As we come to the close of Women's History Month and our fourth installment on the changing face of our region, what is your wish for the future women of West Michigan? G-Sync's Lifestyle Editor Tommy Allen hits the streets to ask local women their thoughts.
"The world only spins forward. We will be citizens. The time has come," writes the playwright Tony Kushner at the end of his Pulitzer Prize-winning play
Angels in America.
And while that work was written about the changing climate of America in response to the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and the epic connections of power, relationships, history and love, it was a phrase that echoed through my mind as I created the fourth and final installment on the changing face of West Michigan in honor of Women's History Month.
After covering one woman, Constance Rourke, who made an impact on our city's history, and two women, Jennifer Salinas and Teresa Weatherall Neal, who are changing the climate today, for this last installment, I wanted to look to the future. So I hit the streets of our city, asking women what they hoped or wished for the future women of West Michigan.
Since I wanted to represent a fair snapshot of women in our city, I decided that I should visit all three wards over the course of a day, but I also visited a few pockets where I knew activities would happening in our city. Camera in hand, I visited offices, community watering holes, grocery stores, fundraisers, schools and the sidewalks of our city.
Some faces in the resulting
video may be familiar to you, while others may not, but each woman's perspective reminds us that our region's greatness lies in its ability to hear both the prominent voices at the table as well as the ones that haven't been recognized (yet). And while I am grateful to everyone who took the time to speak with me, due to space constraints, not everyone's comment ended up in the final work because of the overlap of topics.
So as we consider what the face of West Michigan will be in the future, I will close with the final line from
Angels in America, which I find to be a fitting way to address the movement of time within our play called life: "Bye now. You are fabulous creatures, each and every one. And I bless you: More Life. The Great Work Begins."
What's your wish, West Michigan? (Tag your wish on Twitter or Instagram #WYWwm )
The Future Needs All of Us.
Tommy Allen
Lifestyle Editor
[email protected]
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