Kate LaDew

Oyster River Pages: How has your writing or art changed over time?

Kate LaDew: When I first started writing, around the age of 10 or 11, most of poetry and short stories were about other people who had very different experiences from mine. Because of this, none of the stories really seemed 'true' as I was only imagining what it might feel like to be in a situation, having never actually gone through it. As I got older, I began using more personal details or basing characters on people in my life. It wasn't until I was in my thirties that I started writing in the first person.

ORP: How does writing or making art change you?

KLD: Reading a book allows you to realize that other people have felt like you and none of your emotions are bad or shameful. Everyone has felt this before, so writing about it allows you to claim a community. I've learned alot about myself simply by writing what I'm feeling down.

ORP: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

KLD: You can change the story you tell yourself. An experience that happens to you when you're very young can be viewed in a completely different light when you're older. Just because you felt that way then, doesn't mean you have to feel that way now. We can be self-destructive but we can also repair ourselves once we have the tools to do it with.

ORP: Who do you hope reads your work and why?

KLD: Well, of course I'd love for everyone to read my work, but I think a lot of what I write about, including this poem, has happened to most women and girls. If a young girl reads this poem she will know that, unfortunately, she is not alone, but, fortunately, she is not alone.

ORP: How does this work connect to your personal experiences/identity?

KLD: This particular poem is dealing with what it is to be a woman in a time we have been told is ‘better’ than before. I have read accounts from women who were assaulted in the 40, 50s, 60s and there isn’t much of a difference from women who are assaulted in 2019. Being able to write about things that have happened to me is a small way of holding society accountable. It’s a way for me to say ‘I see you and you don’t fool me.’

Kate LaDew is a graduate from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a BA in Studio Art. She resides in Graham, NC with her cats Charlie Chaplin and Janis Joplin. Listen to Kate read her poetry here.