Joy Zimmerman

Like many women, my experiences around reproduction are complex. 

I am a mother and sister by birth and adoption and also a stepmom in a blended family. My friends have had abortions as well as easy and challenging pregnancies. Assistive…

“Each time a girl opens a book and reads a womanless history, she learns she is worth less.”  ~Myra Pollack Sadker, professor, author, researcher and activist 

As a young girl, I loved reading biographies of strong women. As soon as…

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”  ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery 

If you were an Ancient Egyptian, you probably believed your lifetime of good and bad deeds were recorded…

When I began attending songwriting workshops, I felt slightly annoyed by the emphasis on being “satisfied” with our own songs. Is this the best we could hope for when we all have big dreams? 

And then you learn that Spotify…

What are your favorite sounds from childhood? (I’ll give you a minute to ponder….) 

My top picks include listening to my mom play piano downstairs as we fell asleep, the school librarian reading us another chapter, Stevie Wonder singing as…

“Dr. Wilson (note: her husband) has determined to go to California. I am going with him as there is no other alternative…Oh, my dear mother…I thought I felt bad when I wrote you from Independence, but it is nothing like…

“Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life.” ~Robin Sharma 

Next to love—or the loss of it—time might be the most popular song topic. Consider “Time After Time”, “Time is On My Side”, “Back in Time”…

“Life shrinks or expands proportional to one’s courage.“  ~Anais Nin 

I once heard that our most vivid childhood memories involve loss. The deepest mark is often left by discomfort or pain. 

Revisiting my own childhood brought back two such scenarios…

During the long winter did you keep envisioning this spring day? The weather would warm, the vaccine would spread, and you would begin to breathe more deeply. You'd gather safely with a few treasured people and even hug after being…

Applause still resounds from balconies at shift change…signs proclaim gratitude in yards across the country…firsthand accounts appear in newspapers…yet we can’t thank health care workers enough. 

I was inspired to write We’ll Hold the Light from my front row seat…

How amazing is it that the 100th anniversary of the women’s right to vote falls during an election year? What a great reminder to exercise and protect this right! 

To honor this Centennial, Linda and I cooked up a Facebook…

How have these times changed you? Even as I ask, I doubt any of us can fully answer. I suspect we’ll be unravelling the impact of this pandemic for decades. 

Living with an invisible, unprecedented threat has brought with new…