A special showing of the locally produced film, Quiet Rebel: Lynn Martin’s Story, will be presented at the new arts venue, 118 Elliot. The 80 minute film is produced by Paul Bennett and Vidda Crochetta, and is being presented with the help and support of BCTV and Write Action. Long time Brattleboro resident, Lynn Martin is an activist, poet, and painter and a retired HIV Prevention Specialist of the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont, where she worked as a volunteer for 18 years.
In a Reformer story on Martin, by Becky Karush, Martin describes her turn to poetry, at age 50: “‘I stood there, and in my mind I put all the people I was angry at….at the bottom of the stairs. And I told them off. And then, whatever it was inside me said, ‘Okay, Lynn, you are really angry. There is something missing from your life. Where are you going to be in five years? Are you going to be in the same place?’ And I dragged the typewriter over, and that’s where I started to write poetry. My joy is in giving voice to people who don’t necessarily have it, because that was my story.”
And from the same article Karush states, “Here’s another thing about Lynn Martin …Her story is like oil paints spread on a canvas with a wise hand. Her story is rich and textured. Her story reveals imagination. Her story is unexpected. Her story loves people.”
Martin has published three books of poetry (and several mystery stories) and has often participated in open poetry readings as a member of Write Action. Her most recent collection is entitled “Tail Feathers.”
Lynn Martin’s story is told in “Quiet Rebel” through interviews with her and with family and friends. It will be shown at 118 Elliot Street, Brattleboro, VT this Sunday, September 27th at 4 PM. The showing at 118 Elliot is by suggested donation. Proceeds will go to benefit Write Action, Inc., a community-based nonprofit writer’s organization formed to strengthen a community of writers in the Brattleboro area, and to promote the literary arts in the tri-state region. For more information call 802 380-2849 or email info@writeaction.org
Senator Leahy presented award to Lynn in 2005
In September 2005, Lynn Martin, former HIV Prevention Specialist at the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont in Brattleboro, was honored as that year’s outstanding older worker from Vermont as part of the Experience Works Prime Time Awards Program. Senator Patrick Leahy presented the award to Lynn in Washington, D.C.