Delaney's Blog

 Word Count: words      After reading countless memoirs about brave and relentless woman, I have found that feminism means something different to each person, usually relating to life experience. To me, being feminist is about how to overcome adversity, in anyway it comes at you in our life. Whether it be our families, careers, education, etc., I am a feminist because I believe in the power of women and our ability to persevere through the toughest of circumstances. Women deserve to feel empowered, which is why we need to come together, instead of turning against one another.  Carolyn Steedman taught me that a career can be just as important as having a family, and you can do both at the same time, no matter how others react.  Totto-Chan showed me that just because others don't perceive you as disciplined, doesn't mean you are not creative, brilliant, and able to do great things.  Eva Hoffman overcame language barriers and customs as a woman, and becam...

Word Count: 287 words  Florida Scott-Maxwell writes about how to maximize our days and be individuals in our society, becoming the best versions of ourselves and how to come out of struggles and hard times. I find this even more intriguing and notable because she wrote this in her eighties, having experienced so much life, able to give readers such great advice. One of her quotes that spoke to me was when she said, "I wonder if living alone makes one more alive. NO precious energy goes into disagreement or compromise. No need to augment others, there is just yourself, just truth- a morsel- and you. You went through those long years when it was pain to be alone, now you have come out on the good side of that severe discipline." This is meaningful in regards to the society we live in because we often feel lost and out of place if we are alone, without friends or a partner, but that simply isn't true. There is so much importance in learning to be alone, and once you can do t...

  Word Count: 270 words    Experiencing so much at a young age, Hoffman had to go through learning a new language and speaking English from Polish. She was born during the time after World War II, her family having to hide to survive. She eventually moved to Canada from Poland, this being an extremely difficult time in her life. Later on she moves to Texas, falling in love with America and pursuing her dreams. I look up to her when I hear how she was born in a very difficult situation where Poland was in the midst of struggle, her and her family having to rise against this suffering and move their future elsewhere.       She says, "Sometimes I long to forget... It is painful to be conscious of two worlds." This quote shows how Hoffman is still able to reminisce to her life in Poland and all of the despair that she witnessed and also endured. I can imagine that she may have had some feelings of guilt living her dream, an amazing life, in America, with h...

 Word Count: 250 words  Audre Lorde was a great example of overcoming lots of adversity by being legally blind at birth and then overcoming lack of love from family members. Lorde was African American facing racism on top of the other troubles she faced. Her mother was essential in making sure her daughters did not notice or feel the segregation that life threw at them, because she wanted to instill power and confidence in her daughters. She says, “I remember how being young and Black and gay and lonely felt. A lot of it was fine, feeling I had the truth and the light and the key, but a lot of it was purely hell.” This instilled in her a sense of overcoming, no matter where she went she decided she needed to be an example for other black women who may potentially feel overlooked in life.  She also stated, “Any world which did not have a place for me loving women was not a world in which I wanted to live, nor one which I could fight for.” She did not hesitate to love the p...

 Word Count: 250 words      After reading this narrative, we see how different her life story is compared to all the women's writing before this. Zora Neale Hurston was an African American anthropologist who dived into the folklore of Black communities. She started working with Turner, who taught her voodoo, inspiring her and teaching her the symbols of life. She says,  “Many a man thinks he is making something when he's only changing things around.” This quote shows that Hurston was inspired to really change things, not simply shift how things currently were. She tried to learn absolutely everything about New Orleans, taking everything from the elite white in the city. She was brought into a voodoo community, strongly influencing her life in many ways. Voodoo coming out of the Caribbean also came out of Africa, blending with Catholicism was brought into New Orleans.       She also says, " “Mouths don't empty themselves un...

     Word Count: 263 words Another coming of age story but this time about a Pakistan woman, troubled trying to determine who she is as a woman when she takes up many different roles in her life. She has an identity crisis as she lives in a third world country but says there are no women in third world countries. Meatless Days , the title of this story, refers to the time around 1947 where the government decided that two days out of each week would be "meatless days" where no meat was consumed to preserve the amount of cattle and goats in Pakistan. I read this and think that this is a great idea to preserve the cattle and goats, not allowing them to go extinct in Pakistan. Suleri realizes things that Pakistan is missing, for example, history, culture geography, etc. She realizes there is a lot more to the world that she is not exposed to.  A quote I found interesting is, "A face, puzzzled and attentive and belonging to my gender, raises its intelligence to question w...

 Word Count: 264 words      This story from the beginning is different from our other stories because Onnie Lee Logan decides that her job will be a midwife as she is passionate about helping woman in their most vulnerable, difficult, and important moment of their lives. Her life of being a midwife is around 1984, she was a black woman who knew she could step up to share her knowledge with woman who need her help.      Her mother and grandmother, also midwives, inspired her career's work and passion. She was able to help poor, black mothers receive access to great care, as they deserve the same treatment, knowledge, and help as the rest of America. Onnie was eventually stripped of her midwife license, which is extremely harsh considering this was her entire life, but was told she was no longer needed.      "Nothing in my life has ever made me feel so little," Onnie says when recounting the letter she received in the mail telling her her ...

