Final Blog Post

Reflection of all works read this semester.

Pride is something we see in all of the women we have read about in English 217. We started with Nye and how her grandmother was her rock or “core” and the pride the grandmother took in her home. We ended this class with the pride the author of Two or Three Things I Know For Sure takes in her family and her new identity she has found in being a lesbian and admitting to being a rape survivor.

The stories these women tell of how our heritage, family, ethnicity, labels, mistakes, experiences bodies, and age shape who we are and who others will see us as. Women are complete emotional creatures and have every right to be after all I have seen in the stories of what a small number of women go through.

Women are selfless, courageous, brave, busy, proud and full of fight and motivation to keep on going even if it is easier for them to give up like the mother that sticks out most in Emperor. Women celebrate and uncover the truths that others will not face or may be too afraid to face like in Two 

things and the author’s way of addressing rape.

We all have room for reinvention in our lives and what better way to go through such a process than through writing. A woman is more than a label. A woman telling her story and the story of her family only makes her stronger because she is setting herself free from lies and acknowledging things that have gone on in her life such as rape or death. Storytelling allows women to forgive but not forget and keep themselves alive in their stories because they will be passed on for others to hear about. Writing is a way to honor and love yourself as a woman and each one of them did just that.

Although the messages I take away from the books we have read may be simple, I will carry them with me for the rest of my life.

19 Varieties – Families make sacrifices for their own that sometimes go unknown like the father and the grandmother in this book from what they had to leave behind and the homeland they would never let go of (figuratively).

Krik? Krak! -  There will always be hope in what the women of the earlier generations were made of. Such as that of the hope that connects all of the women of the river as they talk about who they are and what they represent like the, “flame and the spark from which my mother lived”

The Vagina Monologues – Speak the unspoken because we are all in this life together and have similar experiences that can ease the discomfort and embarrassment of others. There is more than just one way to get people to hear what you have to say to be loud and turn your words into performance then will change lives.

Emotional Creature – No matter what age we need someone to answer our questions no matter how embarrassing because all we are ever searching for is truth, in truthful friends, people to look up to, or just in simple conversation.  (Note- girls need lots of things in high school, most of those things they need they will never receive. For one thing they NEED to hear about the truths of sex.)

Butterflies – You should write the story even if you are only writing it to find your role and the purpose this story has to your life. Always find your “I”.

Push – Find the kindness in everyone. Kindness is found in even the smallest of gestures. Even good things can come from the worst situations.  (Abdul) The American Dream has different standards for everyone because no one person comes from the same circumstances.

Emperor – Every detail is important. Every story needs to be told so lives were not lived in vain. Change is inevitable no matter how much you try to keep things the same through routine and personal belongings. Break the silence.

Shawl – Younger generations have a better chance of overcoming something tragic they experienced when they were younger. Stella vs. her niece. Mothers will always blame themselves because they will always think they could have done better for their children.

Two or Three Things – “Two or three things I know for sure…and one is that I would rather go naked than wear the coat the world has made for me” Don’t be the label others give you. “It took me years to learn the truth behind the lie” The truth will always find you. This book overall taught me the most because every walk of life could relate at one point or another and for a writer to do this by telling her own story is something powerful in and of itself.

I have gained a greater respect for reading because it is important to learn and pass on the stories of others. It is important to validate the lives of all women who have told their story and those that haven’t but encouraging them to tell their own.