Your mediation on legacy, being a woman in the world silenced by coeval men, and the analogous feelings brought forth whilst being in nature: sublime. Thank you, Freya. Every essay I read of yours, I dig deeper, contemplate to further depths, and feel more connected to my Alaska home.
The rage I felt whilst reading "and that one book, of course, was the biography of her husband." 😡 But, Freya, this piece was marvelous, oh my goodness. What a beautiful sentiment re: legacy. Thank you for writing this. Thank you for sharing these women, their words, their names, their legacies with us.
Absolutely beautiful. I feel like I have so much to think about after reading this. Decolonising the way we think of legacy, and giving ourselves space to simply be enough in being appreciated is something beautiful.
This is beautiful, the last line made my heart skip a beat. My idea of a legacy is centred in love, only marking the world through the touch of our kindness on others and the natural world. Those are the footsteps I want to leave behind
"Because a legacy can also be as small and as beautiful as being missed by someone when you leave the room." It's hard to choose a favorite line in here among so many beauties.
I know I've written often of the strength and inspiration my Russian grandmother gave me, though I only met her twice before she died. A Jewish woman in the Russian empire and then under Stalin, a woman who'd once believed she was helping to create a new world where people like her could be free, only to be disillusioned as so many are through the generations, she never saw glimmers of hope that the kind of justice and ethics and values she believed in would ever become a social reality.
A mother and engineer, she never "made a name" for herself beyond her family. And yet it's her example I hang onto when our societies face impossible realities. I've often thought of her when thinking about what kind of ancestor I hope to be, that maybe some child in the far future will find heart from what I've tried to do with my life. I love the idea of good ancestry being a trace, like she is for me, rather than a legacy. ✨ This is an essay I'll be coming back to. Thank you for this!
Nia, your grandmother sounds incredible and I want to adopt her as my ancestor as well. I think about women like that so often, of how each generation knows and works for something better and we do hold traces of them in our bodies, memory, lives. I too want to be that kind of ancestor. I never knew my grandmother on my dad's side, but I spend all the more time thinking about her, of what she went through, what her life was like (have been writing something about that in my head for some time, maybe I'll share it at one point). Those lives definitely do reverberate in our own, traced in our cells and bodies. 💜
Epigenetics is real! It's very true, and perhaps makes it all the more frustrating for so many who do not know much about maternal ancestry (which can be hard, as you've pointed out, due to the simple fact of naming conventions and laws).
I think my Babushka would have appreciated you greatly, and others here. She had a high bar for honesty and ethics, and as far as I know respected those who aimed for the same. 💖💖💖
I wrote about leaving traces in nature just last week. How people interact with the environment around them, what they take and what they leave. Something that is always of consideration here in NZ.
I have so much respect for all the research and uncovering you do. Freya. 🙏 Starting with your own blank page and then beautifully filling it in and delivering to us stories that need to be heard.
I remember your post about that--I so love hearing about the lands around you in NZ. Thank you so much for your kind words and attention--legacy work. ;) That means so much. 💜
Freya, I have been your reader for so long that I have lost count of how many of your essays are my favourites, however this one is exceptionally well written. The connection between colonial conquest of wilderness, compulsion of leaving a mark and then traversing through the erasure of women’s legacy, your prose follows so fluidly in a prophetic self fulfilling loop.
I first discovered Cavendish in Woolf’s work, don’t see the world reclaiming her legacy but the world now knows that her eccentricity never shadowed her genius. Thank you for talking about women like her, women like us. 💜
Swarna, you are the dearest reader, and honestly knowing that you and others are out there feeling similarly means everything to me, the only kind of legacy I'd ever hope for. Thank you so much dear friend--you are such a brilliant firefly to know. 💜🧚🏼
I've lived long enough now to see how writers important to one era fade away. So many of those I once thought would always be read and regarded as important no longer are. Working as a librarian, where one important part of collection development is weeding, cemented for me that there is much value in being of value in your time, and also that it is OK to fade away after your time (as snow does). I have found great freedom and peace in letting go of ideas about legacy. It helps keep me grounded in living and loving fully in my now. This piece was so rich, thoughtful, and beautifully written. Thank you.