 Word Count: 258 words From a young age, Nisa was punished when wanting to nurse from her mother while her mother was pregnant. When her brother was born, her mother immediately wanted to bury her brother to be able to nourish her.  Being married at 8 years old, being carried to the hut to be married, incase she were to run away. It blew me away learning this age being married, but still not being able to value marriage and your partner, wanting to just be a kid! A quote that stuck out to me was, "Because woman possess something very important, something that enables men to live: their genitals." This quote shows me exactly why marriage and having a child (12 years old) happens so sped up. Woman are wanted for very specific reasons very early on. Nisa only knows what it is like to be married from those in their society. They only know the way of knowing how things are supposed to be is by looking around you at your community. Not knowing the way the rest of the world's so...

 Word Count: 258 words The memoir begins with these words, "'You must not tell anyone,' my mother said, 'what I am about to tell you. In China your father had a sister who killed herself. She jumped into the family well. We say that your father has all brothers because it as if she had never been born.'" This is an extremely strong way that Kingston begins her memoir, something that begins to show internal struggle that she faces because there are so many different things that make up who she and her family are, together and separately. Knowing this information finally would make me feel betrayed.  Another line that I think is powerful is when Kingston reveals, "And I have so many words- 'chink' words and 'gook' words too- that they do not fit on my skin.'" Being labeled as words you do not agree with is extremely difficult to handle, knowing that clapping back and sticking up for yourself hardly works against the disgusting words...

 Word Count: 265 words In the 1990s, Beryl explains her life in Kenya, as we see a different type of memoir than the ones we have read so far. She is in aviation, becoming a bush pilot.  Helping her to gain perspective in her life, growing up she spends lots of time with the native people. She would hunt with this tribe, stepping up to kill a hog in the process. She first was a horse trainer, stemming from her father giving her a colt to deliver. She was the first African woman to become a horse trainer, this amazing feat becoming a staple to her life of success. She knows she is built to accomplish great things, stemming her love for aviation.  I am inspired by her hope to be the first to fly from London to New York, unfortunately resulting in a crash landing due to her fuel freezing. She is honorable due to her drive to not only be the first woman, but the first woman to accomplish this difficult task, not letting fear of failure stop her. I am amazed at her attempt and...

 Word Count: 265 words      This memoir takes place from 1914 to 1931. This takes place on a coffee-plantation in Africa, where Dinesen runs this plantation with her husband until they separate. When they are no longer together, she runs the plantation by herself and lives her life here until she later loses this farm/estate and goes back to Denmark where she is originally from.      Her storytelling is impeccable as she got great at it while telling her stories to African locals who love using their imagination to dive into stories. She tells her stories with great detail and excitement, something we can all learn to add into our writing. She finds her love for the country of Africa and what comes with the land, people, and experiences.       A powerful quote from this reading is, " “It is more than their land that you take away from the people, whose Native land you take. It is their past as well, their roots and their identity. I...

 Word Count: 292 words From a young age, Totto-Chan was expelled from her school for having lots of energy and "disrupting the class." You can see here how innocent she is, how closing a desk repeatedly would get her expelled from her first school.  A strong figure in your life is all you need to push forward and continue to want to change your life and those lives around you for the better. Totto-Chan first experienced this with her headmaster at her new school, making her excited to leave her house and learn. Tomoe, the new school she attended within a train car, was a school designed to bring about creativity in the students, in ways the students believe things should be done. Students were able to specialize in learning about what they were interested in, or discovering what they loved. I believe these tactics should be used in schools in America as I believe a lot of time is wasted going through curriculum you are expected to go through.  The 1945 airstrikes took all...

 Word Count: 264 words This story describes two different lives from a mother to her daughter, taking place in the 1950s. The author describes how she was made to feel like a burden her entire life by her mother for being a part of the working class. We see this perspective and it is heartbreaking for a child to feel this way by her own mother. Women are expected to always want children, so this comes off shocking when a mother cannot demonstrate her love for her child. From a young age the author is instilled to know that there is a huge drop off in society to those in the working class. They will never get what the rich have, and these different classes completely separate them. She learns that their is no way to move classes or earn a better life for yourself, which is entirely wrong. This is deemed an ordinary life, but is far from it once stepping into their shoes. Something interesting to take away from this reading is stories we tell ourselves about our own lives. Clearly we...

