I have really appreciated the works we have read in The Granite Pail, by Lorine Nedecker. The poem that I have grown close to is possibly Watching Dancers on Skates.
Ten thousand women
and I
the only one
in boots
Life's dance:
they meet
he holds her leg
up
I feel like I could be that other person in the poem. In my opinion, the poem is about this awkward girl who just wants to fit in. I have often been "that girl". I have been the one who wasn't as good as the others. I wasn't as pretty as all of the rest. I feel like I can compare my life to this poem in many ways.
I have always been the girl on the side lines. I have always been more of an observer. When people do things, I tend to watch. I like noticing all of the intricate movements of the people or whatever they are doing. Sometimes I journal about all of the things that are going on around me. One of my recent journal entries are about how the leaves are changing and the weather is changing. I noticed how the animals have all gone away. and the leaves were fleeing from their home, the tree.
I have always been an observer as you could tell.
I really like her poetry. She is a very interesting poet. I have heard nothing but complaining from almost everyone in the class, but I really like it. She is honestly a genius. She has inspired me to start writing more original poetry.
As I was thinking about what I should write my blog post about I remembered back to Jamaica Kincaid's Girl. I remembered how overly dramatic this article was about what girls were supposed to do. I also remember and reflected on how her life and society was in the Caribbean. She lived in the society that the men did everything. Women were pretty much made to have children and hope to God that the children were male. Women in her society were taken advantage of. They were placed in the home for cooking, cleaning and pleasing their men, not only sexually but overall as well.
Women were placed into the hands of men for countless generations. Thinking back in time, women were the care takers. They looked after the children, prepared meals for the family and made sure everything was running smoothly. This frustrates me today, because in our society, it is socially acceptable to be a single parent. My mother was a single parent to me from the ages 2-7. She left my dad leaving my dad a single parent too. We had my visits with my father every weekend, Friday to Sunday night. This article made me think and reflect about what my life would be like if my parents would have stayed together. I thought about how my dad would have taught me how to ride a bike and maybe my mom would have taught me how to braid. I think I would have ended up much more of a girly girl than I am today.
In today's society people are taken advantage of way too much. According to nmcasp.org 36% of all people will be raped by the age of 21, While about 41% of people will be sexually assaulted my the age 21. This is next statistic is very horrifying because most of the students at SLC are in fact female. Savp.vassar.edu took a survey of everyone on campus and 1 in every 6 females were victims of some type of sexual assault in the preceding semester. This is even scarier. 42% of the women that were surveyed admitted to having sex with the offender.
I feel like I could go on for hours and hours about this topic, but I should probably stop before I get ahead of myself. I am very headstrong about my views on this topic. I am definitely a feminist. I will admit, I stand up for everyone, but females especially. I really appreciate debating. So comment something that may make me re-think what I said or make me challenge my views. Thanks!
~ Dawn
