Finding a Voice
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
bought a book before a flight
Toronto Pearson Airport
June 6th, 2005
almost home
I treated myself to a new book. It was recommended at a women's conference in Saskatoon a few weeks ago and sounded intriguing. Browsing in a Watermark bookstore in the Toronto Pearson Airport, there it was onthe shelf, the face of the author saying, "Well, here's my story. What are you waiting for?"
Somehow the conference presenter made the book sound slim, or at least slimmer, and judging by the cover I was unprepared for its size: 651 pages of text, followed by 35 more for the Epilogue; Selected Chronology; a list of International Travel, 1993-2001; Acknowledgments; and Gratitude. (It makes sense to put acknowlegments and gratitude at the end.) Then a surprisingly detailed index, I thought, for a memoir.
The book is Madame Secretary: A Memoir by Madeleine Albright, and the idea that intrigued me was her practice of active interruption in order to have a voice at the political table.
Marilou and I talked about the importance of reading biographies and autobiographies of women. I'm sure I have heard and considered that before. I have certainly read a goodly number of women's life stories. Browsing in Watermark I also saw an autobiography of Ann Coleman (I'll Tell You a Secret, I believe it was called) about her relationship with the author Hugh McLellan. In it she writes of wondering what it means to be a woman and of Emily, who was an example of womanhood. Emily ran an antique shop and sometimes employed Anne. She also acted as a kind of confidante. But she didn't have children, and Anne wanted at least two, though she was sure that she didn't want to get stranded in a domestic swamp.
What does it mean to be a woman? Girls need role models. Women need role models. Reading in Money Makeovers today I was reminded how our educational system has tended to emphasize men's experiences and stories. (Though they say the tables are turning.) It's funny-strange to me how some people are afraid of trying to rebalance that, afraid that the boys will get overlooked, left out. What do they think has been happening to women all these years, centuries, millenia? I think that if both women and men had a wider array of options for how to live life with and for others, we might have more cooperation and less frustration and less loneliness.
That's idealistic, I know. Never underestimate the darkness of the human heart.
June 6th, 2005
almost home
I treated myself to a new book. It was recommended at a women's conference in Saskatoon a few weeks ago and sounded intriguing. Browsing in a Watermark bookstore in the Toronto Pearson Airport, there it was onthe shelf, the face of the author saying, "Well, here's my story. What are you waiting for?"
Somehow the conference presenter made the book sound slim, or at least slimmer, and judging by the cover I was unprepared for its size: 651 pages of text, followed by 35 more for the Epilogue; Selected Chronology; a list of International Travel, 1993-2001; Acknowledgments; and Gratitude. (It makes sense to put acknowlegments and gratitude at the end.) Then a surprisingly detailed index, I thought, for a memoir.
The book is Madame Secretary: A Memoir by Madeleine Albright, and the idea that intrigued me was her practice of active interruption in order to have a voice at the political table.
Marilou and I talked about the importance of reading biographies and autobiographies of women. I'm sure I have heard and considered that before. I have certainly read a goodly number of women's life stories. Browsing in Watermark I also saw an autobiography of Ann Coleman (I'll Tell You a Secret, I believe it was called) about her relationship with the author Hugh McLellan. In it she writes of wondering what it means to be a woman and of Emily, who was an example of womanhood. Emily ran an antique shop and sometimes employed Anne. She also acted as a kind of confidante. But she didn't have children, and Anne wanted at least two, though she was sure that she didn't want to get stranded in a domestic swamp.
What does it mean to be a woman? Girls need role models. Women need role models. Reading in Money Makeovers today I was reminded how our educational system has tended to emphasize men's experiences and stories. (Though they say the tables are turning.) It's funny-strange to me how some people are afraid of trying to rebalance that, afraid that the boys will get overlooked, left out. What do they think has been happening to women all these years, centuries, millenia? I think that if both women and men had a wider array of options for how to live life with and for others, we might have more cooperation and less frustration and less loneliness.
That's idealistic, I know. Never underestimate the darkness of the human heart.
posted by Colleen McCubbin at 12:32 AM
1 Comments:
I picked the book off the shelf last week. Let know if it is any good, I admired Albright, rightly or wrongly, when she was in office,
Joel
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