Sr. Deborah L. Humphreys, SC – "Conventional Wisdom"

Conventional Wisdom by Deborah L. Humphreys SC (July 2003, Wasteland Press)

In Conventional Wisdom, Deborah L. Humphreys SC introduces us to the tender, compelling, and often challenging stories of women, specifically nuns, who have lived through much of the last century and into the first years of this millennium. In their moments of struggle and joy in the fictional community at Rosary Park, we recall our own. The rich language of the poems puts our shared experiences under a new and welcoming light.

Daniel Berrigan SJ writes, These lively unobtrusive poems rest quietly on the heart. but their gentleness conceals a charge–they are also subversive. They summon attitudes and actions that indict a killing culture; life together, works of mercy and justice honored, amid a blundering, bloody rush to war. All power to Sister Courage, walking a mine field, peddling holy wares!”

Sr. Anne Denise Brennan writes: “Deborah Humphreys SC presents Conventional Wisdom in an unconventional procession of flesh and blood daughters of Vincent de Paul, Louise de Marillac, and Elizabeth Ann Seton, women of our time who laugh and cry, struggle and conquer, affirm faith and express doubt, fear and risk, love and try to love.

The author has been a Sister of Charity of St. Elizabeth for over 30 years and has worked in Newark, Loisaida, and the South Bronx in a variey of capacities including: legislative aide, non-profit housing administration, family therapist and social work educator. Her writing has appeared in many literary and professional publications such as Vincentian Heritage, Christianity and the Arts, the Paterson Literary Review and US 1 Worksheets. She has done readings of her work at the St Mark’s Poetry Project, the Wildwood Writers’ Conference, ShelterARTS, and the Hoboken Studio Artists’ Tour.

Conventional Wisdom (ISBN 0-9742342-3-0)is now available at the Vincentian Studies Institute Bookstore as well as through Amazon, Booksurge, and the publisher’s site at www.wastelandpress.com)

Deborah is available for readings, workshops and interviews and she can be contacted at deborahsc@earthlink.net or through www.nunwhizdom.com