By Helene de Boissiere – Swanson This morning, I woke to the television blaring and barraging viewers with messages promoting fear in the wake of this week’s violent aftermath of police officers killing black men in the South and in the North and a person who felt their only course of action was retaliation towards…
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I hear a lot about people wanting change, but what can one person do.  Well, each of us count so folks it’s time to pick up the folks.  Women have been waiting close to a century since Alice Paul wrote the Lucretia Mott Amendment, back in the 1920’s which called for all to be…
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EXCERPT from the first chapter White Ants Sounds of a slow steady train pulling into the station, a sluggish chugging of one carrying a heavy load, stirred me from a sound sleep. As anticipated, it eventually came to a stop. Moments later it pulled away. Half awake, half asleep, I could hear Rev. Magdaliya Kamble…
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Inspired by Rev. Thomas Momberg’s sermon and refreshed by those I welcomed me at Holy Cross Episcopal Church, West Memphis, AR I now make my way to Little Rock where I will drop by the Clinton Presidential Center.  I have been reflecting on the Advent Season and what has moved me forward in my ministry in promoting…
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…Utah is Mormon country, and top officials of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (as the church is formally known) are vigorously opposed to admitting women to the priesthood, a role to which virtually all male Mormon adults are ordained. In fact, the church recently publicly excommunicated a woman, a lifelong and dedicated…
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When I embarked on this Pilgrimage for the ERA I knew it would be difficult. Difficult is an understatement! As I slowly make my way from the Golden Gate bridge to Washington D.C. I pray for those whom I care for and those I have met in the course of day to day affairs. My…
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Helene Swanson and the Rev. Robert T. Coolidge at the Chapel of the Lady of Walsingham, Trinity Church Seneca Falls, NY on July 29, 2012 on her first pilgrimage to promote the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment following morning prayer lead by Rev. Coolidge. Â Photo Credit: William Swanson Dearest Family and Friends, It was…
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On the side of the road I met a Native American/Indian sage who instructed me to listen to the night when he and I exchanged stories. Inspired by his words I wrote the following poem.  Read more → Listen To The Night Reaching out I listen to the night In the darkness I find the light…
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One of my first college writing assignments was on The Scream. I identified with it as the painting invoked strong feelings as I thought of my mother who lost all of her hair when a red brick fell nine stories striking her smack dab in the middle of her skull as she had thrown herself…
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This amazing pilgrimage I am making across the United States of America for the Equal Rights Amendment is dedicated to my beloved husband Brother William Gaines Swanson who stood by my side and encouraged me to undertake the calling his mother the Rev. Katrina Swanson asked us to undertake in her last year of life. Read…
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I arrived in Carson City last night April 10th, 2014 and was taken in by Sabrina, a young lady who is the sole provider of her family. Â Sabrina is a mere 20 years old and has put her education on hold to take care of her two younger siblings and her mother. Â She hopes, one…
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