Defining Women’s Reading Preferences

What do women want? In 1997, we hope to ask that question a lot in the community. Women aren’t reading newspapers as much as anyone in our biz would like (this is a national trend) and we want to find out why.

Are we irrelevant? Are women too busy? Is there anything we could add (or subtract) from the newspaper that would draw women back? To find some answers to these questions, we’re making this proposition. We will come out to your women’s meeting and talk about anything you want. (We can chat about almost every subject imaginable.) In return, we’ll ask you some questions about your reading habits and reading desires. Fair enough?

So if you have a women’s group that meets for any reason (book groups, garden groups, church groups, etc.), and you would like a guest speaker from the newspaper (we’re free), please put your request in writing and send it to Rebecca Nappi, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane 99210-1615. Or e-mail rebeccan@spokesman.com. Please include the date and time of your meeting and an alternative date if the first one doesn’t work out. Plus, a daytime phone number. We will be starting this “chatting with women project” in February and continue it through winter and spring (and beyond, if needed). Thanks!

Happy New Year! Here are some words to ponder as you embrace 1997. They come from our favorite book of 1996: “Embracing our Essence: Spiritual Conversations with Prominent Women.”

Nikki Giovanni: “I think people are supposed to be happy. I think all of us have something we can do to bring us joy. A lot of people try to convince themselves that what they like to do is insufficient. If you like to quilt, and all your friends say, ‘But you have a master’s degree,’ you should change your friends. I don’t think it’s so hard to know what you like to do. It’s just hard to go against the flow.

Christiane Northrup, M.D.: “We all have to be willing to re-create ourselves regularly. And we know from nature that when something new is born, something old has to die.

How do we know what our next step should be? Always go with the thing that makes you feel the best on all levels and brings you the most enthusiasm and excitement. Feel your way through life instead of thinking your way through life. You will always know when you are creating in your life because it will be accompanied by enormous enthusiasm and by enormous terror at the same time.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Drawing