Happy International Womyn's Day... yesterday
I did not forget about the womyn in my life yesterday. I was merely very busy on the road to a reserve in the middle-of-nowhere in Saskatchewan.
Last night I got to thinking about different experiences the womyn in my life have had and the amount of strength that has got them through tough times. Between all of us, I bet we could make more energy than all the nuclear power plants of the world put together!
On Wednesday night I had the privilege to hear Dr. Helen Caldicott speak in Saskatoon. She is an amazingly strong womyn, who is a superb speaker. How powerful was it in that room, made up mostly of womyn, to hear her tell us that the people in that room could shut down the uranium mines in Saskatchewan (home of the world's richest uranium) and stop the impending nuclear holocaust. She hit all the levels: she grabbed our hearts by talking of the victims of Hiroshima, the rate of cancer in uranium miners, and then brought our attention to a baby in the balcony and told us how our children is the reason why we need to address this problem right now; she grabbed at our minds by walking us through the science involved in cancer, what it would be like to live through a nuclear winter, and how nuclear power, which is not actually fossil fuel free energy because of the coal and oil used to mine and enhance the uranium, is made simply to boil water to create steam. When I was listening to her, I wished that I had brought a pen and paper to take notes, but have decided to read her books instead and to try to help out with some of the campaigns when I have some time.
Luke and I walked to and from the talk because it was a beautifully mild evening. We chatted about gender issues and dynamics. I think I'm going to buy him "Feminism is for Everyone" by bell hooks. His understanding of feminism and gender relations is an area that he wants to expand so that he can better understand what I'm talking about when I rant about patriarchy, the inequalities of our society, and how capitalism and patriarchy are inextricably linked.
When one examines the life of an "average" 20-something man and the life of an "average" 20-something woman in a similar demographic (eg. me and Luke), one can easily see that patriarchy is rampant in our society.
So I salute all the wonderful womyn in my life for being strong, brave, and pushing through it all in order to find happiness in this bittersweet beautiful world.
