I have this fantasy sometimes that strong women, sensing the earth at a crossroads, will rise up, seize control and save us.

I have this idea that women, in their own way, are much stronger than men, and are beginning to sense their power. I look at politics and commerce and the state of the earth and the people in jails, and the people who hurt other people, and I imagine a world without men, it would perhaps be closer to God’s idea of what humanity ought to be.

Not perfect, not without travail, but still, not on the edge of extinction, either.

I understand that a world without men would not have wars, would not need many courts or prisons, would not have CEO’s intent on conquest and the ravaging of the world for profit. They would love and nurture Mother Earth, not insult her with denial and immoral technologies.

I understand that women are not all saints, are not all perfect, have their own particular issues and their own kind of violence, I have seen both and experienced both. But I can’t shake the idea that strong women are rising up and coming to save the world from the horrific mess men have made of it, in Washington and all over the globe.

Women seem less angry to me, less focused on conquest and domination, less cruel. More tolerant of differences. I do not fear them so much. Strong women seek to break the corporate barriers that dominate our culture, but I hope they don’t break these barriers, I hope they tear them down and build some new ones.

The old narratives seem spend and bankrupt, filled with rage and hopelessness. We need a new way of thinking about work, money, politics. Men don’t seem to be offering any.

Women are more likely to find friends, to listen, to negotiate, to empathize, to seek solutions, to avoid conflict. I think men have simply not evolved yet to the modern world, they are still primed to fight and acquire, they seem to me to be unraveling the principles of the country and despoiling the world.

So my idea is that women are rising to save us, and I will be ready to applaud and support them. This may be a fantasy, or maybe a prophesy, we’ll have to see. Some women seem to mimic the worst traits of men, others are challenging us to look at the world in a different way.

Men seemed ill-suited for change, for the things the world needs.

I love taking photos of Kelly at the Bog, a waitress, bartender, mother. She has the most radiant smile. Like all strong women, she is happy to pose, and to look the camera in the eye and smile for it and dare the photographer to take any photo  he wishes. She doesn’t check the mirror, straighten her hair, present a good side. Her smile reflects her comfort with herself, the hallmark of the strong woman.