Signs of the Season

by Margaret Michniewicz

On the morning I'm scheduled to write this year-end closing message to the readers of Vermont Woman, I've checked the weather report so I can anticipate any hazardous driving conditions for a trip I plan to make this weekend - I grumble as I notice that the temperatures have plummeted into the teens, with the wind chill enhancing the joy.

And then while en route to the office I see, at the intersection of 189 and Shelburne Road, the huddled, shivering figure of a woman at the side of the road, her life apparently at a bleak crossroads:

Starting over, please help.

Scrawled on cardboard, her four words revealing all that hundreds of passers-by will ever know about her.

What the staff members at community action agencies and shelters around the state know is that more and more women and families are likely to join this woman, if current trends hold.

For our report on homelessness, "Life on the Edge," we spoke with a number of women about the housing issues they faced. I was struck by the fact that nearly every one of them used the same words when talking about their day to day life: it's just really hard.

It's stated matter-of-factly, sometimes with an understandable sigh of weariness, sometimes with a determined smile; for all of them, it's just how it is, it seems. They must keep struggling daily to make ends meet, most of them on their own doing their best to provide for their children.

Many families across the U.S. and around the world will lose their home this year, whether from economic circumstance, natural disasters, war.

If the past millennia are any indication, we won't be solving the world's problems this year, but if many of the women we've featured this month in Vermont Woman reveal anything - it's that even you and I can indeed make a positive difference in someone else's life.

From the Women of Wisdom's Sweet Charity emanating from Main Street Vergennes; to Katherine Bramhall's dedication to birthing new life safely, on the other side of the planet; and Deb Boyer helping women with micro-finance projects in volatile locales like Afghanistan and Pakistan. Ellen Dorsch and Kathryn Budnik, both launching entrepreneurial careers - though at different points in their life - demonstrate that enthusiasm for turning a profit can be done in socially responsible (and aesthetically beautiful!) ways. And the arts - music, drama, performing/performance - are just as critical in our efforts to make this world a more humane home. Michelle Shocked, Anais Mitchell, Janice Perry - each has her own interpretation on society as it is - and society as it should be.

With this issue we bring 2007 to a close, and will return next year on February 1.
From all of us at Vermont Woman, we wish you all a very safe and joyous holiday season - And here's to a great '08!