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| Title: | Topics of Interest to Women |
| Notice: | V3 is closed. TURRIS::WOMANNOTES-V5 is open. |
| Moderator: | REGENT::BROOMHEAD |
|
| Created: | Thu Jan 30 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Fri Jun 30 1995 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 1078 |
| Total number of notes: | 52352 |
772.0. "women's writing" by NOATAK::BLAZEK (tripping the light fantastic) Wed Apr 17 1991 16:35
My mother (Joyce) and another woman (Lois) read the following
at a recent church service. I thought it was powerful, and I
wanted to share it with all of you. It was written in 1973 by
a working-class Chilean woman shortly after Chile's socialist
president was overthrown.
Lois: I am a woman.
Joyce: I am a woman.
Lois: I am a woman born of a woman, whose man owned a factory.
Joyce: I am a woman born of a woman, whose man labored in a factory.
Lois: I am a woman whose man wore silk suits, who constantly watched
his weight.
Joyce: I am a woman whose man wore tattered clothing, whose heart was
constantly strangled by hunger.
Lois: I am a woman who watched two babies grow into beautiful children.
Joyce: I am a woman who watched two babies die because there was no milk.
Lois: I am a woman who watched twins grow into popular college students
with summers abroad.
Joyce: I am a woman who watched three children grow, but with bellies
stretched from no food.
Lois: But then there was a man.
Joyce: But then there was a man.
Lois: And he talked about the peasants getting richer by my family
getting poorer.
Joyce: And he told me of days that would be better and he made the days
better.
Lois: We had to eat rice.
Joyce: We had rice.
Lois: We had to eat beans!
Joyce: We had beans.
Lois: My children were no longer given summer visas to Europe.
Joyce: My children no longer cried themselves to sleep.
Lois: And I felt like a peasant.
Joyce: And I felt like a woman.
Lois: A peasant with a dull, hard, unexciting life.
Joyce: Like a woman with a life that sometimes allowed a song.
Lois: And I saw a man.
Joyce: And I saw a man.
Lois: And together we began to plot with the hope of the return to
freedom.
Joyce: I saw his heart begin to beat with hope of freedom, at last ...
Lois: Someday, the return to freedom.
Joyce: Someday, freedom.
Lois: And then ...
Joyce: But then ...
Lois: One day ...
Joyce: One day ...
Lois: There were planes overhead and guns firing close by.
Joyce: There were planes overhead and guns firing in the distance.
Lois: I gathered my children and went home.
Joyce: I gathered my children and ran.
Lois: And the guns moved farther and farther away.
Joyce: And the guns moved closer and closer.
Lois: And then they announced that freedom had been restored!
Joyce: And then they came, young boys, really ...
Lois: They came into my home along with my man.
Joyce: They came and found my man.
Lois: Those men whose money was almost gone.
Joyce: They found all of the men whose lives were almost their own.
Lois: And we all had drinks to celebrate.
Joyce: And they shot them all.
Lois: The most wonderful martinis.
Joyce: They shot my man.
Lois: And then they asked us to dance.
Joyce: And then they came for us.
Lois: Me.
Joyce: For me, the woman.
Lois: And my sisters.
Joyce: For my sisters.
Lois: And then they took us.
Joyce: And then they took us.
Lois: They took us to dinner at a small, private club.
Joyce: They stripped from us the dignity we had gained.
Lois: And they treated us to beef.
Joyce: And then they raped us.
Lois: It was one course after another.
Joyce: One after the other, they came at us.
Lois: We nearly burst, we were so full.
Joyce: Lunging, plunging, sisters bleeding, sisters dying.
Lois: It was magnificent to be free again!
Joyce: It was hardly a relief to have survived.
Lois: And then we gathered the children together.
Joyce: And then they took our children.
Lois: And we gave them some good wine.
Joyce: And then they took their scissors.
Lois: And then we gave them a party.
Joyce: And they took the hands of our children.
Lois: The beans have almost disappeared now.
Joyce: The beans have almost disappeared.
Lois: The rice, I've replaced it with chicken or steak.
Joyce: The rice, I cannot find it.
Lois: And the parties continue, night after night, to make up for all
the time wasted.
Joyce: And my silent tears are joined once more by the midnight cries
of my children.
Lois: And I feel like a woman again.
Joyce: They say I am a woman.
| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 772.1 | wow | RUTLND::JOHNSTON | Gazpacho...my drug of choice | Wed Apr 17 1991 17:14 | 6 |
| very powerful indeed!!
It's also very personal. I find myself empathising with the one woman
and grieving for the other.
Annie
|
| 772.2 | thanks.... | DECWET::JWHITE | from the flotation tank... | Wed Apr 17 1991 17:30 | 3 |
|
wow.
|
| 772.3 | | BOMBE::HEATHER | | Wed Apr 17 1991 18:21 | 4 |
| Wow, Wonderful, Powerful Stuff! Thanks for typing that in!
-HA
|
| 772.5 | | YUPPY::DAVIESA | Phoenix | Thu Apr 18 1991 05:38 | 4 |
|
Carla....that was stunning.
Hug your mom from me....
'gail
|
| 772.6 | | CGVAX2::CONNELL | We are gay and straight, together. | Thu Apr 18 1991 08:11 | 4 |
| Carla, that was one of the most powerful things I have read in years.
Thank you for putting it in and thank your mom.
PJ
|
| 772.7 | Another wow | TOOK::LEIGH | Bear with me. | Thu Apr 18 1991 09:46 | 4 |
| Carla, thanks to you and to your mom! I found it very powerful
and very timely.
Bob
|
| 772.8 | | JJLIET::JUDY | Oooh! A gladiator! | Thu Apr 18 1991 12:12 | 3 |
|
my first thought....wow.
|
| 772.9 | | R2ME2::BENNISON | Victor L. Bennison DTN 381-2156 ZK2-3/R56 | Thu Apr 18 1991 12:25 | 5 |
| I recommend the movie "Official Story" with respect to the above
piece. It touches on the same issues. Find it in the foreign film
section of some video rental places (Blockbuster Video for instance.)
- Vick
|