I love this perspective! And yes--to let some things fade is something I often think about after working in archaeology and seeing how sometimes things are meant to degrade into the earth and that's ok--the idea we (usually a western we) can save everything, like a museum cardboard box is a better answer....after working in museums too I can say that is in now way a superior answer. 🤦🏻♀️ Sometimes the purpose of lives is to leave a trace and then allow the earth to return to what it was with traces of lives amidst what comes next. Thanks so much for reading and sharing that. 💜
I’ve been reading a lot about “untouched” wilderness as colonial construct - thanks for this addition! And I will be hunting down more writing by Austin and cavendish immediately 💖 I love fresh snow and we have had so very little of it this year 💔
It's something I just can't stand--that idea of wilderness. It makes me want to rail against all of it, because of what it excludes and the frontier mythos it perpetuates. Would love to hear what you've been reading about it too. Happy to share the snow with you. 💜❆
The first one that comes to mind is Windswept by Annabel abbs - recommended by Antonia, of course 💗 but it’s one of those ideas that once you see it you just can’t unsee!
I just love this conversation — it intersects with my own life on so many fronts, I don’t even know where to begin. But I’ll be checking out Windswept, and the writings of Mary Austin
I savor every mesmerizing exquisite word you write.
Below is an excerpt from your essay, "At the back of the north wind" 5/9/2023.
I have it saved in my commonplace notebook.
I boldly and humbly borrow these words that so fittingly describe your legacy.
"Behold the work which once thou didst impose,
Great sister of the Muses' glorious star,
Of female worth, who didst at first disclose
Unto our times, what noble powers there are
In women's hearts, and sent example far
To call up others to like studious thoughts."
"(Mary) Sidney became one of the most well-known writers of the day, and her patronage of other writers and theater groups helped to create many plays, such as Samuel Daniel’s Cleopatra in 1611, written at her request. His dedication to her reflects the adoration that so many held for her work."
Patrick, this just made me feel like I have no other need of a legacy than contributing to your beautiful commonplace book. Thank you so much my friend--I love that Mary Sidney appreciation, and that it lives in your pages. 💜
Somewhat related - there is a movie coming out in the UK soon about how the women football world cup in 1971 made FIFA (and men) lose their minds and ban women from football. the documentary gives voice to those women with interviews - cannot wait to hear their stories (and feel rage)
O I cannot WAIT to watch that. I've been thinking so much about the whole issue around gender and sports and how ridiculous it is and where it began. Love that this is coming up and we can rage together. ✊🏼
"It’s an irony that while we’re warned to leave no trace in a wilderness that makes no room for human life, we’re also told to think about what kind of legacy we want to leave—as if we are, again, in control of a blank page. Find your calling, make your mark, leave your name, your heirs, your art."
It's a further irony that those who would bid us to leave no trace are those who left a legacy in the names of the wildernesses, peaks, and rivers. And that my matrilineal line left no trace in the family tree, their legacies assigned to the men.
There's more to unpack with each read. Bravo, Freya.
Thanks so much John. And such a good point--the fallacy of leave no trace being inherited by those who presumed to claim with their names something that never was or could be theirs. I find ancestry so interesting, and yet I always see those chasms where women and enslaved people and others are completely erased from those pages. I so wish we could hear their voices more clearly. 💜
I have been hungering for a critique of predominantly white outdoorsy culture—a culture that feels itself to be so innocent of all that is wrong in the world, so virtuous, and yet only open to thin, able bodied, young, white people. I know what it feels like because I was in it in my twenties, and for a while I felt the tantalizing power of *almost* winning at white patriarchy. Then it slipped through my fingertips, at first a trickle, then a whoosh. And now I can see it was never about communities of humans in reciprocal relationship with Earth. It was—like so many modern conceptions of virtue—an individualistic channeling of one’s own privilege to wash one’s hands clean of the wound we both inflict and suffer.
The exact critique I want is probably one I will have to someday write, it’s the story written on my nervous system which is why I’m so hungry to read it. All that to say, I really appreciate these thoughts on leave-no-trace but leave a legacy (which includes borders and supremist narratives) vs leave a trace because we belong to the world, and let the world leave its own legacy.
I also loved Austin’s contrast between the indigenous practice of names reflecting the thing named vs settler practice of names reflecting a claim or legacy. And I’m really interested in the content of her sparring with John Muir!
Thank you.
💜
Your mediation on legacy, being a woman in the world silenced by coeval men, and the analogous feelings brought forth whilst being in nature: sublime. Thank you, Freya. Every essay I read of yours, I dig deeper, contemplate to further depths, and feel more connected to my Alaska home.
