Hey everyone--I'm back from my month long hiatus in the land of book writing, homemade pasta, and internet disconnection (otherwise known as the Bellagio Centre in Italy). It was truly an incredible, life-changing month for all sorts of reasons, and I plan on writing about some of them over the next few weeks (especially the incredible international artists that I met). I wanted to start by reflecting a bit on Virginia Woolf's old idea about women needing their own space and time. I have never felt this more acutely than when I finally got it. Woolf wrote:

Now my belief is that this poet who never wrote a word and was buried at the crossroads still lives. She lives in you and in me, and in many other women who are not here tonight, for they are washing up the dishes and putting the children to bed. But she lives; for great poets do not die; they are continuing presences; they need only the opportunity to walk among us in the flesh.

I don't claim to be any great poet, and of course I wrestled the entire time with my own privilege in getting to be there, my own sense of dessert to have such a rare opportunity. But I also witnessed the ways in which having a clean, little studio, having someone else handle logistics, having the space and luxury to check out from the daily grind of life, felt so incredibly honoring. I don't know that I wrote better, but I felt this deep and profound sense of gravity--as if the world was telling me that my words were worthwhile and valued. I can't begin to describe how transformative that feeling was (and remember, this is from a writer who's had all sorts of reinforcement, expensive education, the benefit of feminist networks etc.)

The Bellagio Center was actually created because an Italian princess who owned the villa bequeathed it to the Rockefeller Foundation with the explicit instructions that it be used as a place for international artists and scholars to come and have interdisciplinary interactions aimed to promote social justice. On my residency alone there were women and men from Kenya, South Africa, the Netherlands, India, Nigeria, Japan, Azerbaijan, and more from the U.S. They came from a variety of class and ethnic backgrounds, and worked in a wide variety of fields--from law to international development, from sculpture to anthropology.

Thanks to my peeps here for picking up my slack, and thanks to that Italian principessa for having the vision to provide people, especially women, with a room of one's own. I feel so honored to have had the opportunity and will do my damndest to make sure others get the same kind of affirmation, time, and space. Admissions is currently closed, but will reopen in the fall. Here's info on the process. And feel free to add info about other residencies in the comments section!