On parity and diversity hires
Oh how self-serving we all are, changing our staunch political beliefs at the drop of a hat (and this goes especially for Jews, liberal women, and the like). (Ignac got a Harvard interview. I won't be on the market for another year or two.) But seriously - I consider myself a) a woman, and b) a member of an ethnic (or racial, where I come from)
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As another feminist and Gypsy woman, I have drawn the conclusion from my studies of women's literature (especially third world and feminist poetry, etc, etc) that we women have always vigilantly passed our heritage along, written our stories--but, I firmly believe that the actions were such as frosting cakes, teaching our children to tatt, knit, weave, spin, care for gardens, children, animals and is this less written? Written on the heart with the pen of a diamond, I think! I will never forget the lessons my dad taught me of how to live that were strange to Gadje families. He didn't have to tell me it was from his "different" background. Yes, I know he's a male! But he did the same sort of primative teaching that many of the women mentors have done. I really think the Gypsy ways he taught were that way as a matter of it being *more of* a matriarchy than the white culture. That is, by means of comparison only, not an actual matriarchy, but with stronger place value for women's deep ancestral place--which is absolutely non-existent in white culture. Anyway, I remember writing a poem back 10 years ago about women's history having been written in cake frosting, embroidery, woven patterns, etc. One of my poems, haven't looked it up lately anyway, but that is the heart of it. I like to think of the meaning of women as mentors as similar. My mom teaches by example. That is what really rings true, deep affection is a common way, as is fierce devotion. I've been mentored by women who taught me their cultural ways that were very different than mine. One was a Montana-born and raised Army WAV-(I think that was it). I saw a different way for women to be, yet still bear their womanly identity with power and purpose. We benefit each other in subtle ways, but that seems the way that is most persuasive and enduring. Who is to say whether the old embroidered piece of cloth I have from my Great Grandmother *reads* less to me than if she wrote all about that time and herself in an autobiography? Still we view it through the logocentric lense of valuing these word-things more than artifacts.
Thanks for your neat post, Phen!
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