Dopp Juice Archive

Uploaded by Liz HenryDid I mention I’m sporting a fashionable non-haircut these days? It’s quite nice. Low maintenance AND an immediate challenge to the way people want to perceive me. I like that. When someone does a double-take, I get their attention for longer on the second glance. It gives me the opportunity to define myself with more than my appearance. Maybe a few words or a smile. But enough about me. Check out more WoolfCamp pics. Ooh and ahh at the babies. Imagine the sound of a room full of women tapping away on their laptops. It’s very similar to the sound of rain falling in a forest.

Woolf Camp is amazing. I was just gushing last night, in the group of women sitting on bean bags on hardwood floors, overlooking the foggy Santa Cruz ravine, that this place is a new experience for me. I often lament that my particular brand of tech geek, writer, and entreprenuer rarely exists in another person. Being here, being surrounded by these women (and a few men) who collectively embody all these qualities I love in myself but can rarely find in others… is validating, exciting, and most of all inspiring. You can check out the party here: WoolfCamp 2006 Blog.The people here are incredible. I want to tell you about all of them. I probably will when I get home and have the space to decompress. I performed two memorized slam pieces last night, in a candlelit impromptu poetry reading. The classic manifesto piece about what we put into our bodies, and the intense drumming piece about the woman dancing. The reception was wonderful — and it launched me into another hour of lamenting my unconscious decision to stop writing. It’s been years since I took poetry seriously. And yet, I still have these pieces memorized. It’s a constant internal battle, so it must mean something to me. I justify my absence from line breaks by saying my new creative release is forming work and organizations — and most significantly, The Writ. But really, I hate that I don’t write value poetry like I used to. Between fulltime work and fulltime school, I can honestly argue that I don’t have time, but that never stopped me before…

Tomorrow morning, I leave for Woolf Camp, a gathering of bloggers–mostly of the female variety–at a home in Santa Cruz for a weekend retreat/workshop/geek party. The question of my weekend is: “How do I want to use this blog space? What do I want my image and message and connection to be with you?” It’s time to get philosophical, introspective, and inspired. I think between cups of tea in a room full of women, each with one hand on her knitting needles and the other on her laptop, watching a jack terrier fly across the front yard… the answers will come.