With June being Pride Month, and Mother’s Day just past and Father’s Day coming up, I found myself thinking about the little sayings my parents used to try to impart their wisdom, specifically “Pride goes before a fall.” My parents were born in the mid 1920’s and grew up in the 1930’s and 40’s. They were children during the Great Depression of 1929, and they lived through WWII. Perhaps these events influenced their notion of pride. To them, humility was the more desired quality.
I thought more about the word “pride” and how our ideas about it may have evolved over the last few decades. The Oxford Dictionary defines pride as “a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.” That doesn’t sound like a bad thing. But change the word to prideful and the definition changes completely: “thinking too highly of oneself; conceited, arrogant, or overconfident.” Isn’t it interesting how adding three letters to the end of the word changes the meaning? Clearly being prideful is not considered a good quality.
Further research about the origin of the saying “Pride goes before a fall” revealed that it comes from the Bible, Proverbs 16:18. The exact quote from the Bible is “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” I came across several quotes from the Bible about pride, generally equating pride with arrogance. But are they the same? I don’t think so. In today’s world, pride as it is used in the Bible seems more like what we would consider arrogance, haughtiness.
I think most people would agree that satisfaction in one’s achievements or qualities is a good and even necessary thing for success in life. Pride ties in with self-esteem. Life is like a race in some ways, and if one has no self-esteem, no confidence, it will be a tough race. We are coming to recognize more and more the importance of pride in identity. Some aspects of identity are obvious and clear, and some take time to develop. There are many definitions of identity including (from dictionary.com) a “condition or character as to who a person or what a thing is; the qualities, beliefs, etc., that distinguish or identify a person or thing: the sense of self, providing sameness and continuity in personality over time.” Identity can refer to gender, political views, social qualities, etc.
I am proud of my heritage coming from a line of strong female figures. I am proud of being an American, even though I don’t agree with everything that our country does. I am proud of some of the things that I’ve written. Others may be proud of gender identity or cultural background or their profession. It’s OK to have pride. Many of us got the “humility” message growing up, and we have difficulty showing our pride. Pride is not arrogance. Pride is a positive quality that we all need.
What are you proud of?
~ Colleen Ryan
UPCOMING MEETINGS
Our Tuesday, June 11 member meeting will be from 6:30 PM to 8:30 at the St. Matthews Library at 3940 Grandview Ave.
If you are interested in receiving a peer critique, let us know before June 11 at noon through email (). Please bring 8 printed copies of the manuscript you want us to read. No more than 1300 words (4 to 4.5 pages double-spaced) for prose (excerpts of longer pieces welcome), or two pages of poetry.
On Saturday, June 29 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., we will host a writing retreat at the Valaterra retreat center in Lagrange. We will have a prompt or you can work on your own work-in-progress. For more details and to register, visit our website. Space is limited.
Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash
WRITING PROMPT
While looking into why June is the designated month for Pride, I came across this tidbit from Britannica: “Although 'gay power' had been proposed as the slogan for the march [on June 28, 1970, a year after the Stonewall Riots], it was argued that the movement had yet to be politically empowered but that its members felt great pride in their sexual identity. Thus, it was decided that the march’s theme would be 'gay pride.’"
To have pride in something that is not empowered, to have pride even when others tell you to be ashamed, I think, takes an extra dash of bravery. And I think it makes for a great prompt.
Fiction: Write a story in which a character expresses pride in something about themselves and another character tries to put them down for it.
Poetry: Write a poem about something about yourself that you are proud of that you don’t usually talk about.
Nonfiction: Have you ever had someone try to humiliate or scold you for something you’re proud of? Write about it, and what you wish you would have said, if applicable.
~ Erin Wedemeyer
WE WANT TO SUPPORT YOUR WRITING LIFE
Members, if you have a website or social media platform dedicated to your writing, share it with us so we can share it with our Women Who Write community. Send your details to and we will share in a future newsletter.
Members, write a poem, story, or essay for the Women Who Write website blog. No more than 2,000 words, please. Publishing on our blog will expand your writing platform. And you’ll help WWW show off the variety of talents within our writing community! For more information, email and pitch your story or poem—the one you’ve written or the one you want to write! We may provide suggested edits, for flow and clarity.
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
OTHER PLACES TO SUBMIT & LOCAL EVENTS
Applications are open for authors and presenters for the Louisville Book Festival! The Festival will be October 18 & 19th at the Kentucky International Convention Center.
Sarabande Books presents a ‘Zine Lunch most Fridays at noon—it’s a free online workshop on micro-writing and art.
Submit a story to Landslide Lit(erary) on Medium.com, a publication edited by two WWW members—Kimberly Crum and Bonnie Omer Johnson—who will provide editorial suggestions.
Duotrope is a fabulous resource for writers who want to publish in literary journals and anthologies and enter contests. You will receive a listing of submission opportunities in your inbox, specifically for your genre. Cost is $5 per month or $50 per year.
Submittable is another terrific resource for publication and other opportunities for writers. Many publications require submissions to be submitted through this service. Also, it’s free!
HerStry literary essay/memoir blog seeks to empower women through their writing. In addition to accepting personal essay submissions four times per year, HerStry accepts submissions on “monthly themes” that are intended as prompts for writers to tell their stories. June’s theme is Coming of Age
Poets and Writers has an extensive list of literary magazines to which you can submit.
Consider submitting to Dorothy Parker’s Ashes, an online magazine of personal essays with the tagline, “Brazen words by witty dames. Everything true. More or less.”
NewPages lists writing contests by the month and day that their submissions close. There are many closing 6/15 and 6/30, check them out!
SUPPORT OUR WRITING COMMUNITY!
Become a member or renew your membership—As a community, WWW strives to nurture your writing life. We hope you choose to join or renew as a member and participate in our monthly meetings, author talks, retreats, and workshops. Our membership coordinator will notify anyone due to renew. Regular annual membership is $50. Student annual membership is $25. Scholarships are available. Membership entitles you to discounts on workshops and retreats.
Attend our monthly member meetings on the second Tuesday of each month for a brief program, peer critiques, and conversations about the writing life. Not currently a member? You can attend two meetings before deciding to join.
