Reflections from the Feminine Side

Women Writers Discuss Local Life

It’s recognized that Sandpoint is rich in both its natural beauty and in its creative talent. Two recent publications showcase the distinctive talents of local writers. Both books provide thoughtful contemplations on responding to life with all its various offerings.

“Sandpointed: Collected Works Sandpoint Monday Writers” is the collaborative effort of a local writing group: the Monday Writers. The six members, Desiree Aguirre, Jackie Henrion, Sandy Lamson, Robens Napolitan, Sandra Rasor, and Rhoda Sanford, meet every Monday at Monarch Mountain Coffee. The book is a gathering of poems and prose that reflect “life here in this place, time, lives, and cultural spaces,” said Jackie Henrion in the introduction.

The book swings the pendulum of subjects from grief and frustration to joy and peaceful meditations.

The Sandpoint Monday Writers, meeting since the 1990s, is a diverse group of women who explore their experiences through their writing, referring to themselves as “word workers” who use language to help shape the landscape of their lives. Robens Napolitan describes them as having a “progressive, left-leaning lens” and adds that sharing laughter is also an agenda item. “Sandpointed” is for readers who are looking to explore life’s landscape through the beauty of language. It is also for those curious about why that group of women are hav- ing such a great time in the back corner of the local coffee shop.

Ammi Midstokke’s “All the Things” is a collection of essays concerning her journey as a trial-by-error homeowner of an off-grid cabin. “My writing tries to find the humor in humanity and those threads that connect us all,’’ Midstokke commented in response to the book’s appeal.

The book is the result of receiving positive feedback from a story she wrote for the Spokesman Review newspaper Midstokke and her publisher selected the essays which, as she puts it, “tell a rather lovely story of a woman grappling at transitions in life.” Midstokke admits she has made a lifestyle choice that many people would be leery of selecting, yet she believes her book will appeal to anyone who has ever made the best out of a bad decision, or, she added, “anyone who needs to laugh at their own failures or neuroses from time to time.” Her wry observations and understated wit cover the gamut from dealing with smoking stovepipes to encouraging her offspring to embrace hiking. Midstokke manages to relate even the most dire circumstances, such as being trapped under a boulder, with a positive outcome, leaving the reader with a thoughtful takeaway.

The books can be found in Sandpoint bookstores and through online venues.

–Pam Webb