My journals form an eclectic set when placed side-by-side on a shelf. Large and small, in a variety of bindings through the happenstance of selection.
I impose rules when writing in my current journal, which has no pre-printed markings to identify the day or the year. Every other entry in my journal is in black, offset by entries that are written in red, blue or green ink. In this way, the division between days is immediately visible.
I prefer that my journals” pages should not have printed dates, which would either forcibly shorten my entries or result in wasted space. This way, each entry can be as lengthy or as brief as I need it to be.
I”ve kept journals since sometime in junior high or high school, giving vent to my frustrations about not fitting in.
Excerpt from my journal, dated Feb. 13, 1984: “No school today. And before we pause for station identification, here”s a tantalizing little bit of news: Cynthia Parkhill, age 15, went berzerk [sic] and blew up all of Calistoga High School. No charges will be pressed.”
How many people who interact with me were aware before reading this column that I harbored dreams of blowing up my school?
Revelatory insights like this are the focus of a database that is accumulating online: “The Hidden World of Girls.” Authors are invited to submit pictures or scans of their diaries” pages to the project”s Flickr group, www.flickr.com/groups/thehiddenworldofgirls/pool/. Some of the entries are straight text; many others incorporate graphics.
The project is a collaboration between National Public Radio and The Kitchen Sisters. It seeks to explore the secret lives of girls and the women they become: “Stories of coming of age, secret identities, of women who crossed a line, broke a trail, changed a tide.”
Questions posted on a Facebook page invite viewers” responses: “Describe your bedroom when you were 10 … how bout when you were 16? What was your most treasured possession?” “Searching for: Science Fiction books that you loved as a girl or woman. Thoughts about science fiction as a way to create a ?Hidden World”?” “What is the one thing you never knew about your mom while you were growing up?”
Radio segments have been featured on NPR”s “Morning Edition” and on “All Things Considered.” The programs are archived online at www.kitchensisters.org/girlstories/.
I am fascinated by the possibilities for discovering hidden aspects of girls” and women”s lives, since our experiences have traditionally been excluded from conventional accounts of history.
My earliest journals are a first-hand attempt to make sense of and to interface with an alien, inhospitable world. Even today, I find the world to be no less alien to me, and many of my journal entries give voice to my bewilderment.
“The Hidden World of Girls” invites viewers and listeners to call its story hotline, (202) 408-9576. It also invites participants to upload photos, videos, artwork, music, audio and home recordings as well as leave written comments. See www.kitchensisters.org/girlstories/ for details as well as links to other sites including Twitter and Facebook.
Cynthia Parkhill is the focus pages editor for the record-Bee and editor of the Clear Lake Observer-American. She can be contacted at ObserverAmerican@gmail.com or 263-5636 ext. 39.
