American women writers, even in these last years of the twentieth century, are a very well-kept secret. For all the "consciousness-raising" that has gone on, their voices remain, especially in school curricula, largely unknown or dismissed. The Radio Play makes women's writing accessible in a particularly appropriate way: "listening to voices" is fine metaphor for recognizing identities and granting respect to ideas and visions beyond our own. The Radio Play invites, compels, and entices us to hear, and the Scribbling Women radio plays provide a wonderful means to bring to listeners what women have to say through narrative, through storytelling. And storytelling is a universal way of forging human connections. So, what Scribbling Women is all about is this wonderful integration of listening, storytelling, recognizing, connecting. The newsletter is one more way to connect: to bring together all of us who teach, or who know of or seek ways to demonstrate the beauty, power, and relevance of women's voices within the contexts of our culture. -Lucinda H. MacKethan

I see the Scribbling Women newsletter as the latest stage in the ongoing project of re/visioning and re/newing our understanding of American literary and cultural history through our sustained encounter with the works of American women writers. The Radio Play offers a particularly powerful and accessible way of hearing and experiencing their words--and an innovative way of introducing them to our students. We hope to build upon our experiences with these writers and with the plays based on their work, to explore the ways in which we can effectively and creatively integrate writing by American women into the classroom. -James A. Miller

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