Gretchen Kalwinski
I’m a writer, Gen-Xer, mother to Pączki the dog, gluten-free baker, listmaking fanatic, feminist, and deep breather. Lately, I’m on a journey of managing chronic illness and rehabbing a 100-year old Chicago bungalow with my artist husband Rob Funderburk. I think a lot about women’s invisible labor and why so many clothing items lack pockets. Animals are my people and vulnerability is my jam.
During and post-college, I discovered feminist publications like Bitch, Bust, and (Midst founder Amy Schroeder’s) Venus Zine–and my little weirdo, Catholic-raised, Midwest white-girl perspective was forever altered. In the pages of those offbeat, snarky mags about feisty, diverse, angry, talented women, I saw parts of myself I’d never been able to articulate. I followed that instinct and eventually contributed to all three mags as a writer or editor.
I’m in awe of the women in my life; I’m also acutely aware of the burdens society places on them/us: (you know, the America Ferrara Barbie speech). In midlife, I see a lot of women around me asking the big questions, “Wait, what do *I* want?” and “How do I finally figure out how to take care of myself?”
At The Midst, where our goal is to empower midlife women, we publish informative, thoughtful stories about things like pelvic health, job negotiating, giving up the sauce, unblocking creativity, perimenopause, Botox, and more. As Managing Editor, I feel grateful all over again to be part of such extremely cool content where we’re normalizing conversation about midlife experience and encouraging women to take deep care of themselves, inside and out. In a society where that’s not only de-emphasized but frowned on—where, from birth, women are encouraged to give themselves up for others and then in midlife to shut up and shrink away—I find these stories to be REVOLUTIONARY. Even at this problematic moment in time, with so many global problems, I love living in a Gen-X-women-led zeitgeist.
Career-wise, I’ve been around the block; working as a culture journalist, writer, copy director and copy manager at magazines, Fortune 20 retail health and medical organizations, and marketing agencies. As the granddaughter of refugees and daughter of activists, I try to make social justice and activism part of my life and was a core organizer of the 2017 Chicago Women’s March. Sometimes I write essays and do literary readings. If I’ve got a core belief, it’s that self-care makes care for others possible.
