tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31244884.post7943471916370898082..comments2007-09-20T10:28:52.579-07:00Vermont Writers Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10639256252744580815noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31244884.post-91187754466122719072007-09-20T10:28:00.000-07:002007-09-20T10:28:00.000-07:009/17/07 I first heard of Grace Paley years ago in the late 1970s when I was living in NYC and she was very active in the anti-nuke movement. It was therefore quite eery, or perhaps appropriate, that the news of her death appeared in the August 24, 2007 edition of the Burlington Free Press opposite a huge headline: "Nuclear Plant damage [at Vermont Yankee] is worse than reported." I'm sure Grace would have been very concerned about the obvious structural weaknesses revealed by the collapsed cooling tower and I'd like to think her work and the work of so many others will be taken even more seriously now.<BR/> The last time I heard her read<BR/>her poetry was at Johnson State College in June. 7 Days writer Mike Ives, who wrote a fine tribute for Grace, rightly described the scene:<BR/>"I felt as if everyone were admiring a prized gem in a traveling museum collection." I thought she was pretty feisty and<BR/>that maybe she was winning her battle with cancer. Her words that night struck me more than ever, however, and when I praised her afterwards for a particularly courageous poem that she wrote about her activism on the subject of the Middle East, she turned to me and said "That's what writers have to do. They have to be true and they have to be fearless." <BR/> We writers have so much to learn from her. But it was her fearlessness, her speaking truth to power, that will always stand out most in my mind.<BR/>Charlotte Dennett<BR/>Cambrige, VTcharlotte dennettnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31244884.post-65661702977693064392007-08-25T20:11:00.000-07:002007-08-25T20:11:00.000-07:00The last time I saw her was during the effort to bring the troops home, and the protest at [Congressman] Peter Welch's office, a few months ago. We all walked together down from the Peace and Justice Center to Welch's waterfront office and she waited with us for a word from Welch. Six were arrested as I recall. Her philosophy seemed to be to make 'little disturbances' by putting her body on the line regardless of the law or what people might think; but she always found kindred souls to do it with, which made it a cause rather than a lonely mission. She just made it a reasonable way to live a life.<BR/><BR/>Amazing Grace: we'll try to keep your steadfastness and humor with us in the difficult months ahead.Robin Lloydnoreply@blogger.com