Synkroniciti is delighted to welcome writer Donna Cameron of Washington state with “Sew to Speak,” the runner-up in our “Audacity” essay contest. Donna was eleven when her father died of cancer. Her mother, who had always made clothes for her daughters and was an expert seamstress, packed her sewing machine away and drifted into evenings of vodka tonics. The warmth and affection that once radiated from her craft dimmed to embers. Until Miss Helvig decided to enforce conformity in home economics.
““Miss Cameron!” Mrs. Helvig’s voice shrilled from across the room. I set the iron on its stand and watched as she strode toward me.
“Miss Cameron. We do not iron with our left hand.”
“I do,” I replied. “I’m left-handed.”
“Not here, you’re not.””
Donna could have complied. She did not. Instead, she carried her spark of defiance straight to the principal’s office, where it caught enough attention to curb Miss Helvig’s rigid rule. Her mother, startled and impressed by her daughter’s resolve, agreed to help her with the final project: the sewing of a dress.
“This is where I’m supposed to describe how hard I worked on that dress, how carefully I pinned the pieces together and basted the seams. How, after multiple fittings, I got it just right and reveled in my new-found skill and accomplishment.
But that’s not what happened.”
Donna gives us a beautifully written, elegant memoir. A mother and daughter shame an authoritarian teacher, and in doing so, find their way back to one another. Their bond deepens, Donna gains a stronger sense of self, and her mother returns to sewing, if only briefly, encouraged by the fire she sees in her daughter. Audacity is contagious; when we stand up for ourselves, we give others permission to find their own strength. Sometimes we even inspire our parents.
Read “Sew to Speak” in Synkroniciti’s Audacity issue, Vol. 8, No. 1, available here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Donna Cameron is the author of the Nautilus gold winning book A Year of Living Kindly. While she considers herself an activist for kindness, she admits to occasional lapses into bitchiness. Her articles and essays have been featured in the Brevity Blog, Writer’s Digest, Dorothy Parker’s Ashes, Eclectica, and many other publications. She lives in the Pacific Northwest where she enjoys outdoor activities that require little or no coordination. “Sew to Speak” was previously published in the Fall 2024 issue of Lobster Salad and Champagne.