"Morningsong for a Tillian King-Rodney Revisited

Our beloved Rodney King is a recovering alcoholic and, seemingly, a forgiving man. As welcome as that is, violence and racism remain from then  until now. As they say, don't believe the hype from CNN. The real story is persistent poverty, vulnerability to racial profiling, and systematically underdeveloped schools for predominantly minority children and youth. Last evening we joyously consumed "Fela", the play about Nigeria's Fela Kuti. The play was fabalicious; the message, a cautionary tale, again, about violence and the state. At one point in the play, miniature coffins of those  killed in Nigeria's political violence were stacked and, appropriately, Trayvon Martin's coffin
topped the pile. My poem "Morningsong for a Tillian King" written in commemoration of the Rodney King incident, will be performed this fall, a collaboration with artist colleagues.

Our beloved world is consumed with deepening violence.
Tell us what you're doing to eradicate violence.


http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/28/us/rodney-king-profile/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

Crossing the Gender Line-Egypt and the world

Recently, my keynote comments at Texas Tech University (4-13-12) included "  the problem of the 21st century is the challenge of the gender line". There's nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. From Egypt's gender struggles and the renewed contempt for women's humanity and citizenship there, to stories of increased violence against women in the form of forced sterilization, or the 'war on women' in US politics, no/low access to health care or political participation, or the daily confrontation with prejudice & brutality, women are saying 'there's no turning back'. This is a battle and it IS about power, ignorance, and 'keeping things tidy for men' so that they never have to change and grow into better men. How juvenile!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17820809
In this BBC interview, Mona Eltahawy tells it like it is. The "Arab Spring" will fail if women don't take their rightful place in societies around the world, whatever their status, whatever the deal.
Moral courage is what we women do best. It will be our gift to the future, but its' energies will atrophy if we don't use them. Do the right thing.

In my closing keynote remarks, I quoted writer Sherri tepper: "

“Some of us went to the brides in India, and the girls being cut, and the mothers told to kill their baby daughters. Some went among women who were alone, teaching them to join together, for there is hope in two women, help in three women, strength in four, joy in five, power in six, and against seven, no gate may stand. Some even went among men to tell them that a battle was coming, to explain that it is not male god against male devil, nor is it female against male; it has nothing to do with gender but with dominion.”

Speak out!