Unapologetic Freedom

Author and nature enthusiast Ruby McConnell supports women in the outdoors by tackling topics that have been marginalized by society.

By Paige Scott

When walking into a crowded pub on a Tuesday night, the last thing you’d expect is to hear the word “menstruation.” However, Ruby McConnell, a local author, is unafraid to jump up to an open mic any chance she gets and speak her mind.

“It’s like 6 p.m. and everyone has their after-work beer, and it’s a bunch of dudes and I get a mic and I’m like, ‘menstruation.’ I’m going to say the word ‘menstruation’ into a microphone 20 times on a Tuesday night,” states McConnell. “Some of the men leave, and

I’m like, ‘really, come on! Fragile.’” Her voice and fearless attitudeare apparent in her books, A Woman’s Guide to the Wild: Your Complete Outdoor Handbook and A Girl’s Guide to the Wild: Be an Adventure-Seeking Outdoor Explorer! Both are outdoor guidebooks, written by a woman, for women.

Defining McConnell as just an author would be far from the truth. Living in Eugene, a town that seems to breed a nonconformist way of life, McConnell fits in perfectly. From not celebrating holidays to chasing her passions, she puts careful consideration into every aspect of her life, living by the motto “you don’t have to like me, and I don’t have to care.” McConnell explains that it is a freeing way to live.

McConnell and her husband started waking up at 3 a.m. to keep their small essential oils business running. This schedule change allowed her to break free of the normal 9 to 5 most Americans live. “We don’t sit in traffic, and we are ready to run our errands right when [stores] open up. I do not stand in line for coffee or the bank or for groceries,” says McConnell. “If we want to go out and have a meal together, we go out on the lunch schedule, so the portions are smaller and it costs less per plate, and it’s not as busy, so we don’t have to wait in line for restaurants. It’s like,totally magical. It’s so great.”

McConnell expresses that being able to shape her schedule in a way that breeds creative freedom is particularly important for her life as an author. “There’s a lot of days that I’m like, ‘did I work today?’ Like, it’s 8 o’clock in the morning and I’ve done three and a half hours of writing today, but I’m just starting,” says McConnell.

Growing up in Portland, Oregon, McConnell expresses that she had parents who always supported her wild ideas, and they unknowingly unlocked her love for the outdoors by sending her to summer camp as a child. Even though she came from first-generation immigrant parents, McConnell feels as though she lives a privileged life, expressing, “I’m a white, middle-class woman in the state of Oregon and I had funding for college available through scholarships and student loans... so I feel like I don’t have the kind of traditional barriers [that others face].” She continues, “everyone has tragedy and everyone has hardship, and these things happen, but I was blessed with a happy attitude.”

This happy attitude pushed her to go to college for a geology degree, to study something that she loved, not just something that would make her wealthy. McConnell makes staying true to herself a huge aspect of her life.

“I have traveled through life with an image of—and I’m not kidding you, this is what a strange human I am—with this internal image of a red bouncing ball—that is, you know, like children with a shiny, shiny red ball,” she says. “Have you ever watched a small child just be transfixed by that thing in front of them that they are reaching to as a baby? That’s how I went through life.”

This mentality is what led her to ignore social conformity and follow her passions, despite receiving firm advice on why she shouldn’t, and receiving lots of criticism for what people assumed was “wasting money.”

This lifestyle has broken down many barriers for McConnell. In her book, A Woman’s Guide to the Wild, she takes on taboo topics that come with being a woman in the outdoors. From a detailed description of how to properly pee in the woods to a step-by-step breakdown of all the options available for handling menstruation on the trail, she covers many topics that were previously not readily available to women.

After releasing her book, McConnell shares that interacting with fans opened her eyes to the impact the book made. “I’ve had women older than me come up and say, ‘I’m so glad you’ve finally talked about menstruation because I’ve struggled with that issue for years in the outdoors,’” states McConnell, explaining that these moments give her deep satisfaction in knowing that her writing may inspire others.

In April of 2020, she is releasing a collection of essays called Ground Truth: A Geological Survey of Life. True to her nature, McConnell is reaching out of her comfort zone once again, diving out of the how-to genre and into research essays, stating that when writing, she follows her heart, writing about whatever catches her attention.

Outdoor books tend to give enough information for survival, but none for comfort. Normal bodily functions, such as menstruation, and the comfortability that eyeliner gives some women, shouldn’t be something that is ‘taboo’ in society. This is why it is crucial to have women like McConnell writing for women. Everyone should have the chance to experience life in a way that is uniquely their own.