these 11 and 12 year olds to talk about what is influencing their daily lives, good and bad. I'd like to offer some words of wisdom from other women who can't be present. Prayer warriors, battle scarred and triumphant, renegades who have found freedom within the suffocating veil. The best gifts we can give these young ladies are our stories of how we make the conscious choice to live beautifully in a broken and dysfunctional world. Women, (and men who are sensitive to the concerns of women,) post your words/wit/lessons learned in the comments box below.
