Audio: Women & Social Justice Education

Liza Gesuden, 31, a  teacher at Oakland School for the Arts, talks about how she got into teaching in the Bay Area and shares her ideas about what it means to be an educator who teaches with a framework for social justice.

STE-007 finalmp3 by malditapress

Video on Women & Holistic Health

Cara Sandau, 30, and Leslie Dale, 31, talk about their paths to holistic health and healing through Reiki, herbology/herbalism and yoga. Both women discuss the benefits of holistic practices versus conventional medicine.

(Huge thank you to Jennifer Victoria and Jun Cruz for helping me out with the video.)

Kid-Free Flights: Separate But Equal?

Let me begin by saying that I am a San Diego native, through and through. When I first moved up to San Francisco at 18 years old for my first semester in college, I flew home almost every two weeks, not quite ready for the independence and freedom away from the familiar that I always wanted. That means I was on a plane almost twice every month, which sounds ridiculous now.

I have grounded myself in the Bay Area for the past four years so I don’t rush home to San Diego very often anymore. However, I still anxiously await traveling home for summer and the holidays. Only now, I absolutely dread flying. Getting on a plane with an infant, toddler, or even a school-aged child is utter terror, especially as a single parent. Not only is it nearly impossible to carry on a huge diaper bag while simultaneously attempting to hush a crying baby or chase around a curious toddler, but the frustration and embarrassment you feel burning on your cheeks as people watch you in pity is probably the worst part of it all. Finding a seat in a crowded plane isn’t fun either, especially when you make eye contact with the already seated passengers. Once they see the kid, they look down, smile uncomfortably and put their headphones on when they see you sliding in the seat next to them…

Imagine my intrigue after browsing through Feministing and finding a blog about kid-free flights. These flights are apparently in demand and cater to those who don’t want a child on their flight. Sounds fair enough. But is it? The comments in response to the blog are what really bothered me. One comment reads:

“The obvious counter-argument to “it’s just as hard on the parents as on the childless adults” is that the childless adults presumably made an informed decision to not have children because they were unable or unwilling to deal with the negative parts of being a parent, and shouldn’t we be respectful of their very important life choice?”

It took me a long time to marinate on this comment, which seems fairly neutral. But as a biased mother, it just kept screaming to me, “individualistic, anti-family culture!” I understand some people aren’t crazy about kids–sometimes I’m not so fond of them myself. But to separate flights into family friendly and kid-free flights illustrates a problem.

According to articles from New York Times and Wall Street Journal, surveys have been conducted and many individuals would prefer a separate family section or would spend more money on a plane ticket if it was kid-free. There has even been a bill introduced to Congress that would require separate family sections.

I understand many of these kid-free flight advocates, but like the Feministing blog argues, do people take into account how hard it is for parents? In the past 16 months of trying to hush my daughter’s blood curdling screams in airplanes or anywhere for that matter, the reality sunk in that babies, toddlers, and even young school-aged children cry, scream, whine, and grow restless. And there’s often not a damn thing parents can do about it after exhaustive attempts to get them to shut up.

Like writer Chloe from Feministing says:

“Childless adults are exactly the same, with the exception of the crying. But airplanes are set up for childless adults, with movies, alcohol, magazines, shopping and other things to keep them distracted and to stop them from getting restless. So we could keep on parent-shaming and ostracizing people who dare to travel with their children. We could keep complaining about the fact that a three-year-old hasn’t yet been socialized not to loudly express her discomfort, fear or desire to get the hell out of this confined odd-smelling space. Or we could think of ways to accommodate parents with kids and help them to share space in a way that is more comfortable for everyone involved.“

Let’s work on a family-friendly culture, y’all.

For Colored Girls: The Politics of Representation

“I found God in myself and I loved her, I loved her fiercely.” Ntozake Shange

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, a cherished book/choreopoem/play by Ntozake Shange, got me through the hellish days of high school. I remember choosing to sit in the library alone for our 30 minute lunch breaks instead of socializing with friends. I found comfort in my growing pains within the words of women writers like June Jordan,  Sylvia Plath, and Ntozake Shange.

