When I think
“anthology,” I usually think boring compilation or shallow “Best
of” CD. But this year, three Western women have pulled together an
anthology of writing that reminds me more of my favorite mix tape.
In Woven on the Wind, editors Gaydell Collier,
Linda Hasselstrom and Nancy Curtis unleash an outpouring of new
writing from a group we don’t usually hear from – rural Western
women. The 150-plus contributors from 16 states and three Canadian
provinces all write about their friendships with other women. Their
stories are diverse, and sometimes raw enough to turn your stomach,
but together they start to show us how Western women make their
lives and friendships work.
Woven on the
Wind is the second of two book projects put together by
Collier, Hasselstrom and Curtis, fellow ranchers and writers. In
1997, through postings in rural bookstores, libraries and grocery
stores, the trio asked women to send in writing about their lives.
The manuscripts they got in return became Leaning into the
Wind (HCN, 10/13/97). The stories were about a thousand
different things, but oddly, few if any of the contributions talked
about women’s kinship with other women. That made the editors
curious, says Linda Hasselstrom. “Over and over, we came back to
the fact that these women had written about … horses, dogs,
puppies, men, fathers, grandfathers, but they had not written about
their women friends,” she says. “We thought, well, maybe those
friendships are too rare and precious for them to write about …
but we thought it would be worth asking.”
The
stories women sent in for Woven on the Wind are
far from sentimental cliches. Mary Hadley, a contributor from
Wyoming, tells us that life in wide open places sometimes means you
don’t get to choose your friends. In “No Room for Strangers,”
Hadley writes that she met her friend Pat just days before the two
wives moved into an isolated Nevada ranch house together. Through a
kind of openness and good luck, Hadley writes, she and Pat made
things work.
In “Dear Judy,” Sherry Schultz
Shillenn writes about falling into a deep and lonely depression
after her first child left home for college. When all other support
networks failed, Shillenn’s daily walks with one friend pulled her
through. Sometimes, friendships aren’t like that: With more than a
trace of vengeance, Gwen Petersen writes about her friend Delia,
and how it took 40 years of agony to “cut Delia out of my
life.”
Not always polished or fully developed,
the pieces are a startling collective diary of Western women’s
lives.
Woven on the Wind: Women Write
about Friendship in the Sagebrush West, Linda
Hasselstrom, Gaydell Collier, Nancy Curtis, editors: Houghton
Mifflin Co., 222 Berkeley St., Boston, MA 02116, 2001. Hardcover:
$25. 336 pages.
Copyright
© 2001 HCN and Ali Macalady
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Friendship in the Sagebrush West.
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