November is a month historically and traditionally defined by Thanksgiving and of being thankful for the positives in life. However, this time of year can also bring about the awareness of what is lacking, missing, or flat out ignored. While Catherine Place is a major highlight in many lives, she, too, often falls prey to oversight. To speak plainly and personally, I often do not take into consideration the purpose, potential, and plan of the impact that Catherine Place offers to its constituency—women.
Catherine Place provides individual advocacy, circles and groups, healing arts and creative workshops. I am interested in the various groups and circles offered; groups that reach toward wider implications and possibilities. Currently, my group experience is the Inscape Poetry Group facilitated by Kay Mullen. While we meet weekly on Wednesday afternoons, our poetic progress factors into other facets of daily life and living. Through writing, “We use other material things to describe the untouchable, unsafe things [in our lives],” states Mullen during a recent session, “it is not [just] therapy.”
The idea of poetry is to show while heal, to tell while tame. Being open to such encounters can influence a person’s perspective. The Inscape Poetry Group is just a peak of a tip of the iceberg called Catherine Place. Other groups featured at Catherine Place (Yoga, Women Spirit Circle, String of Purls—Knitting, Crochet, & Needlepoint Group, Sisters at Seven, Juntas en Transicion [Together in Transition], Lovingkindness Meditation) make up other parts of the glacial ice island; each working to achieve the mission and vision of Catherine Place.
My goal is to experience these entities in the coming new year and share with you my encounters in the groups that compose Catherine Place’s circles, telling a story about the shape of the iceberg as I dive underwater. Thank you for coming with me on my journey.
-Jessica Bloodsaw