As the adage goes, nothing in life is constant except change. Raw and well-written, women of all ages, stages, and lifestyles peel off bits and pieces of their lives, like the shedding of a scab from a healed wound, and pour their hearts onto these pages. Made me reflect back on my own life experiences with fresh eyes. A must-read!
Kym Brunner
Author of Wanted: Dead or In Love and One Smart Cookie
Shifts is an extraordinary gift, offering learning about and understanding of the lives of women. The diverse richness of material touches a full range of emotions by exploring deep memories, present conundrums and future hopes. A reader is rewarded by the craft of exceptional writers and editors engaged in the worthwhile project of revealing truths about the interior and external worlds in which women inhabit.
Steven H. Hobbs
Tom Bevill Chairholder of Law, University of Alabama School of Law
A masterful display of how liberating just one life (our own) can nurture the seed for millions. These women courageously transform painful shifts into power! They deal with it, work through it, then create something meaningful out of it! Thank you!
R. Colette Jennings, Psy.D, Clinical Psychologist - Chicago, IL
Life is full of transitions – some subtle, some earth-shattering. You may be a suburban stay-at-home mom holding your marriage together for appearance’s sake, an immigrant coming to grips with the nuances of the English language within the context of the American culture or a cancer survivor adjusting to your “new normal.” Regardless of your circumstances, Shifts will give you an “a-ha” moment on every page.
Valerie F. Leonard, Community and Organizational Development - Chicago, IL
All too often, we tend to think that women only experience change as it relates to menarche and its cessation. Shifts: An Anthology of Women’s Growth Through Change highlights a variety of transfigurations contemporary American women experience throughout their life cycles, particularly changes in identity associated with adolescence, mothering, immigration, economic instability, and the stigma of old age. Although their voices and circumstances differ, each woman’s story underscores how such challenges can be met with courage, resilience, and inner strength.
Kathleen Renk, Ph.D.
Professor of English, Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, IL
Author of Caribbean Shadows and Victorian Ghosts: Women's
Writing and Decolonization (University Press of Virginia)
I admire the editors for so boldly taking on the angst-riddled journeys of women. Each entry is uniquely woven and honestly depicts the struggle of evolution when staying stagnant is no doubt the easier path. A fascinating exploration of the discovery of strength, often times in the most unexpected places.
Tarvis Thompson
Publicist/Communications Executive - Atlanta, GA
What is compiled in this refreshing collection of works, magnificently transforms a reader’s understanding of the complexities of “womanhood“ from mundane to sublime.
Dr. Melanie Wilson-Lawson
Associate Professor of Health Sciences, Texas Southern University - Houston, TX