By Setarreh Massihzadegan
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

The Men’s Fraternity once had free reign at Brooksby Village. Now the community’s women have surged forward with a group of their own, called the Women’s Forum, with phenomenal results.

Visitor from Peabody Essex Museum
For their first meeting on September 12, the women’s group brought in Marcia Molay from the nearby Peabody Essex Museum. Marie Talbot, now president of the Women’s Forum Steering Committee and a resident of the community, recalls anticipating the afternoon’s event.

“We forewarned her that there might be [only] 20 to 30 people,” Talbot says. “We didn’t even know what room to use. We couldn’t believe it—we had to set up more chairs and it was just overwhelming.”

About 250 people came out for the event in the McIntosh Catering Room.

The Essex Museum’s Molay discussed the history of the museum, which has been around for more than 200 years, and spoke of a relevant tour offered there called “Phenomenal Women.”

The tour, named for Maya Angelou’s poem of the same title, tells the stories behind the museum’s works of art that feature women or were created by them. Following Molay’s presentation, Brooksby Trip Coordinator Paula Frew read Maya Angelou’s poem to the audience. It ends with its most repeated verse:

“I’m a woman

Phenomenally

Phenomenal woman That’s me.”

“Everybody cheered,” recalls Dr. Sylvia Korstvedt, also a member of the Women’s Forum Steering Committee.

A week after Molay’s appearance at Brooksby, Frew organized a group visit to the museum. A total of 45 people attended.

A group in the making
Talbot and a group of about ten women, most of whom are now on the group’s Steering Committee, had mulled over the idea of  a women’s group for some time.