Twitter Fit

Today I was thinking about Sojourner Truth and her ability to communicate, I mean, really communicate.

I am kind of jealous of her ability to communicate.

In 1851 she gave a speech to the Women's Convention in Akron, Ohio. It wasn't more than five minutes long. It didn't have fancy language. She never had a debate or public speaking class.

BUT in this speech she managed to combine autobiographical information, persuasion, humor, and powerful words to form a unforgettable attack on the social system, promoting BOTH women's and African-American rights.

Talk about a good communicator.

Watch the video clip of Alice Walker delivering the below speech:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsjdLL3MrKk

Sojourner Truth (1797-1883): Ain't I A Woman?
Delivered 1851
Women's Convention, Akron, Ohio

Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say. "

(Taken from:http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/sojtruth-woman.html)

I've gotta say, people don't really have that kind of talent, or brevity today. Ask a member of Congress to provide some type of social change and you get a 1,372 page document...ahem, not exactly light reading.

I guess Sojourner was just an average (although enslaved) woman. So how do average women communicate effectively today, in this present day and age? Sure, speeches are used to some degree, but it isn't like they are published across the country for fun reading, like they were in Sojourner's time. They may be on Youtube for a while...but is there any other way?

And so I arrive at Twitter.

(http://www.postsecret.com/)

This website has practically invaded pop culture, as represented in this "Postsecret Post card" above.

This concise form of communication probably isn't exactly up to the same level of Sojourner Truth's Speech. But I argue that it is similar in it's ability to give the common woman (or man, I guess) a voice on... anything!

Sure, it's more typically used for "just chilling with my homies yo!" and "ohmygoodness I just saw a shooting star! *-Make a wish that I'll finally meet Justin Beiber!-*".

But really, Twitter has had an impact on our society. Just like Sojourner Truth's sassy speech.

So, the question is:

What will you tweet about?

www.Twitter.com

(For a fun video about the rising, Twitter sensation that is hitting the nation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZWLMdGqu8g)

Cryptic Coffee Spoons and Writing Styles

This semester of college has been chock-full of two out of three of the proverbial "R's" of education:

Reading and 'Riting.

(Praise be to God, the 'Rithmatic Gen Ed is finally in the past!)

As an English major, well, you might understand why I'm a little giggly with glee over the way I'm asked to spend my time doing homework. Read a poem? Read a novel? Look up some words in the dictionary? Write a reflection paper? Yes, ma'am (or sir), sure thing.

This semester, with my Creative Nonfiction class, however, I have been surprisingly stretched outside my literary comfort zone a bit. I have been asked questions which I have never really considered before about myself: my own writing style, voice, and story.

Tell me to analyze someone else's work. Done. For example, in my American Literature III class, we read a T.S. Eliot poem. His fragmented/unconventional structure, esoteric allusions, lack of narrative format, and strange juxtapositions reflect his emergence as a Modernist Poet. Here's a little blurb to add some flavor to that description for you:

"For I have known them all already, known them all--

Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;

I know the voices dying with a dying all

Beneath the music from a farther room.

So how should I presume?"

(-TS Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock")

I mean... that isn't exactly easy stuff to digest for the typical reader (especially someone outside of Eliot's circles, in the movement of Modernism).

Yet, I still like to roll around the line 'I have measured out my life with coffee spoons' in my head. Even though I don't know what the heck Eliot means by the majority of this strange poem, I marvel at the idea of measuring a life out with coffee spoons.

I really value people who can take hold of the challenge of originality and radicalism in their work. Their bravery and, for those who are lucky, success give their writing an almost provocative feel for those of us traditionalists. But, I ask, do their cryptic and unwontedly-styled works effectively project their overall 'message'? I do not know the answer.

When I write, I tend to do so more straightforwardly. Even this blog is written so that any member of the literate public could understand my central thoughts about writing styles (although, I'm guessing 2 or 3 people from my Creative Nonfiction people will skim it. Greetings faithful readers!).

I question if the Modernists were onto something with their esoteric styles and themes. It was risky, and yes, they've survived and are revered in many literary circles. But I feel more powerful using common language, referencing universal experiences, and presenting my message in the most clear route possible. I guess I feel like then my audience has an easier time really connecting my rambling words to their lives.

I say- life is chaotic enough. Let's bring some clarity to it with our writing.

(I must confess I still love the foggy, mysterious feeling T.S. Eliot's poetry gives me. So, really, I guess there is room for every type of writing style. Just make it your own and get your message out there!)

"This Too Shall Pass"

I have been many places and I have met many people. I am often amazed, however, at how these people really differ from one another a lot less than you would assume.

There are some powerful unifiers in the human experience.

One is pain.

Pain is scattered like footprints of sin across our globe. And its path runs through each of our lives. Whether you live in rural Nebraska or desolate Alaska or urban London or in the chaos of Pakistan- there is pain. This path connects us. A unifier of humanity. Our lives can be so steeped in pain that we feel nothing else. Often, writing can be a way to rise above the surface of it all and to make sense of it.

Some people (I being one of them) say another entity exists and connects humanity to one another.

And that entity is God.

Eula Biss mused about this in her essay "The Pain Scale":

"Christianity is not mine. I do not know it and I cannot claim it. But I've seen the sacred heart ringed with thorns, the gaping wound in Christ's side, the weeping virgin, the blood, the nails, the cross to bear. . . . Pain is holy, I understand. Suffering is divine.

"In my worst pain, I can remember thinking, 'This is not beautiful.' I can remember being disgusted by the very idea.

"But in my worst pain, I also found myself secretly cherishing the phrase, 'This too shall pass.' The longer the pain lasted, the more beautiful and impossible and absolutely holy this phrase became."

Unlike Eula Biss, I do claim Christianity because Christ has claimed me. Sin's footprints in our lives are in such pain as she describes- the physical, the emotional, and the chronic. But there is also a hope for humanity, a hope that I pray is just as universal as the pain which it overcomes. That hope is found in Christ Jesus, who promises that pains that characterize our lives will pass one day- for he has overcome the world and its paths of pain.

I strive to express this to my fellow sufferers across this earth. Writing can uncover so much hope for each of us- buried under oceans of painful experiences, doubts, and sufferings. Let us make the statement

'This too shall pass'

and know that Christ whispers it with us, for us- wherever we are on this globe.