Vol. 43 No. 4 — Spring 2024
COVER ART — “Strands of Sisterhood Secured” by Page Turner
Assemblage sculpture from found and handmade objects, 24 x 18 x 1 in. Visual blessing text at the end of the Table of Contents.
pageturnerstudios.com | @pageturnerstudios
LETTER FROM EDITOR “50 Years: A Reunion Issue” by Rachel Rueckert
ESSAY “An Existential Question” by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
ESSAY “What I Owe Exponent II” by Nancy Tate Dredge
ESSAY “When Sisters Speak” by Judy Dushku
ESSAY “A Record Shall Be Kept” by Claudia Lauper Bushman
ESSAY “Celebrating 50 Years of Exponent II” by Grethe Ballif Peterson
ESSAY “Exponent II Gave Me Feminist Friends” by Diane McKinney Kellogg
ESSAY “Courage, Integrity, Competency” by Helen Claire Sievers
ESSAY “50 Years Later Still a ‘Smart Person’” by Marti Sorensen Lythgoe
ESSAY “What 50 Years of Exponent II Have Meant to Me” by Cherie Taylor Pedersen
ESSAY “Reared on the Laps of the Matriarchs” by Linda Hoffman Kimball
ESSAY “Stumbling across Exponent II” by Robin Zenger Baker
ESSAY “Bold, Clear, Confident” by Jenny Atkinson
ESSAY “Retreat: Reflect, Reinvent, Reunite, Renew” by Heather Sundahl
ESSAY “Origins of Exponent Retreat Quilts” by Kirsten Campbell
ESSAY “A Love Letter to the Retreat” by Emily Fisher Gray
ESSAY “Greener Pastures Don’t Need Me” by April Young-Bennett
ESSAY “Sisterhood” by Sherrie Gavin
ESSAY “An Exponent II Daughter” by Anne Lara (Annie) Dredge Kuntz
ESSAY “Into the Woods” by Lindsay Denton
ESSAY “Exponent II, My Community” by Lori LeVar Pierce
ESSAY “How Exponent II Helped Me Become the Woman I Always Wanted to Be” by Alma Frances Pellett
ESSAY “Mary and Martha” by Margaret Olsen Hemming
ESSAY “How I Came to Co-Write Fifty Years of Exponent II” by Katie Ludlow Rich
HISTORY “Early Production of the Paper” by Katie Ludlow Rich
HISTORY “Poets Remembered” by Ann Gardner Stone, Emma Lou Thayne, Helen Candland Stark, Linda Sillitoe, Margaret Rampton Munk
HISTORY “Diary Excerpts” by Carol Lynn Pearson
HISTORY “A History of Artwork in Exponent II” by Nancy Ross
HISTORY “Highlights from the Blog” by Ann Moulton Johnson, April Young-Bennett, Abby Maxwell Hansen
HISTORY “Keeping a Record: The Journey of Digitizing the New, Entire Exponent II Collection” by Carol Ann Litster Young
ESSAY “50 Years of the Exponent II Paper Almost Wasn’t So” by Karen Call Haglund
ESSAY Excerpt from “Creativity: A Constant Renewal” by Susan Elizabeth Howe
ESSAY “Capturing Feathers” by Cheryl Davis DiVito
ESSAY “A Bright Light” by Roslyn (Roz) Udall
ESSAY “I Wouldn’t Have Cared if Exponent II Were Published on Paper Towels” by Karen Rosenbaum
ESSAY “Just What I Needed” by Sue Booth-Forbes (formerly Paxman)
ESSAY “The Sisterhood That So Lovingly Saw Me Through” by Barbara Streeper Taylor
ESSAY “Just Do It!” by Naomi Horne
ESSAY “Permission” by Anja Shafer
ESSAY “A Friend I Can Take Anywhere” by Emily Parker Updegraff
ESSAY “Finding Exponent II, Finding Myself” by Caroline Kline
ESSAY “It is All Trust — All Gift” by Aimee Evans Hickman
ESSAY “Change is Slow, Patience is Necessary, Mistakes Are Part of the Process” by Emily Clyde Curtis
ESSAY “A Tribute to Exponent On Your 50th Anniversary” by Allison Pingree
ESSAY “What Exponent Means to Me” by Sylvia Cabus
ESSAY “I Would Not Be Who I Am, or Where I Am, Without It” by Katrina Vinck Baker
ESSAY “Three Generations” by Deon S. Turley
ESSAY “I Can Now Stand Confidently In My Path” by Tirza Davis
ESSAY “Hope in the Goodness of Friendship” by Julie Theriault
ESSAY “How Do You Say Thank You?” by Cynthia W. Connell
POETRY “Exponent:” by Melody Newey Johnson
POETRY “Cambridge, 1974:” by Abby Parcel
POETRY “No Need to Knock” by Dayna Patterson
POETRY “The Great She Is” by Rachel Hunt
EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor-in-Chief
Rachel Rueckert
Managing Editor
Carol Ann Litster Young
Art Editor
Rocio Cisneros
Layout Designer & Editor
Rosie Gochnour Serago
Fiction Editor
C. Chanel Earl
Blog Feature Editor
Natasha Rogers
Book Reviews Editor
Ynna Padilla
Poetry Editor
Abby Parcell
Sabbath Pastorals Editor
Nicole Sbitani
Women’s Theology Editor
Eliza Wells
EXECUTIVE BOARD
President
Lori LeVar Pierce
Vice President & Secretary
Lindsay Denton
Treasurer
Jeanine Bean
Members
Andee Bowden, Carol Ann Litster Young, Jessica Gray, Natasha Rogers, Nancy Ross, Rachel Rueckert, Rosie Gochnour Serago, Heather Sundahl
ADDITIONAL STAFF
History and Editorial Support
Katie Ludlow Rich
50th Anniversary Logo Designer
Gloria Pak
Art Community Ambassador
Page Turner
Subscription Manager
Gwen Volmar
Proofreaders
Kami Coppins, Hannah Mortenson, Cherie Pedersen, Karen Rosenbaum
Strands of Sisterhood Secured: A Visual Blessing
PAGE TURNER
Sisterhood is a force — the power that holds us together — connecting each of us through threads that weave and stretch and are strong. The sisterhood cultivated by Exponent II was born from the threads severed by patriarchy, buried and hidden for generations. These severed connections — retied, bundled anew — are secured with the wisdom of our foremothers. This glue that holds the stars in the heavens restored the touchstone of our sisterhood.
I made this “Visual Blessing” for the cover of the 50th anniversary issue of Exponent II. A women’s blessing, offered through visual medium rather than verbal. An act I claim from Emma, Eliza, and Pheobe; Claudia, Laurel, and Judith, Caroline, Aimee, and Rachel. This work reflects my personal experience with finding Exponent II a decade ago, connecting me with a community that is both contemporary and solidly grounded in our women’s history. I am inspired reading the words and work of my sisters who, like me, were severed from the knowledge of our history and power but now reclaim and restore so that it will not be lost again. When I found Exponent II, I truly felt that I had found my place where I am seen, my story heard and celebrated. Working as art editor during my tenure gave me an opportunity to find and connect with artists. Dare I say, I have been bundled with them. This artist solidarity allows me to continue to pull these threads that are our sisterhood and add a few threads of my own. Adding to the support and strength of our sisterhood, I stand on the shoulders of strong sisters — securing our sisterhood. Page has served as art editor and art community ambassador for Exponent II since 2015. This piece, like much of her artwork, draws on collected materials that reflect her own sacred spaces while inviting other women to search for their own. Instagram: @pageturnerstudios