The newly released film by controversial filmmaker Tyler Perry, “For Colored Girls,” is based on Shange’s play. In a Huffington Post article by talented poet and writer Bassey Ikpi, “Somebody, Anybody but Tyler Perry Sing a Black Girl’s Song,” she writes about the power of Shange’s original work and the impact it has had on women for years now. She addresses what women I know are critical about, too; the almost exploitative treatment given to the painful experiences of “colored girls” by Tyler Perry, a filmmaker who is criticized for sacrificing substance for neatly-packaged social messages that too often reinforce stereotypes about women and people of color.

With that said, is there a deeper layer of dissatisfaction here? I have not yet seen the film, but the debate around Tyler Perry and his films, like “For Colored Girls,” seems to take root in the politics of representation.

I had a conversation with a close friend about people of color never being satisfied with movies that are (hopefully with good intention) meant to tell OUR stories. We discussed, in length, that some of our friends always find something to complain about. They can never take things for what they are and find the good in the representations that are meant to serve us. I find this to be true, but I also understand the problems friends of mine have with the representations that are given screen time. These representations often portray us as victims rather than fighters and survivors, or can’t possibly express the complexity of our experiences, or just don’t do justice to people who have and continue to overcome pain, trauma, and oppression.

According to Ikpi, “the film fell short due to Tyler Perry’s inadequate filmmaking. I’m not a Tyler Perry hater. I respect what he’s done for black film and black actors since he’s stepped in the scene. But as a lover of film and black people, I think that it’s time that we demand more from Tyler Perry. I’ve seen many of his films drown in pathos and misery only to have last minute uplifting moments.”

However, in the same breath, she writes, “I saw women crying and was moved that they were so moved. I encourage people to see the film. I encourage them to find something in it that they can take home and build on and love from the core on out. I encourage you to “make your own film” and experience your own narrative based on what you saw. If it helps you sit up straighter or love a bit louder, then it’s done its job. And that is a credit to you and your heart.”

The politics of representation will always be a frustrating, inaccurate, and tricky game; it will never be perfect. But if we each build and contribute to the creation, narration, and representation of our own stories, instead of criticize without being constructive about the representations we witness, we can better represent our pain, trauma, and oppression in ways that are accurate to us and  reveal the humanity inherent in the complexities of our lives.

I hope to see the movie soon so I can share my own review with all of you. To see other opinions about Tyler Perry and his films, click here.

Celebrating the Sacred: Art’s Purpose in the Lives of Women of Color

Two women of color artists, Angela Angel, 29, and Robin David, 22, known as Bulan Adi Ko.llective (which translates into My Sister Moon in Ilocano, a Filipino dialect), share their experiences as painters and photographers in the art scene, an area that has been historically dominated by men.

These women share their relationship with art and the purpose art serves in their lives. According to both Angel and David, as much as they wish the intersection of their gender and race did not affect the way people view them as artists, their experiences in the art scene have proven otherwise; being an artist and a woman of color is inextricably linked.

Their first show, World Wide Hustle[rs], took place this past summer at the Luggage Story Gallery in the Tenderloin. The paintings, photography, and installations revealed the amazing ways people from the Third World create, flourish, and survive in difficult circumstances and poor, dependent economies due in large part to institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Mostly, these lending institutions are criticized for contributing to the negative effects of globalization, viewed by some as a destroyer of culture, environment, Third World people and their self-determination.

artwork and photography by Angela Angel and Robin David

Listen and view the slideshow of Angel and David talking about art while they construct their altar to Water for Dia de los Muertos (which took place yesterday) at the Mission Cultural Center. Read more about the altar project here.

Audio slideshow: CLICK HERE!

Audre Lorde: “We Were Never Meant to Survive”

Audre Lorde (1934-1992) –aside from being one of the leading voices shaping a new feminism in writings such as Sister Outsider– is a woman who still leaves her mark upon a new generation of women of color concerned with our stake in the world today. One of the co-founders of Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, founded in the early 1980s and now defunct, Lorde has lent her voice to issues ranging from police brutality and the value of black and brown lives in poems like Power, to the urgent call for women of color to reclaim our individual voices (and our collective voice) to reveal our shared personal battles that take root.

