BETH HOWARD

Perspective

In late March, I attended the "Weather Report" in Casper, hosted by Terry Tempest Williams and her creative writing students. Williams is the University of Wyoming's first Eminent Writer in Residence in the Master of Arts Program in Creative Writing. As Williams puts it, the "Weather Report takes the pulse of a community."

The following day, a writing workshop was offered to explore stories and it offered community members the opportunity to participate by writing their own stories.

Williams began the workshop by reading, "A Letter to Deb Clow" from her book, "RED." The letter was her answer to Deb's question, "Why do you write?"

After the reading, Williams asked us to consider what is important to us and then to take 10 minutes to answer the question: "Why do you write?" What follows is my response, written in the same style as Williams' letter:

I write because I am a pacifist mother with twin sons serving in the military. I write because, how could I live with myself if one of my sons were to die in the war and I was not working for peace? I write because it is something I can do for peace. I write because I know that my sons serve in the military for some of the same reasons I write.

I write because I have a husband who loves me and supports me to write. I write because I've raised three sons in Cheyenne who grew-up and had the courage to leave. I write because, after they left, I had the courage to stay.

I write because my oldest son believes in his talent as a musician, enough to make a living from it in New York City. I write to find that kind of belief in my own talent. I write because my Marine son has traveled the world, protecting embassies and consulates and has brought back the gift of stories. I write because I know the power of a story to help us understand each other.

I write because people keep saying to me, "I can't believe that your sons joined the military!" I write to try to shed some light on the judgments and biases that are pervasive about what kind of a person joins the military and agrees to fight a war. I write to tell you that it is my sons.

I write to tell you that I am now the mother of a decorated war hero. My Army son was awarded a Purple Heart after being wounded when he was hit by a roadside bomb. I write to tell you that my son survived his tour of duty in Iraq. I write because my friends' sons are still fighting this war. I write because many mother's sons have died.

I write because I am one of the lucky mothers. I write because my Marine son still stands duty at a post in Saudi Arabia. I write because so few people ever ask a member of the Armed Services why they volunteered. I write because people assume they are all experts on the war. I write to offer a different perspective.

I write because I have seen it change a heart, a mind, or turn a belief upside down. I write because when my son joined the Army he wrote a note to our extended family saying that soldiers and Marines do not take up arms to go to war, but to defend freedom in places that have known too little of it. "We hope to defend freedom," he said, "and a peaceful way of life." I write because that is worth writing about.

You may ask, "But why would you seek to publish this?" I do that, because following the "Weather Report" in Casper, I heard two men tell Terry Tempest Williams that they'd demanded that she be fired from her position at the University after she'd been quoted in the Casper Star-Tribune saying something which had offended them and their industry. One said, "But, I've changed my mind about it." The other said, "The president of the university has your back." Williams was visibly shaken.

I want both Terry Tempest Williams and those two men to know that there are hundreds, maybe even thousands, of not-so-silent witnesses in the state of Wyoming, who support and are grateful for her work and who defend her absolute right to speak openly and honestly. The final "Weather Report" will be held in Gillette on May 2-3. Learn more at: www.uwyo.edu tw.

What's important to you? You don't have to publish it. Take 10 minutes now to jot it down. Why do you write?

Beth Howard is a writer, artist and yoga teacher living in Cheyenne.