26 Comments
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Rebecca D. Martin's avatar

So, so good. I am here for more stories of unruly women!

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Wendy Kennar's avatar

Jessica, thank you! My son looks at me, and I have no words to offer. We (my husband, son, and I) sit on the couch and look at a news clip, and I just shake my head but can't even speak to what is already happening in our country. Thank the heavens for Bishop Budde. What a phenomenal woman!

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Jessica Smock's avatar

She is! We needed her bravery!

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Kathleen Burgler's avatar

Thank you for this!

Both of these women deserve so much respect and praise!

Bishop Budde is being inundated with death threats, so take a few minutes and write her a thank you card.

Bishop Budde

Washington National Catherdral

PO Box 98283

Washington DC 20090-8283

you can also send a donation to edow.org/give

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Jessica Smock's avatar

Thank you for sharing this! It’s shocking how ugly some people’s responses are to her simple message of mercy.

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Janice Airhart's avatar

I'm horrified about what's happening and frustrated with how little impact I'm likely to have. I keep telling myself to just do the next good thing. Show kindness to those around me. Write and share what I think needs to be said. Give someone a helping hand. Read to a child. It won't change the world or public policy, but it might make a difference for one other person. It doesn't feel like enough, but it's honestly all I can do.

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Jessica Smock's avatar

If we all do little things, it will all end up adding to enough.

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Stella Fosse's avatar

Crone Revolutionaries.

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Jessica Smock's avatar

I love the word “crone”!

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Jeannine E's avatar

I love this, Jessica. I've been really interested in the witch archetype (and the history of it) since I left the Christian church about 8 years ago. If being in charge of myself makes me witch, then I'm all in.

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Jessica Smock's avatar

Me too!

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Amanda Schuster's avatar

Thank you for this!

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Lee Ann Prescott's avatar

Thank you, Jessica! I just went on a little diatribe to a friend who subscribes to my Substack, praised my writing skills, and admitted to not reading past the first paragraph of the first of three emails I sent this year, yet he told me detailed information about fire-related weather patterns and the new administration’s actions. My diatribe was about how people “don’t have time” to read anything that touches the heart (like my emails), even if it’s from their close friends, yet they doomscroll filling their mind with information that inflames them. I was unruly….and he said he’d read it.

I believe in supporting unruly women, all of us witches, for true witchcraft is a practice of love.

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Lou Blaser's avatar

Hear hear Lee Ann!

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Jessica Smock's avatar

Yes! Hear, hear! Thank you for sharing this. And for being another unruly woman!

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Lou Blaser's avatar

Great piece about these women, Jessica. But even better is what you are planning to do, how you are going to use this platform going forward. I think you're demonstrating what it is to "use what you have, do what you can" to borrow from Arthur Ashe.

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Jessica Smock's avatar

Thank you, Lou! I love that quote.

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Paige Geiger's avatar

Thank you for sharing these stories and for reminding us not to stay silent and turn away. This gives me hope. I'll be back to read more.

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Jessica Smock's avatar

I'm so glad to hear that! Welcome!

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Jennifer Louden's avatar

Great post and thanks for quoting me. I’ve been trying to write a follow up and you did it for me. 🫶🏽👊🏼

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Jessica Smock's avatar

I will remember your piece for a long time. Thanks for writing it!

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Jennifer Louden's avatar

That’s so awesome to hear. Thank you!!!

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Regina Cash-Clark's avatar

Great quote, Janice: “She now states, ‘I lost my critical thinking. I knew it was a cult, and I was in a cult’.” Whew. I admire the former MAGA granny for doing the work (therapy) and seeing her role in the Jan. 6 riot. And I think that “cult” is the truest description I’ve heard of what that whole movement has become. 😶‍🌫️

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Woz Flint's avatar

Also, thank you for sharing the link for The Logoff newsletter. I feel like that is going to be the perfect dose of information I'll need without being completely consumed.

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Elizabeth Kopple's avatar

I didn't have the interest or strength to watch the inauguration. I not longer read the new. Instead, I'm working to help people channel their grief in positive ways. I hope this is enough.

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Dianne Hammer's avatar

Thank you for featuring these women — crones speaking truth to power. This is one of those pieces that inspires me to keep speaking up and speaking out, and to be proud of who I am and what I have to offer my community during this time. We are a wise army of gray-haired women, aren’t we?

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