Oh Madonna of the Trail,
Your sisters crossed this nation
Full of brave determination
Looking for the land of their dreams
But the dream comes up empty
In this land of plenty
In my hometown.
-- Jane Gillman, singer/songwriter

In November, Utne sponsored a rEVOLUTIONary women's event at the Crossings retreat center in Austin, Texas. Over a three-day period, 90 women from all over the country, most of whom had never met, ages twentysomething to eightysomething, came together to form a remarkably intimate community. And while I knew we had all the components of a good conference -- a great location, a strong program, and amazing participants -- the results transcended all of my expectations.

At the end of the retreat, I sat by myself in the Crossings' caf? and listened to songwriter Jane Gillman, who had settled in Austin after years on the road as a musician. I was floating in a slightly dazed afterglow when Jane, who now works in the Crossings' sales department (and didn't know I was in the audience), dedicated her song 'Madonna of the Trail' to the women from our conference. She said the feeling that radiated from the group was unusually strong, even in a place that regularly hosts spiritual events.

The Madonna she wrote about was based on one of twelve identical statues commissioned in the late 1920s by the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution and placed along the National Old Trails highway, spanning from Upland, California to Jane's childhood home of Bethesda, Maryland. With a babe in her arms, a rifle at her side, and another child at her skirts, the Madonna is emblematic of an indomitable and explicitly feminine pioneer spirit -- a spirit Jane said she felt emanating from our group and envisioned radiating across the country as we dispersed.