Female opinion writers are a rare breed, but for 17 years, Joyce Marcel has been speaking her heart and her mind in opinion columns for a variety of newspapers and Web sites. Although some have called her radical, she believes passionately in common sense and in doing the right thing, even when, sometimes, it is the left thing.
Today her work appears regularly on the editorial page of her hometown paper, the Brattleboro (Vermont) Reformer, and is read around the world on The American Reporter and Common Dreams.
Her self-published first book is a collection of her readers' favorite columns called "A Thousand Words or Less: Favorite Columns 1996-2005."
Joyce's work does not fit into neatly defined boundaries. Her topics in the book include: politics, women's lives, the Bush family, the Iraq war, culture, fast food, fascism, cats, daffodils, southern Vermont, her family -- especially life with her dancer mother, horse racing, sex, marriage, fashion, aging, the death penalty, gospel music, September 11, 2001, racism, homosexuality, democracy and love.
Over the years, Joyce has been damned as well as praised by her many readers. One went so far as to ask why she didn't spell her name "Marxel." But many more have called her "insightful" and "courageous." Some comments from her recent mail:
"Every time I read your essays, I wish I could just tell you, 'Yeah! what she said!' So, 'Yeah! What you just said!"
"I read your articles regularly, and always expect top-quality commentary -- I'm rarely disappointed. Thanks for speaking out!"
"Score another hard hitting realistic article by Marcel. You have a great knack of writing very nicely -- exactly what I am thinking. When did you get into my brain and read my thoughts?"
"Wow, I loved what you had to say."
"Bravo! I love the columns about your mother."
The editor of the Brattleboro Reformer, Sabina Haskell, says, "Joyce Marcel's musings are miraculous at capturing the intimacy, foibles and challenges in the often-overlooked moments of our daily lives. She'll take your breath away in recounting the magic and mystery of mother-daughter relationships. She relishes womanhood's hard-fought battles for equality and the lingering issues of inequality. She knows what it takes to live a full life and she gladly shares that with us. You'll recognize your own struggles and triumphs in these columns and more likely than not, you'll be recalling her words long after you've finished reading."