October 2005

Publisher's Message

Message to Vermont Woman Readers

              With Love From,
“A Bold Posse of Women”

This issue, October 2005, marks the 2nd Anniversary of Vermont Woman, which means we have transitioned from “baby to toddler’, no small achievement for her mothers or the child.

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Refusing Blame, Embracing Rage: A Rape Survivor Sows the Seeds of a Revolution

This is not my story, but I write it anyway. It became my story, and yet it is still her life. I tell it to pay tribute to a woman stronger than words can convey, who would laugh at me for saying so; to acknowledge the woman and mourn the pain that brought her into being. What is a woman’s life without pain? We are nature-made to dilate – the word alone makes me cringe, but that pain is natural, it is transformative, creative, life-affirming and unforgettable. The pain of being raped is also transformative, it is also unforgettable, but it is not natural. It is destructive, annihilating, external and seemingly uncontrollable. This is the story of one woman who said no, who meant no, and who made that a reality far behind the late-night assault despite efforts to insist that it was all her fault in the first place.

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Wynona Ward: Road Warrior for Justice

She used to drive big rigs cross-country, but now trucker cum lawyer Wynona Ward logs at least as many miles in her four-wheel drive vehicle bringing legal counsel to isolated women and children on the back roads of rural Vermont. Ward is the founder of Have Justice, Will Travel (HJWT), situated in the heart of Orange County. Now with satellites in Bennington and Brattleboro, HJWT is essentially a mobile law firm that brings legal services to those in need. When she meets a client who is being sexually assaulted at home or who is seeing one parent beaten or strangled by the other, Ward knows exactly what that client needs: not just through her law degree – but because she was there once, herself.

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Punk Bach Band

You may not have heard of the Dresden Dolls, a Boston-based band comprised of vocalist/pianist Amanda Palmer and drummer Brian Viglione. But this duo, described by Palmer as a blend of “musical theatre and Eighties hits spiced with cabaret, punk, and Bach,” is quickly taking the world by storm. The pair recently completed a national tour with the perhaps all too well-known Nine-Inch Nails, an experience Amanda describes as “educational” -- “The whole band and crew were incredibly right and professional,” she told Vermont Woman. “Trent [Reznor, founder of Nine Inch Nails] was a solitary figure but treated us very kindly.”

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