That means a ton Carrie—thank you so much. 💜
The rage I felt whilst reading "and that one book, of course, was the biography of her husband." 😡 But, Freya, this piece was marvelous, oh my goodness. What a beautiful sentiment re: legacy. Thank you for writing this. Thank you for sharing these women, their words, their names, their legacies with us.
thank you so much for reading—and for feeling my rage alongside me in solidarity with Margaret the FIRST! 💜
Absolutely beautiful. I feel like I have so much to think about after reading this. Decolonising the way we think of legacy, and giving ourselves space to simply be enough in being appreciated is something beautiful.
that means so much Amara—thank you! 💜
Note to self: read more women authors…Lovely piece, Freya. The last two paragraphs — absolutely beautiful… Thank you…!
yes! thanks so much Sean. 💜 🙏
This is beautiful, the last line made my heart skip a beat. My idea of a legacy is centred in love, only marking the world through the touch of our kindness on others and the natural world. Those are the footsteps I want to leave behind
I wish for those types of footsteps in our lives--I love that. 💜
"Because a legacy can also be as small and as beautiful as being missed by someone when you leave the room." It's hard to choose a favorite line in here among so many beauties.
I know I've written often of the strength and inspiration my Russian grandmother gave me, though I only met her twice before she died. A Jewish woman in the Russian empire and then under Stalin, a woman who'd once believed she was helping to create a new world where people like her could be free, only to be disillusioned as so many are through the generations, she never saw glimmers of hope that the kind of justice and ethics and values she believed in would ever become a social reality.
A mother and engineer, she never "made a name" for herself beyond her family. And yet it's her example I hang onto when our societies face impossible realities. I've often thought of her when thinking about what kind of ancestor I hope to be, that maybe some child in the far future will find heart from what I've tried to do with my life. I love the idea of good ancestry being a trace, like she is for me, rather than a legacy. ✨ This is an essay I'll be coming back to. Thank you for this!
Nia, your grandmother sounds incredible and I want to adopt her as my ancestor as well. I think about women like that so often, of how each generation knows and works for something better and we do hold traces of them in our bodies, memory, lives. I too want to be that kind of ancestor. I never knew my grandmother on my dad's side, but I spend all the more time thinking about her, of what she went through, what her life was like (have been writing something about that in my head for some time, maybe I'll share it at one point). Those lives definitely do reverberate in our own, traced in our cells and bodies. 💜
Epigenetics is real! It's very true, and perhaps makes it all the more frustrating for so many who do not know much about maternal ancestry (which can be hard, as you've pointed out, due to the simple fact of naming conventions and laws).
I think my Babushka would have appreciated you greatly, and others here. She had a high bar for honesty and ethics, and as far as I know respected those who aimed for the same. 💖💖💖
Beautiful, thank you.
💜🙏
Love the fresh snow images Freya.
I wrote about leaving traces in nature just last week. How people interact with the environment around them, what they take and what they leave. Something that is always of consideration here in NZ.
I have so much respect for all the research and uncovering you do. Freya. 🙏 Starting with your own blank page and then beautifully filling it in and delivering to us stories that need to be heard.
Important work. Legacy work. 😊
I remember your post about that--I so love hearing about the lands around you in NZ. Thank you so much for your kind words and attention--legacy work. ;) That means so much. 💜
Freya, I have been your reader for so long that I have lost count of how many of your essays are my favourites, however this one is exceptionally well written. The connection between colonial conquest of wilderness, compulsion of leaving a mark and then traversing through the erasure of women’s legacy, your prose follows so fluidly in a prophetic self fulfilling loop.
I first discovered Cavendish in Woolf’s work, don’t see the world reclaiming her legacy but the world now knows that her eccentricity never shadowed her genius. Thank you for talking about women like her, women like us. 💜
Swarna, you are the dearest reader, and honestly knowing that you and others are out there feeling similarly means everything to me, the only kind of legacy I'd ever hope for. Thank you so much dear friend--you are such a brilliant firefly to know. 💜🧚🏼
Likewise my friend 💜🧚🏽♀️
I've lived long enough now to see how writers important to one era fade away. So many of those I once thought would always be read and regarded as important no longer are. Working as a librarian, where one important part of collection development is weeding, cemented for me that there is much value in being of value in your time, and also that it is OK to fade away after your time (as snow does). I have found great freedom and peace in letting go of ideas about legacy. It helps keep me grounded in living and loving fully in my now. This piece was so rich, thoughtful, and beautifully written. Thank you.
