The Alice Project

Oh, Alice. How many times have I picked up this project over the past 30 years? Yes, it’s been that long since I first met you through the journal you kept in the 1880s and early 1890s.

Later as a woman in her late 30s, I met with you again through your 1866 journal, where you as a young woman wrote:

“I may yet be worthy of the name of woman, in the purist and noblest sense. Yes, I will be if resolution and perseverance can accomplish anything.”

I’ve been journaling around your ideas for years; you’ve been part of the meditation of my heart since I was 18. Now, other books have joined your stack of words and a somewhat unused journal. Along with that, the courage needed to write what it is that will come through. “…if resolution and perseverance can accomplish anything.”

Your granddaughter, Pauline–my grandmother–is nearly 100 years old. I’ll do this for her. And my mother, Elaine. For Edna Mae, your girl under the pine in the world of boys. And for the rest of our string of pearls.