"As a songwriter, I have been able to express my thoughts and feelings as a woman, as an artist, and as an American. I have been able to sing about love and the places in my heart where love takes hold. I have been able to write about childhood and certain memories that are points on the compass that guide me toward my forties and middle age. I have been able to observe the lives of friends and strangers and to find the details in our different worlds that connect us.

Songwriting, for me, provides a sense of identity. It allows me to be an individual. Nothing else I do gives me as much self-certitude. It elevates me to a perch from which I am able to develop my perspectives, form my own opinions, and craft my personal definitions. I feel my greatest frustration when I am defined by others. I loathe misunderstanding and misconception, yet I find myself in a business that thrives on the definition of people by others. In this way, the music business is a microcosm of our society.

This analogy is further supported by contemporary women, who still find it difficult to seek and establish their own identities. It wasn't so long ago that a woman's reflection was found only in the mirror of her spouse. It wasn't long ago that a woman who held a job outside the home was frowned upon. Despite the burgeoning numbers of women in the labor force, unforseen just a generation ago, a woman's worth is still measured differently from a man's. If we "are" what we "do", it's no wonder that a woman's search for identity can be an exhausting and often demoralizing one.

We are paid less for the same work. We are still passed over for promotions though we hold equal credentials and qualifications. We still endure the impugning language: he is aggressive; she is a bitch. He is ambitious; she is manipulative. He is sensitive; she is overemotional.

Women gather in any room, on any given day, in any place in America, and exchange similar stories of how these different standards have affected them. But no matter what we do for a living, no matter how distinct our lives are, one fact clearly emerges: we have a powerful, influential voice when we decide that our problems as women in this society transcend party lines. This voice can ensure that there will never be a time in the future when those running for elective office can afford to ignore our concerns. And this singular nonpartisan voice can insist that more of those offices be held by women.

A woman's vote says a great deal about her; it connects her concerns with her beliefs. It reveals her as someone who values and uses her power. Her vote says as much about what she is for as it does about what she is against. It is her calling card, her pass to the dance, her contribution to society. Without the right to vote, a woman was invisible. Now, when she chooses not to vote, she becomes invisible once more. And the voice that can represent the collective concerns of women is diminished as well.

A long time ago, I discovered that songwriting was an antidote for the feelings of disconnection that are such a part of modern life. Like many other women I know, I often feel apart and alone, just trying to find my place in the world. Writing alleviates these feelings and allows me an appreciation of the freedom that this world offers; my right and responsibility to vote results in the same thing. Yet I still need to be reminded from time to time of what I have.

The 75th anniversary of our right to vote is a marker for a struggle and a victory- it defines a passage toward rights and responsibilities. It is an anniversary of a woman's path to identity and empowerment- it is a miraculous thing!

I turned thirty-seven years old in 1995. I look forward to at least another thirty-seven years of living through singing, writing, speaking, shouting, laughing, weeping, protesting, advocating, testifying, loving, sharing, remembering, educating, dreaming, and voting.

There are men and women in our society whom I admire and look up to for their honesty, their compassion, and their commitment to social and economic justice, to support of the arts, to community activism, to diversity, to environmental awareness and action, and to the new ideas that will balance a changing world with our ingrained resistance to change.

I want to demonstrate my faith in these people, and the way I can do it is to cast my precious, treasured one-of-a-kind vote. It will resonate by itself and as a part of a larger chorus. And it will give me as much satisfaction as writing a song that I'm proud of."