I love this perspective! And yes--to let some things fade is something I often think about after working in archaeology and seeing how sometimes things are meant to degrade into the earth and that's ok--the idea we (usually a western we) can save everything, like a museum cardboard box is a better answer....after working in museums too I can say that is in now way a superior answer. 🤦🏻♀️ Sometimes the purpose of lives is to leave a trace and then allow the earth to return to what it was with traces of lives amidst what comes next. Thanks so much for reading and sharing that. 💜
I’ve been reading a lot about “untouched” wilderness as colonial construct - thanks for this addition! And I will be hunting down more writing by Austin and cavendish immediately 💖 I love fresh snow and we have had so very little of it this year 💔
It's something I just can't stand--that idea of wilderness. It makes me want to rail against all of it, because of what it excludes and the frontier mythos it perpetuates. Would love to hear what you've been reading about it too. Happy to share the snow with you. 💜❆
The first one that comes to mind is Windswept by Annabel abbs - recommended by Antonia, of course 💗 but it’s one of those ideas that once you see it you just can’t unsee!
I just love this conversation — it intersects with my own life on so many fronts, I don’t even know where to begin. But I’ll be checking out Windswept, and the writings of Mary Austin
So much to think about here. Beautifully expressed. But my favourite thing is the last sentence. Thank you.
💜🙏
I savor every mesmerizing exquisite word you write.
Below is an excerpt from your essay, "At the back of the north wind" 5/9/2023.
I have it saved in my commonplace notebook.
I boldly and humbly borrow these words that so fittingly describe your legacy.
"Behold the work which once thou didst impose,
Great sister of the Muses' glorious star,
Of female worth, who didst at first disclose
Unto our times, what noble powers there are
In women's hearts, and sent example far
To call up others to like studious thoughts."
"(Mary) Sidney became one of the most well-known writers of the day, and her patronage of other writers and theater groups helped to create many plays, such as Samuel Daniel’s Cleopatra in 1611, written at her request. His dedication to her reflects the adoration that so many held for her work."
From <https://freyarohn.substack.com/p/at-the-back-of-the-north-wind>
Patrick, this just made me feel like I have no other need of a legacy than contributing to your beautiful commonplace book. Thank you so much my friend--I love that Mary Sidney appreciation, and that it lives in your pages. 💜
Favourite post! 🪩 thank you
Somewhat related - there is a movie coming out in the UK soon about how the women football world cup in 1971 made FIFA (and men) lose their minds and ban women from football. the documentary gives voice to those women with interviews - cannot wait to hear their stories (and feel rage)
https://variety.com/2023/film/global/womens-world-cup-football-1971-mexico-documentary-1235680834/amp/
O I cannot WAIT to watch that. I've been thinking so much about the whole issue around gender and sports and how ridiculous it is and where it began. Love that this is coming up and we can rage together. ✊🏼
"It’s an irony that while we’re warned to leave no trace in a wilderness that makes no room for human life, we’re also told to think about what kind of legacy we want to leave—as if we are, again, in control of a blank page. Find your calling, make your mark, leave your name, your heirs, your art."
It's a further irony that those who would bid us to leave no trace are those who left a legacy in the names of the wildernesses, peaks, and rivers. And that my matrilineal line left no trace in the family tree, their legacies assigned to the men.
There's more to unpack with each read. Bravo, Freya.
Thanks so much John. And such a good point--the fallacy of leave no trace being inherited by those who presumed to claim with their names something that never was or could be theirs. I find ancestry so interesting, and yet I always see those chasms where women and enslaved people and others are completely erased from those pages. I so wish we could hear their voices more clearly. 💜
I have been hungering for a critique of predominantly white outdoorsy culture—a culture that feels itself to be so innocent of all that is wrong in the world, so virtuous, and yet only open to thin, able bodied, young, white people. I know what it feels like because I was in it in my twenties, and for a while I felt the tantalizing power of *almost* winning at white patriarchy. Then it slipped through my fingertips, at first a trickle, then a whoosh. And now I can see it was never about communities of humans in reciprocal relationship with Earth. It was—like so many modern conceptions of virtue—an individualistic channeling of one’s own privilege to wash one’s hands clean of the wound we both inflict and suffer.
The exact critique I want is probably one I will have to someday write, it’s the story written on my nervous system which is why I’m so hungry to read it. All that to say, I really appreciate these thoughts on leave-no-trace but leave a legacy (which includes borders and supremist narratives) vs leave a trace because we belong to the world, and let the world leave its own legacy.
I also loved Austin’s contrast between the indigenous practice of names reflecting the thing named vs settler practice of names reflecting a claim or legacy. And I’m really interested in the content of her sparring with John Muir!