Empowerment is herbal conference’s recipe for women’s well-being

IN HER ELEMENTS: Danielle Creeksong joined more than a thousand women at the annual herbal conference in Black Mountain amid gusting wind and pouring rain to cultivate healing relationships with the world of plants.

The Southeast Wise Women Herbal Conference, founded and directed by herbalist Corinna Wood, took place in Black Mountain, NC the weekend of October 2-4.

I reported on the conference for Mountain Xpress, Western North Carolina’s weekly newspaper. The article, now online, is here.

Charged with reporting rather than opinionizing, I’ve had to reign in my urge to editorialize. Given Asheville’s recent Waking Life scandal and our moment of conversation about rape culture, that was hard to do.

The sordid details of the sexual exploits broadcast by two men, the proprietors of the Waking Life Espresso coffee shop, can be found here and here and here and here.

I’m hoping readers, including you, will take this opportunity to write letters to the editor, naming women’s empowerment as an essential ingredient in the recipe for moving beyond rape culture — a cultural evolution to benefit both men and women.