 Word Count: 255 words     "I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have ever been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support." Anne writes this in the cover of her diary, needing an outlet to release her emotions and feelings as this is what would help her most in life. She is often fearful of what will happen to her, but this diary was a way for her to feel sane. Anne Frank's story is one that is not new to any of us due to how it transformed all readers' lives. Hearing an inside story to how a family survived the Holocaust living in an attic, being hidden day in and day out. Not being able to see the sunlight, staying silent and fearing for their lives every single day but still holding hope and enjoying the journey together. She recounts about two years of her life, from her thirteenth birthday to just after she turned fifteen. She writes about innocent things such as how she feels about boys, her frien...

 Word Count: 259 words      Hahn was the first woman to get a degree in mining engineering at the University of Wisconsin, leading women in this path, allowing them to see for themselves that this is not strictly a male profession. She continued her studies and began to write, allowing herself to express in this way. Something unique about her is how she began to smoke opium, becoming addicted to this drug that is so prominent in China. Thankfully she was cured by a hypnotist but this shows how different she was compared to other women we have read about. She faced a hardship of becoming addicted to drugs after she succeeded as an independent woman. "The mind of a traveler has only one spotlight, and it is always trained on the present scene," Emily says this in Time and Places, as much of her life was spent moving around the world, creating new experiences for herself being independent, but also with her family. I interpret this quote as her living so in the moment ...

 Word Count: 260 words Blackberry Winter, by Margaret Mead, is a novel about Margaret who shares her life story of being a pioneering woman and leading a successful life. She discusses how she grew up, along with those who have impacted her along the way, for example, her grandmother. She is able to look back at her life through this piece of writing and feel proud and accomplished for the legacy she left behind to all who did and did not encounter her. She did not have many opportunities but was able to make a successful way for herself. Something impressive that Margaret was able to do was to become a mother and also have a career. This may not seem surprising hearing this in today's world, because of all the women who are so amazing to balance their dreams and a family. In the 70s, being successful at all you wanted in life, specifically being a women was remarkable, and I am so impressed for her setting an example. A quote I loved from this reading was, "And as I had my fa...

 Word Count: 251 words     Eugenia was powerful in the way she told her life stories being a Communist in the U.S.S.R. She was strong enough to share all her stories of what she faced in jail, some things that most people would keep to themselves in fear of sharing to the public. She began to show us what it was like to come together with others in tough times- something we all need to be more aware of. We need to be open to putting our problems aside and reassuring those who need our support and love. Eugenia shows and explains the empathy she felt when a prisoner said, "When they heard I was a member of the Communist Party of the U.S.S.R., they became greatly excited and asked question after question" (307). The prisoners were over the moon to have a new person and a new perspective in the jail, they were welcoming and ecstatic to meet her and hear about her background. Putting each other at ease was essential to keeping them calm in a treacherous time. The inmates bein...

 Word Count: 268 words Throughout Marguerite's words, we get an honest recap of the events following World War II, and all the hardships faces along the way. She has many emotions and struggles as she nurses her dying husband back to health through this time. The way her story is written is broken up, shown in different parts and thoughts as if she wrote different parts sporadically. She wrote like a diary, recounting her most vivid times. She says, "I recognize my handwriting and the details of the story... But I can't see myself writing the diary. When would I have done so, in what year, at what time of day, in what house?" I really have tried to dig into this quote, confused about how she could have forgotten about writing the recall of such important events in her life. Potentially the trauma and extreme emotion made her forget smaller details such as journaling? One traumatic experience for her would be not knowing if her husband was dead or alive, dreading heari...

 Word Count: 269 words Le Ly Hayslip lived in central Vietnam with her family, growing up in a world that was falling apart. U.S. helicopters landed in her village and both sides began gathering children to use as spies and those who engage in sabotage. These children have almost no choice to go against their government, so they are thrown into this war against their will, potentially throwing off the course of their life. She was twelve years old when this occurred, unable to determine what exactly was going on, but she was able to have faith through it all. She was a supporter of Viet Cong, working on their side to support them in the war. At the age of twelve she was met with deaths of her family, and also experienced torture and rape, things no one should experience- especially not a twelve year old girl. The Vietnam War changed her, but she was able to stay strong in her belief that there is good out there, and she was able to escape to America. A quote in the prologue that re...

 Word Count: 259 words      Santha Rama Rau had a much different life than woman we have read about so far. She was born in India, then living in England and South Africa. She has traveled all over the world giving her a great outlook and perspective in life. It must have been extremely difficult to her experiencing so many different culture shocks throughout her life. It seems that it would be challenging finding a place to belong, or where home is. I think being from another culture can be an amazing way of bringing your values to the new society, sparking diversity and creativity. I admire her greatly for being a bright light in so many different ways. The British Colonial Rule was difficult for Santha and her sister because of the difference in ethnicities, there was hardship. This caused a lot of confusion for them throughout school, people thinking of them differently. Premelia, her sister, says, "We're going home for good." This refers to their school experien...