As a woman writer of color, student journalist and aspiring documentary filmmaker (some day), a friend of mine shared the video above with me, which is a trailer for a documentary, “A Litany for Survival,” about Lorde’s life and impact, named after her famous poem and political call to women of color:

but when we are silent
we are still afraid

So it is better to speak
remembering
we were never meant to survive

The continuation of Lorde’s work is being translated into the digital world and her spirit is embodied in blogs like brokenbeautiful press, whose tag line reads, “a body whole and broken at the same time, and she gave it back to us,” a quote by Lorde and Cherrie Moraga, a Chicana feminist. The blog, Eternal Summer of the Black Feminist Mind, an online literary community for women of color, created School of Our Lorde, a weekly study session (School of Our Lorde: Poetics, Pedagogy, Politics and Publishing). The description reads:

“The School of Our Lorde is comprised of 4 units of Thursday evening sessions that allow participants to deeply engage and build on the work of Audre Lorde as transmitted through the committed (obsessive) research of Alexis Pauline Gumbs on the poetics, teaching practices, political implications and publishing interventions of Audre Lorde’s work (and to enjoy delicious local desserts together) on Thursday evenings.”

There is an application process and the sessions highly emphasize the real life practice and application of Lorde’s own life’s work.

Women of color bloggers like Alexis Pauline Gumbs are reinvigorating Lorde’s words through digital means.

As artists, filmmakers, journalists, or whatever we are, we must speak, paint, document, and write, especially when we are most afraid.

Birth Rape 101

Before I gave birth to my first child two summers ago, I imagined a birthing experience that I could control and determine, one that did not fit into the multitude of horror stories passed on from one new mother to the next.

I thought about it countless times, especially in the final month when I would be awakened by false labor contractions, creating earthquakes inside of me in the small hours of morning. I imagined running into the hospital corridors with water streaming down my legs and being greeted calmly by my doula and doctor, who would encourage me with a smile and wait patiently while I let my body do what it was made to do; naturally labor and deliver my first child into this world.

None of that actually happened.

In fact, it lived up to a horror story in its own way. As one of the nurses examined me to see how many inches I was dilated, she asked me when I would like my epidural administered to me during labor. I proudly told her that I was planning to labor and deliver naturally, with no epidural and pain-relieving drugs. She looked at me oddly for a few seconds. This look was given to me again and again by the hospital staff, with the exception of one nurse.

A doctor broke my water without informing me she would be doing so and after laboring for 22 hours, the doctor came into my room very annoyed and said, “You’re not dilating past 9 centimeters and it’s not normal. Honey, you can keep huffing and puffing but it’s not my fault your pelvic bone sucks,” implying that my only option was a c-section. I was disturbed that somebody who was going to bring my daughter into the world could be so insensitive. My doula squeezed my hand and defended me. I agreed to the c-section, feeling like I had no other choices. This was definitely not the birthing experience I had imagined.

Bloggers are debating a phenomenon that has been coined “birth rape,” a term that describes women who have experienced violations during childbirth (in their opinion), robbing women of their ability to control and determine their birthing experience. Bloggers like Navel Gazing Midwife, who at first was angered by the term, now argue that birth trauma is like rape because, “I listened to the words women used to describe their pain and was told about actions that did, indeed, sound extremely coercive, manipulative and even pushing women to do things completely against their will.” She adds that rape victims suffer from physical and mental trauma, as do many of the women who described their “birth rape” experiences.

According to a Wall Street Journal article, studies show that there is a rise in mothers in the U.S. who have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that is linked to birth trauma.

Others argue that the term birth rape is altogether inaccurate and misleading. One blogger writes, “The problem is that actual rapists have completely different motivations than imperious doctors who inadvertently traumatize their patients by pushing them around in the birthing room. Actual rapists want to traumatize their victims—getting off on the power they have over their victims and the fear it instills in them is the whole point of raping them.”

Others argue that intent may be inherent in cases of rape, but essentially conclude that at any time a woman feels that her body is being abused and violated under another’s control, then the definition of rape still applies.

I no longer feel bad about going through with the c-section, though I struggled coping with it for awhile. It was the best for my daughter who came into the world beautiful and healthy. I understand that sometimes, c-sections are necessary, but I will never understand the way I was treated at the hospital. Unfortunately, home births in this country are rare, so I believe that in hospitals birthing mothers should be respected. They should be well-informed about exams and procedures and they should never, ever be insulted or made to feel like a burden to a doctor. By working alongside a laboring mama with respect for her baby and her body, instances of birth rape and trauma should not exist.