The Rural We: Barbara Newman
The setting of Barbara Newman’s just-released Young Adult novel is really different from how she grew up, she admits. The Dream Catcher Codes follows the quest of four teen girls in their mystical journeys to protect Mother Earth from the destructive forces of greed. Newman was a city girl who moved to the Berkshires in 1999 because she wanted to raise her kids in nature. She has a fierce love for the natural world, and has become passionate about empowerment, sisterhood, diversity, and perseverance. She poured all of that into her first novel.
I went to school for journalism — I wanted to do documentary filmmaking. Somehow I ended up in advertising and became a creative director. It was a fun and intense career; I had the opportunity to collaborate with directors, editors, and music houses. But there came a point where I wanted to do something more than selling perfume and peanut butter.
I was living in New Marlborough and going back and forth to the city. I heard an interview on NPR about the National Cowgirl Museum in Fort Worth. I thought, how intriguing. The subject of strong women has always inspired me, and cowgirls were incredible role models. These women were strong and courageous. And incredible stewards of the land. Sandra Day O’Conner was a cowgirl. Sitting in a saddle prepared her for sitting on the bench. I wanted to tell their stories, and I started filming a documentary about their lives.
I found myself in Montana, Texas, Wyoming. I drove cattle. I interviewed Temple Grandin and other women who rose to do great things against all odds. My partner and I wanted to do a four to five-part series. We lost some funding and I put that project on hold.
And then I had a dream that I was standing in the desert with an animal skin on my back, looking up at the sunset sky. A wind came up and sand came down…in the form of a book. Clearly a message. I asked myself, "what am I going to do with this?" Visuals came to me. I saw young women on flying horses coming together to save the planet.
I’d written a number of essays, but I’d never written a novel. I couldn't stop thinking about what this could be. I began to scribe and traveled to places so I that I could really feel the land. I went on solo hikes and slept under the stars. I saw rattlesnakes. I faced some fears. It took about seven years from the inception of the idea to publication. I got lucky! I won a national competition to be published.
The Dreamcatcher Codes is a Young Adult fantasy — an eco fantasy, but it’s not dystopian. It’s influenced by the land, and how everything is interconnected. I call this my love letter to Mother Earth and all of her daughters. I would like to bring this book and the Codes of the Cowgirl leadership program to young women so that they can stand in their power, like the girls in this book. I also hope my readers will look at the natural world through wondrous eyes, and be inspired to protect the planet.
Please Support Rural Intelligence
We want to continue delivering the entertaining, informative and upbeat stories in the inimitable Rural Intelligence style, despite a pandemic. But we need your support to keep us going. Please consider making a donation; even a small amount helps secure our future. Support us now.
(If you prefer, mail a check to: 45 Pine Grove Ave., Suite 303, Kingston, NY 12401.)
Support Now