Poetry and stories tell a tale of women
Many women speakers gathered Monday in the Taggart Student Center Sunburst Lounge to speak about personal experiences and share poetry or other stories about women as part of National Women’s History Month.
For Speak Out 4 Women each speaker offered a four-minute presentation. They included students and faculty of Utah State University.
“I am a feminist,” speaker Melissa Bowls, a graduate student from the English department, said. “It’s an aspect of my identity, a label that I choose.”
Bowls spoke of criticism she received for being a feminist.
“It’s another F-word,” she said. “I’m not a man-hater.”
Bowls said for her, feminism means that women have a right to all the opportunities men have.
Leslie Brown, from the English department, said she felt lucky because her parents were always supportive and believed she could do anything.
“I didn’t perceive being a woman as a disadvantage,” Brown said. When she studied women and gender studies, she said she discovered many inequalities women face.
Brown mentioned the “glass ceiling” concept, which says there are invisible barriers that stop women, and other minorities, from doing things, such as advancing in the workplace.
Brown also read a poem by Mary Oliver titled, “Wild Geese.”
Professor of English Christie Fox read an excerpt from “Listen Up: Voices From the Next Feminist Generation.” Fox read about a girl growing up and finding her place as a woman in the world.
USU student Arian Bingham read a poem by Louise Gluck. Bingham said Gluck suffers from anorexia and uses her poetry to speak out to others.
“This perfection cannot be reached by anyone,” Bingham said about the ideal body image that Gluck was trying to achieve.
Musician Sarah Sample also participated in Speak Out 4 Women by performing “Let It Be” by the Beatles, playing the piano and singing.
Another speaker, Barbara Esther, said, “I’m sick of violence. It’s not acceptable to me.”
Esther spoke out about violence and her wishes for the future.
“I want women to feel safe from violence,” Esther said. “Globally, I wish for violence to end.”
Brittany Duke, ASUSU arts and lectures vice president spoke about women in science, a non-traditional field for women, and women inventors.
Duke said most people think of only males when they think of inventors, but “cell phones were invented by a woman,” she said.
Duke wouldn’t say who the inventor was but to attend the Arts and Lecture Series presentation on March 30 at 3 p.m. in the TSC Ballroom to learn more.
There were many other women speakers throughout the program.
Other topics covered by the speakers included Community Abuse Prevention Services Agency (CAPSA) and the Righteously Open-minded Sister/Supporters Inclusive of Everyone (ROSIE) club at USU named after Rosie the Riveter.
Other speakers talked about strong and influential women who were mothers, workers, writers, etc.
In 1981, Congress passed a resolution to declare National Women’s History Week, and in 1987 expanded it to National Women’s History Month, which goes along with International Women’s Day on March 8.
The 2005 theme for National Women’s History Month is “Women Change America.”
The presentation was sponsored by the Women and Gender Studies Program at USU. For more information about the program, visit http://www.usu.edu/womenstu/.
-sdobson@cc.usu.edu