Saturday, April 19, 2008

She's Becoming Gold ...



What do I mean by that?

In the mid-1990s, I worked at a large bank as the lowest person the the totem pole. I had health insurance, though ... One of my co-workers was having a tough time in a bad marriage, but she was working her way through it with elegance and grace. I could she she was gaining respect for herself, and setting boundaries for her skunk of a spouse.

I felt like I was witnessing the formation of a true masterpiece : Her.

I don't know how her story ended, or where she is now. One day, I gave her a cassette tape with Marc Cohen's song on it, "She's Becoming Gold." My co-worker was the personification of this song for me.

Another example of "She's Becoming Gold" is Janie Crawford in Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Or see Novelguide for a basic synopsis of the book.

Their Eyes is Janie's story and how her relationships with other people improved her relationship with herself. She had three husbands in her lifetime, each of them very different.
  • The first husband treated her well enough, but there was no love. She wanted more from life, and left him and his 60 acres.
  • The second gave her everything she could have wanted. But he treated her like a trophy wife and never really bother to get to know her.
  • The third was a younger man named Teacake. Theirs was a sweet romance. Teacake loved Janie for herself.
WARNING : If you think you might want to read this book, and don't want the surprise ending ruined, STOP READING THIS POST NOW.

I remember reading the final chapters and really struggling with the part of the story where Janie had to kill Teacake in self-defense. They had been so happy together, so good together ... Why would Ms. Hurston ruin that happiness? After a hurricane, Teacake had been bitten by a rabid dog and went crazy with rabies. He would have killed Janie in his madness ... but by then in her lifetime, Janie had come to love herself enough to take care of herself. She did what she had to do to go on living. She had to ... There was no saving Teacake by then.

Becoming Gold means she was becoming solid, precious and worthy--a WHOLE person. She had found what made her happiest and fulfilled. She found a sweetie who "bought her chairs." Most of all, she knew herself, and what made her happiest.
  • Janie: "It's uh known fact, Pheoby, you got tuh go there tuh know there. Two things everybody's got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves" (183).
  • Phoeby was changed by hearing her story, too. Phoeby says, "Ah done growed ten feet higher from jus' listenin' tuh you, Janie. Ah ain't satisfied wid mahself no mo'" (183).
  • Finally, Pheoby hugs Janie and goes home. Janie, left alone, thinks about her past and realizes, "Here was peace. She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net. Pulled it from around the waist of the world and draped it over her shoulder. So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see" (184).
Isn't that a lovely image to end on? ;-)

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Zora Neale Hurston : Lasting Influence



Just when I thought I could finally recycle those old notebooks from college literature classes (some of them are almost 20 years old now), PBS airs a documentary on Zora Neale Hurston, called Jump at the Sun. Well, now I've got to keep those old notebooks a while longer!

For years, the quote in my email signature was a gem from Zora Neale H. : "I do not weep at the world. I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife."


Even now, in my office at work, I have a framed poster of ZNH from the American Library Association. The quote is : “Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.” She was talking about anthropology and research. It is an appropriate for a Librarian, or any scholar. She has been a lasting influence on me.

She was a remarkable woman ahead of her time. One of the first anthropologists, a wonderful storyteller, a writer, feminist, a libertarian. She was outspoken and independent. She was Herself.

Their Eyes Were Watching God was part of my own "becoming gold" journey. Even now, it's hard to write about without getting choked up ... This vibrant (even though she died relatively young), self-loving, confident black woman had a tremendous influence on me. You might wonder what she'd have to say to a white girl from rural Wisconsin ... Zora was in her own space, grateful, not grasping. Her books were not about racism, but about life, about personhood, about being a woman, about being comfortable in your own skin. With all the -isms that come down on us in this world, Zora was Herself. She transcended all that, rose above it. She, and Janie, was more than a label, more than an -ism. She didn't dwell on what a black woman was supposed to be in her time -- she was too busy sharpening her oyster knife, looking for the riches life had to offer as long as she went out and worked for it. She was nobody's victim.

Please don't misunderstand--I don't mean to downplay racism and its profoundly poisonous effect on so many aspects of life in these United States and around the world ... Racism (and many other labels) keeps people from really KNOWING each other. As Zora said, “Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me.”

This would be a great time for me to re-read Their Eyes Were Watching God. There are many discussion group guides to help raise questions about important themes, etc. Hey--I discovered that Oprah produced a tv film for Their Eyes back in 2005. It starred Halle Berry. I can't wait to see it!

Here are some other favorite quotes from Ms. Hurston :
  • “I have been in Sorrow's kitchen and licked out all the pots. Then I have stood on the peaky mountain wrapped in rainbows, with a harp and sword in my hands.”
  • "I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. . . . I do not weep at the world -- I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.”
  • “It would be against all nature for all the Negroes to be either at the bottom, top, or in between. . . . We will go where the internal drive carries us like everybody else. It is up to the individual.”
  • “Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.”
  • “Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me.”
  • “Don't you realize that the sea is the home of water? All water is off on a journey unless it's in the sea, and it's homesick, and bound to make its way home someday”
  • “Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to 'jump at the sun.' We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground.”
Quotes found at Think Exist.com


Sunday, April 6, 2008

Iges Pamper their Feet


An early picture of Oliver's foot in his Papa's hands (2001). He was not a breech birth.

That last entry might seem kind of odd and mundane--a whole entry about shoes?

I know the kind of tired worn-out shoes my Gramma wears. I know she has aches and pains, and I'm wondering if she just had a good pair of shoes if some of her troubles would evaporate?

In Yoruba-land (Nigeria, West Africa), kids are named by the circumstances surrounding their births. For example, a child who was a breech birth gets the name of Ige. These children come feet-first into the world, and they tend to pamper their feet. A good pair of shoes DOES make a big difference!

Saturday, April 5, 2008

New Shoes Make all the Difference!

I bought a new pair of shoes last week. Wearing the old shoes, I was feeling really old with aches and pains, and limited mobility. I felt like I was fast on the way to a hip replacement, moving slowly and deliberately to alleviate the pain in my hip--and wishing I had a cane.

It was all due to a worn out pair of shoes. What a difference the new pair of shoes makes!


The old and new shoes as seen from the top.


The old and new shoes as seen from the soles.

There's a huge difference on the bottoms--enough to re-align my bones to cause problems.
With the new shoes, the spring is back in my step, I have more energy, and I'm taller, too!

Who'da thunk?