Alice Walker On Barack Obama

Birthday Shout Out!

Rosa Parks (February 14, 1913- October 24, 2005)

“I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people.”

Books by Rosa Parks:

Rosa Parks: My Story
Quiet Strength: The Faith, the Hope, and the Heart of a Woman Who Changed A Nation

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/parksrosa/p/rosa_parks.htm
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/par0bio-1
http://www.rosaparks.org/

What Needs To Be Said

I've mentioned I've been reading The Cancer Journals before, rather than provide a review, I've decided I really want to invite a dialogue about some of the points she raises.

She writes, "My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you." This is in part about how she will deal with her fears and how she will continue her work despite her cancer. But this isn't just about facing her mortality, it is about how we are silent because of judgment and separation. She continues, "And where the words of women are crying to be heard, we must each of us recognize our responsibility to seek those words out, to read them and share them and examine them in their pertinence to our lives."

Do these ideas speak to you? In what ways? What do you remain silent about? When you write, are you seeking out a community of women? Does your work ever reflect a feminist or political view?